Halloween Horrors: The Scariest Shots In Golf

In the spirit of Halloween, we’ve compiled an unsettling list of the scariest shots in golf. If you’re spooked by shanks or get squeamish at the sight of a sidehill lie best look away now, because these 12 golfing nightmares will send a shudder up your spine.

1. THE 40-50M BUNKER SHOT

One of the most dreaded shots in golf, the long bunker shot is the stuff of nightmares for golfers of every skill level. The shot is the most confusing in golf: should you take a bigger swing and slide a nine iron under the ball like a regular bunker shot, or is picking it clean out of the sand like a pitch shot the better approach to take? Prevailing wisdom suggests the former, but that doesn’t make the shot any less intimidating.

2. PLAYING THROUGH A GROUP SHOT

You’ve been waiting behind an interminably slow group for a few holes now, watching as they wander in and out of the bush in search of lost balls. The frustration is creeping in as you realise this round is going to be a long and slow one. Eventually you receive the wave signalling you to play through and suddenly it’s go time. But for some reason, the shot you always seem to hit when playing through a group is either a cold top, or one that ends up in the same trouble the group waving you through found.

3. WATER CARRY ON A PAR 3

A par three with a water carry is a nerve-wracking, knee-knocking experience for many golfers. The wet stuff guarding the front of the green seems to turn what should be a straightforward shot into an absolute stress-fest. Taking extra club can reduce anxiety but carrying a body of water seems to upend rhythm and inhibit hand-eye coordination in a most peculiar way.

4. APPROACH TO AN ELEVATED GREEN

Unless the slope function on your rangefinder has already figured it out for you, elevation changes are difficult to judge. Complicating things further is that an approach to an elevated green is often blind. The shot you’re about to hit will be playing longer, but by exactly how much? The worst part is, if you come up short, the ball often rolls right back to where you’re standing. Take two!

5.  THE FOLLOW-UP AFTER A SHANK

You’ve just hit a hosel rocket, a truly horrifying experience for any golfer. Then your mind begins to race as you prepare for the next shot: was that just unlucky or am I too far inside on my downswing? Doubt begins to creep in, the intrusive thoughts come thick and fast and you pray in hope that the next shot isn’t another soul-destroying Sherman tank.

6. TEE SHOT ON FIRST HOLE

You’re not quite loose yet and you can feel the eyes staring at you already. It’s quiet as the throng surrounding the first tee waits for you to launch your ball. You pick out your target down the fairway but the adrenaline is pumping and your nerves are jangling. What could possibly go wrong? Plenty, it would seem. Your jerky first swing unleashes a cold top in a horror opening to your round.

7. BALL BELOW FEET SHOT

The extreme sidehill lie is difficult at the best of times but when you’ve got a wedge in hand — the shortest iron in the bag besides the putter for most golfers — everything just seems ultra-awkward. The ball is so far below your feet that presenting the hosel rather than the club face seems almost a preordained outcome. However, levelling your shoulders to match the slope is the best way to avoid a visit to Shank-city, which is an extremely undesirable and unpleasant golfing locale to find yourself in.

8. BARE LIE FLOP SHOT

Short siding yourself is never ideal because it usually calls for a flop shot in order to stop the ball stone dead on the green. A juicy lie where the ball is sitting up perfectly will allow you to slide the open face of the club under the ball to send it skyward, increasing the odds of success. But if you have the misfortune to snag a bare, dry lie, only the most perfectly nipped shot will lead to a positive outcome. Anything less than perfection and you’ll thin it across the green or chunk it so bad your playing partners will be calling you Chunky Brewster.

9. TEE SHOT ON A DOGLEG REQUIRING A DRAW

You’ve been hitting a reliable fade off the tee all day but the hole ahead of you is asking for a hooping draw to navigate the dogleg. Drawing the ball is a bit of a dark art for most golfers and priming yourself to hit one to wrap around a dogleg is extremely demanding. Sweaty palms and a tentative, from-the-inside swing are the perfect partners for a massive block —the polar opposite of what you were attempting to achieve and a rather deflating experience.

10. DOWNHILL DOUBLE BREAKER

Downhill putts often give golfers the Heebee Jeebies because of their tendency to induce a three-putt. But when a downhill putt also incorporates sloping areas of the green that run in opposing directions, it becomes terrifyingly hairy. A slight misread of the break in one section sees the mistake compounded in the next section, which can make your attempt look downright silly and makes a visit the Kingdom of Three-putt almost inevitable.

11. TEE SHOT WITH O.B. LEFT AND RIGHT

The Out of Bounds stakes are visible down the left while the course’s boundary fence is uncomfortably close on the right. There’s plenty of space down the middle, though, but the fear ratchets up as you tee up the ball and the pucker factor is palpable. A steery, tentative swing sees the ball slide off the face and results in a visit to OB town.

12. THE GIMME PUTT TO WIN

Winning at golf is never easy and just the thought of winning is enough to cause the most composed golfer to descend into a seething ball of uptight, nervous energy. As Johnny Miller often said, “that’s pressure, Rog”. The moment of greatest pressure often comes when you have a putt to win. It might be one you’d make with your eyes closed on the practice green, but the internal pressure you’re feeling leads to a jabby stroke and a nasty miss. Winning asks questions even the best golfers can struggle to answer (Anirban Lahiri’s putt to win LIV Valderrama and Rory’s US Open gimme on the 16^th highlight this sad but unavoidable fact).