What is the hardest shot in golf?

[Paul Hedrick]

For me the hardest shot is the one after a great shot.   I will hit an epic drive, and totally f*&^ up my second shot. Very frustrating.  

[JDHolmes]

65 yard sand wedge into a back pin on an elevated green

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[KC Golf]

There are a number of really tough shots.  I think the almost impossible shot from the fringe of the bunker where your feet are in the deep bunker but the ball is outside of it.  You have to choke down severely to try to just hit it.

Thankfully this doesn’t happen too often.

[Johnny_Clocks]

I'm still pretty new to the sport, so I don't know what is considered to be the hardest shot for players across the board, but for me personally it has to be long bunker shots. 

[GolfSpy_KFT]

13 hours ago, Dweed said:

It's the shot you've made a hundred times before but this time you missed.

Just did this yesterday! 110 yards to the pin with my 52* and I bladed it into a creek 

[Shrek74]

The next one. 

[tony@CIC]

15 hours ago, Paul Hedrick said:

For me the hardest shot is the one after a great shot.   I will hit an epic drive, and totally f*&^ up my second shot. Very frustrating.  

Same here - hate to waste a great drive on a cra**y 2nd shot. 

[mattjamd]

I have 2 candidates..... the short sided bunker shot from hard pan sand, and the 6 ft par putt after you just rammed your birdie attempt past the hole, and now you are worried about a 3 putt bogey.

[Jim N]

Short shot over bunker into narrow green that slopes away from you into water, and an overhanging tree can limit how high you can loft your pitch depending on how far behind the bunker you are.

There's a par 3 on a course I play occasionally where from the tee there is water short and to the right, bunker to the left, so the better miss is left, and you're then faced with that nasty look if you steer too far away from the water hazard. I've put at least one or two second shots into the drink there, whereupon you have to try to execute the same shot again. Stuff of nightmares.

[LinksgolfFever]

it's a 2-way tie for me.  The 6'-8' birdie putt seems much harder to make than the same putt for par, the other one is that hard pan bunker shot, start thinking like a chip and that equals a heavy shot or still trying to use the bounce like a bunker shot and catching it thin.....It makes the game so much less boring when you don't know what'll come next.....LOL

[aguybadatgolf]

Short sided on a narrow green with a bunker between you and the green. Can’t let the rough kill it because you’ll go in the bunker if it’s not just right. If you land it too close to the pin it’s rolling off the green. Has to be the perfect flop shot or you’re not putting. 
 

The other one I personally struggle with is long par 3s. I have a couple friends who are new to golf so to make our rounds more competitive I’ll play the back tees and they play the middle. I had a 245 yard par 3 this past weekend where I hit the 3H of my life into the middle of the green and it just rolled off the back. Normally I top it 60 yards and have a very long up and down

[GolfSpy_KFT]

32 minutes ago, aguybadatgolf said:

Short sided on a narrow green with a bunker between you and the green. Can’t let the rough kill it because you’ll go in the bunker if it’s not just right.
 

I had a nearly identical shot to this yesterday on the first hole except I had room to work behind the pin, but it was up on a mound on the green short sided to me so too far past and you’re rolling away at least 12’. Tried to finesse a 60° and didn’t hit it hard enough, landed in the bunker. Got up and down out of the bunker to save bogey thankfully. 

[aguybadatgolf]

15 minutes ago, Jnoble89 said:

I had a nearly identical shot to this yesterday on the first hole except I had room to work behind the pin, but it was up on a mound on the green short sided to me so too far past and you’re rolling away at least 12’. Tried to finesse a 60° and didn’t hit it hard enough, landed in the bunker. Got up and down out of the bunker to save bogey thankfully. 

I’m not the best bunker player so I typically will just accept the long putt. One of my go to courses has one green that is long and narrow. At the widest it’s 33 feet (google maps) so your almost always short sided unless you miss long or short. It’s a Donald Ross designed course and it’s greens are brutal and there are always bunkers right where the average player is likely to miss.

Edited August 16, 2023 by aguybadatgolf

[catlo]

These three things are the toughest for me.  I know you asked for the toughest but have to rank these as number 1:  1A, 1B, 1C.  

1A - Green-side, downhill bunker shot 

1B - Playing through slow group in front of you -- from tee to green!

1C- First tee with crowd of the next tee time groups

 

[tony@CIC]

On 8/10/2023 at 8:34 AM, Aur0nX said:

This one. 

This will sound crazy but I actually like that shot. I use a very steep swing and 'spank' the back of the ball and it pops out. I don't try to take sand like a traditional bunker shot and no follow through. It just works for me. 

[stephenfisher]

for me it’s the fist shot on the last hole 

[cksurfdude]

On 8/4/2023 at 9:00 AM, Jnoble89 said:

What is the hardest shot in golf?

This can be objective or subjective, which I think is what makes it a fun question and discussion topic. I am going to choose the latter.

Yeah good point - we need to separate a golf shot that can be a difficult physical challenge (some good examples in earlier posts) to execute well vs a golf shot that can be a difficult mental challenge (haha *most* of them!).

It seems to me in a lot of cases we just put too much (and usually unnecessary) performance pressure on ourselves... Jon Sherman's "For Foundations" is great imho with its section on "Expectations Management".

I've tried to embrace a few simple things on the course to try and reduce / bypass pressuring myself, including...

1. play for bogey (if I get a chance at a par - yea! - but try to avoid blow-up holes); 
2. hit a layup when the odds for me of hitting a green seem low and/or there's lots of trouble around the green;
3. always work on lag putting - be comfortable (at my current level) landing the ball almost anywhere on the green.

 

[RockerFCC]

On 8/4/2023 at 8:23 AM, Vegan_Golfer_PNW said:

FYI. Handy tip I learned. Set club more upright and close the face at address and keep normal stance. Stopped me from slicing that shot a lot. 

This worked for me for a few rounds but as often happen in this wacky sport, it got between my ears LOL. So I started to pull it. My brain knew this, so then if I closed it I'd pull it and if I go normal face push it right I'm fine, really, I am. I'm fine.  I just go square now and it doesn't put that in my head, but that is just me.

[RockerFCC]

On 8/16/2023 at 6:22 PM, stephenfisher said:

for me it’s the fist shot on the last hole 

Only if it means I will have a personal best  Otherwise that is one of my favorite shots, but I do get it.

[RockerFCC]

On 8/10/2023 at 10:19 AM, TG8 said:

Short chip Over bunker or water with the pin tucked. No green to work with. Impossible

Take the extra stroke and get it back later. Or... Maybe, every once in a while, pull off the impossible. Just do it safely, if you wanna try it. 

[YamYam]

Trying to hit a fade out of semi-rough when you need to and you can't get the clubhead to the ball.

[billybogey]

Walking to Forward Tee's on 1st; hoping you hit down the middle & being close to the Dudes who it a Ton from the Blues!!. You definitely STFU if you do; & quietly go YES!! 

[Rhatz]

Like Johnny Miller said: The hardest shot in golf is the one right after a shank.

[tarrantian]

A big 'depends' - But I find most who are north of a 5 index struggle with consistent shots out of greenside bunkers. I would hazard that for most, 8/10 are mediocre at best without a realistic opportunity at a sand save, I would also argue that for most north of a 10 index your % to get up and down from a green side bunker is probably 1/10...

Thoughts?? 

[PJVicary]

The next one! That’s why they call it golf.

[acatalano32]

For ME, apparently the hardest shot is <100yds in the middle of the fair way after a great drive…

actual hard shot would be when the ball settles up against the collar of rough around the green, I hate those shots so much lol 

[Bulldog]

Two hard shots for me - 

1. When you have a good round going and hit a solid drive on 18, then have to hit an approach shot over the water to a tight green. It’s like the movie “Tin Cup.” I play a hole like this every week at our local course. 
2. Really short chips from the rough. I struggle with accelerating the club head on those. 

[ChiefMikeOfficer]

First tee, in front of a crowd, hitting 3 after already piping a ball OB or in the water -- tons of pressure not to do it again. 

That's mentally the hardest, but really it's just a stock driver. What I think is actually the hardest to hit: short-sided chip, off of a downslope, from the rough -- with some extra difficulty points for the green sloping away. 

[Markjr100]

The hardest shot in golf is on the tee box with the group that just let you play through watching!!

[Ward Jackson]

The 40 to 50 yard bunker shot.