OT: Googlemap of Bubba Watsons' shot.
This might be the best shot ever taken at the Masters.
http://media.247sports.com/Uploads/Assets/771/464/464771.jpg
April 14th, 2012 at 12:10 PM ^
Not impressed. I do that off the tee on every single hole. You just swing as hard as you can.
April 14th, 2012 at 12:19 PM ^
All Bubba had to do was down a deuce of Bud, yell something about how he's going to murder the ball and swing as hard as he could. It's called the "subpar golfer" shot.
April 14th, 2012 at 12:12 PM ^
I hit every drive like that-- goes straight ahead, turns 90 degrees to the right, proceeds.
April 14th, 2012 at 12:42 PM ^
easy to do with a driver - almost impossible to do with a wedge.
That was my brother's comment at the time -
"How the hell did he hit a snap hook with a wedge??"
April 14th, 2012 at 12:28 PM ^
That flight path doesn't look quite ... natural. Although I'd be willing to bet the start & end points are correct, that looks a little funny. Then again, I'm SUPER AWFUL at golf & know nothing. What do you more knowledgeable folk think?
April 14th, 2012 at 12:33 PM ^
It's not accurate at all. There's no way a ball can turn that hard and then straighten out.
April 14th, 2012 at 12:43 PM ^
I'm pretty sure he came out at an angle (not perpandicular to the fairway as the pic would suggest). That said, he turned that ball ridiculously far, especially for a wedge on a 150 yd shot.
I believe you are correct. If this wasn't the case, we'd often see a hacker hit a slice that kept curving until it came back towards him. I've never seen anyone boomerang a ball. No matter how much sidespin you put on the ball, it eventually stops curving.
April 14th, 2012 at 10:00 PM ^
Two men wearing thick rimmed glasses and pocket protectors will be showing up at your door soon to officially confiscate your nerd card.
It's like a curve ball in baseball. It really does curve. How? The spin on the ball makes it plane through the year.
April 14th, 2012 at 12:35 PM ^
This is the view Bubba had taking the shot.. the bunker in front is the far bunker you see on the map
Bubba was facing, I'd likely instead curl up into the fetal position and sob and suck my thumb. THAT was an amazing shot under those circumstances, with an even more amazing result.
April 14th, 2012 at 10:04 PM ^
No matter how good a golfer is, I don't know how comfortable I'd ever be standing in front of him as he attempted to snap hook a wedge off a dodgy lie in the woods.
First of all, that Google Earth picture is nothing but somebody's imagining. And no, golf balls do not hook suddenly and then stop hooking. And no, Bubba's ball did not hook that much.
The photograph above is not down the target line. I appreciate the reference-point of the Mackenzie bunker. (Yes, that bunker on #10 is called the Mackenzie bunker in tribute to the designer of ANGC -- and the University of Michigan Golf Course. ANGC #10 was changed after Mackenzie had died, by his design partner at Michigan, Perry Maxwell.) But Bubba Watson is a player with a notoriously "open" stance and if that photograph were really down the taget line, Bubba would be closing his stance massively. (And actually, you would close your stance to hit a hook.)
But this is all just simply untrue. Yes, he hit a big hook. And hitting a big hook with a wedge is pretty freaky, especially off pine straw and not a fairway. You would be "hooding" the club face, and effectively turning the loft into about a 9-iron.
That ball-flight-path that somebody photoshopped into the picture is total fiction.
Sorry.
April 14th, 2012 at 12:39 PM ^
The blue line probably is not accurate, but my guess is that ball went completely across the fairway as it hooked back towards the green. If you extend it out a little farther it becomes more of a rounded trajectory and becomes a little more believable, especially if you consider the way the ball rolled after it landed (like it was coming from far out on the left of the green).
Either way, from where he was, that shot was nothing short of spectacular!
April 14th, 2012 at 12:43 PM ^
makes that an excellent shot, not the shot itself. For a pro with blades and a urethane ball, its really not that difficult. Plus he's a lefty, so thats a pull hook he hit, which is easier than hitting a fade.
Doing it on Sunday at the Masters is a completely different story, but again, thats more about the situation than the shot itself. If he hit that shot on Thursday, no one would've remembered it once second round play started on Friday.
April 14th, 2012 at 12:54 PM ^
C'mon man.
I have a pretty solid ability at controlling what the ball does based on stance, where it lies in my stance and controlling the face of the club.
To be able to punch-spin the ball like that (has to be a ridiculous spin level and initial ball speed to make this happen) to make it through the trees, then turn over and take the ball path you want makes this probably one of the greatest shots I've seen in a very very long time.
April 14th, 2012 at 10:33 PM ^
Thank goodness it wasn't a stressful situation, though.
April 14th, 2012 at 12:45 PM ^
I know I was impressed after that shot. And I think that's saying something cause I've got WAY more practice hitting from out of the trees than any of those guys.
April 14th, 2012 at 12:53 PM ^
I'm not disagreeing with the fact that the shot was impressive, but as benoit balls said, the pull hook makes it A LOT easier to pull off.
Granted, it's under different circumstances, but I would like to see a "blue line on an aerial photo taken from a funny angle" of this shot by tiger: (forgive me for not knowing how to embed) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEQ9jbRkgaw
April 14th, 2012 at 12:57 PM ^
but this ones better.
to embed, click share.
then embed.
The embed code will come up, but
click options first and make sure "use old embed code" is clicked.
Copy this
Go to your response, underneath the dialog box, there is a "switch to plain text editor".
Click this, copy paste, then save. voilla. Welcome to the blog,
I only post rarely, so remembering this sequence is unlikely. Am I the only one that thinks embedding could be easier? Like Facebook easy? Honest question.
Im guessing most of the people that say they hit shots like that off the tee are right handed. Remember that Bubba is a lefty, so he is actually hitting a huge draw (in plain terms, you would be hitting way left off of the tee from your orientation if you were right handed) not a fade/slice. In golf, it is much harder to get the ball to draw with that trajectory, than it is to fade the ball with that trajectory. 90% of amateur golfers play a fade/slice.
This would be totally cool on one of those ESPN sports science things.
What sort of black magic is this?
Bubba basically hooked the hell out of that ball on purpose to get it to the green? Also, as a non golfer, I think this was the best shot ever at the Masters....
Ok, I think that one wins the thread. Unbelievable.
A classic shot. I think it's tied with Oosthuizen's double eagle from this years tournament though.
(Note. This is the best quality I can find, if you put it in full screen you can follow the shot decently well)