12 Most Annoying Golf Shots

As anyone who has played the game will know, there often is a fine line between a good shot and disaster. However, there are some shots you hit that just seem to get you even hotter under the collar than others. From skying drives to the dreaded shank, in the video and article below we run through our list of the 12 most annoying golf shots!

12. Airmailing the green

You've got yourself in a good position off the tee and can think about attacking the flag to get a precious birdie. You then make your calculations for what club to hit but unfortunately you've got them wrong. You think you've hit a good shot but before you know it you've flown the green into some bushes.

11. Three-putting for par

Usually this happens on a short par-4 or a par-5 you're able to reach in two. You've hit a great shot, or a couple of them, and the hard bit is supposed to be done. But then in the blink of an eye you're walking to the next tee seething because of the par you've had to write on the scorecard. It should have been an eagle or birdie!

10. Leaving your ball in a bunker

Hitting a good shot out of a bunker is a fine line between taking the perfect amount of sand, too little, or too much. For amateurs the last shot is more common, which results in leaving your ball in the bunker, in either the exact same spot you'd just played from, or a plugged lie further up the face of the bunker.

9. Lip outs & bounce outs

Golf is a brutally difficult sport that regularly tests a person's patience and will power. The good breaks never outweigh the bad, which is why it is incredibly annoying when you are convinced you've holed a putt, only to see it lip out or hit the flag and stay above ground.

8. Duffing chips

This is very easy to do, especially if you're faced with a shot from a tight lie over a bunker or a hazard. But that doesn't make them any easier to deal with. In fact, a duffed chip is probably one of the most demoralising you can hit. More often than not these shots are also utter card-wreckers and do nothing positive for our moods.

7. Skying tee shots

This sometimes doesn't matter all that much in terms of the scorecard, but it is annoying because of the damage it tends to inflict on our golf clubs. It always seems to happen to our favourite old clubs too and the sky mark is there for eternity to act as a constant reminder.

6. Missing short putts

From about 18 inches, we should never really miss a putt but it does happen. The main reason for this is players not paying enough attention to the putt because they think it's a foregone conclusion. It's happened to everyone who plays the game at one point or another, but that doesn't make it any less annoying.

5. Mucking up recovery shots

Too many of us want to take on the heroic recovery shot when we have found trouble. The sensible play is almost always to chip out into the fairway but we rarely do this. As a result we take on the tough shot, put ourselves in more trouble and then question why we didn't just chip out in the first place.

4. Leaving putts short

The old saying 'never up, never in' is valid here and this shot gets even more annoying if we are lucky enough to have a putt for birdie.

3. Going out of bounds

This is annoying for several reasons; chief among which is the fact you have to reload and attempt to hit the shot again. This is not only terrible for your scorecard as it's likely to cost you a double-bogey or worse, but also because it probably means you've needlessly gifted a shiny premium golf ball to the course.

2. Thinning bunker shots

This shot is high up our list because the results of this can be truly disastrous. You could thin it over the back of the green into trees, bushes, water and out-of-bounds. Or you could thin the ball into the face of the bunker. If it flies into the air it will then plug back into the bunker and in some instances the ball can get stuck in the face of the bunker too.

1. The shank

Better known as the unmentionable, the shank is truly destructive and annoying. Not only does it negatively impact your scorecard but also your mind as you don't know where it came from or where the next one is coming. This makes the next shot very difficult indeed.