The Greatest Shot With Every Club

The greatest shot ever hit. It's impossible to know because every shot is so different. Some value a clutch putt, others value difficulty. So I've come up with a list of the greatest shots ever hit with each club. Let's dive right in with Driver. It was the first major played in over a year, so everyone wanted it just that much more. There were two holes to play, seven people within one shot of the lead. No one could pull away. Great shot. Until a 23-year-old in his first year on tour made Eagle, pulled away from the field, and became a major champion, winning by two over the likes of Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Bryson, and Scottie Scheffler, just a year after graduating from school, not 20 minutes from there. It's insane to me that the best drive of all time comes from a shorter hitter like young Colin, but when it comes to power, this next guy definitely has it. After squandering his lead with a water ball on the 16th, Rory was in a position where birdie forced a playoff. But Rory wasn't thinking playoff. Tiger shot 62 two years ago, he had a beautiful... I'm gonna hit the greatest three-wood of all time to eight feet apparently. But of course, because it's Rory, he missed his eagle putt. Stevie Williams once said, it's not a great shot unless you make the putt. Well Gene Sarazen found a way around this. Don't putt. As we now know, the Masters is filled with incredible moments every year. Well, the first of those moments came in 1935 in the second ever playing of the Masters. Gene Sarazen, down three, erases it in one shot. Albatross on the 15th hole. It would end up being the difference to get into a Monday 36-hole playoff. We used to play proper golf where Sarazen dominated, winning by five and becoming the first ever winner of the modern career Grand Slam. I know what you're thinking, are all these moments going to be big stars in big tournaments? No, but here's Jack in the 1972 US Open at Pebble Beach. The sea was angry that day, my friends, like an old man trying to send soup back to a deli. He got up to the tee as this great beast of a hole stood before him. I tell you, it were 60 stories tall if it were a foot. It let out this great gale of a wind as if sensing his presence. He said, easy, big fella, as he pulled out his one iron. Well then, from out of nowhere, a huge swing lifted the ball, hit it off the cork, and he found himself right on top of the pit. He could barely see from the waves crashing down upon him, but he knew something was there. So he walked up to the green, strutted around, and tapped in the obstruction. Is that a Titleist? Oh yes they did Jerry. They were all over him. It was like Rocky won. Barbara threw her arms around him and kissed him. They both had tears streaming down their faces. He never saw anyone so beautiful and it was in that moment he decided to tell her that was the greatest one iron ever hit. As for two irons, the entire list is Tiger. All of them. So, instead of just picking one shot, I'm just going to take the entire 2006 Open Championship. Why was a guy who never showed emotions crying? Two months prior, Earl Woods, Tiger's father, lost his battle with cancer. Earl always got on Tiger's case about thinking his way around the golf course. He hit driver one time off the tee on the 72 holes, opting mostly for his two iron. And it was the most accurate driving performance he's ever had in a major championship. Hitting a staggering 87% of fairways. This strategy led him to his third Open and 11th major championship. And that guy, the guy who just won an Open, playing with only his long irons, says this is the greatest shot he's ever hit. How stupid do you have to be to hit a three iron below your feet in the bunker over some trees 210 yards? Well, if you're Tiger Woods, there are no stupid shots because apparently he can do anything. He hits it to 11 feet, pays off his birdie, There's no wonder he calls it the greatest shot he's ever hit. Beating this guy already seems hard enough, having to chase him down seems impossible. Unless you're Y.E. Yang, Tiger Nervous. Y.E. Yang said these words to his caddie while standing on the last fairway leading by one, and what would follow would be the shot that ends Tiger's perfect 14 of 14 record when leading a major championship through 54 holes. Yang took hybrid instantly became The only man to ever chase down Tiger Woods. What many people don't remember about that major, it was the first time many of us in the States saw a young 20-year-old by the name Rory McIlroy. Finishing third, it would be the first top five of his major career, and in this career, he hit some top-tier shots to win some top-tier tournaments. After a crushing defeat in the U.S. Open to the Banana Slicer, ahead of the Open Championship, he went and played the Scottish Open. Needing a birdie for the win, but the wind was doing him no favors. 22 miles per hour, dead into his face. Ultimately deciding to hit a low, punchy 4-iron. It sets up this 8-footer that he makes to win. If you think that was a good ending to a golf tournament, what about a fourth sudden death playoff hole with three people still in it? Buzzer beaters, walk-off grand slams, Hail Marys. I still can't think of a better way to win. It was getting dark and they agreed to one more playoff hole or else they would just come back tomorrow morning. They opted for the par 3 17th just to make sure they were able to get it in before the sun set. Jonathan Bird left no doubt whether or not they were going to get it in. Five iron, hole in one in a sudden death playoff to end it. The only way if you could ever top that is if it were a major and somehow at an iconic venue like the Masters is. And maybe it's a more iconic hole. Maybe you put some trees in the way you don't quite hole it. Are we following along with where I'm going here? In one of the most emotional wins in recent memory, after taking many months off and skipping a major to take care of his wife, Phil the Thrill still didn't play it safe. Trees all around, championship on the line. I can't Get around how insane of a decision this was. Up two in the Masters, you can easily punch out and still give yourself a pretty good look at birdie. Instead, you bring all of the trouble into play. But when you pull it off, your decision making never comes into question. He goes on to win and is surprised by his wife on the 18th green. Augusta National's second nine par fives are the best in the sport, so it's not a surprise that for this next hole we're just moving two holes later to the 15th hole, seven iron. It's the best Sunday our sport has ever seen, hands down. The biggest star in the sport trying to win the biggest tournament in our sport for the first time. To complete the goal he set out for as a kid, and he wasn't making it easy on himself. But there's a reason Jim Nance called this a shot And the best 7-iron. Now, this next one will cause some controversy because it's technically a seven iron, not an eight iron, but in today's lofts, it is an eight iron, and I couldn't leave it off this list because I firmly believe it is the best shot ever hit. US Open rough, over a tree, over a cliff, every other person in the field would have just punched out sideways, but it wasn't a fair fight that week. Tiger Woods gets in there, 205 yards up the hill. Eight iron and makes eagle. Look at this. Look at this. His strength is not an advantage. It's just not a fair fight. You were right, Raj. It simply wasn't a fair fight. If you think US Open rough is bad, what about being in a bunker with a lip right in front of you and you need par? Matt Fitzpatrick doesn't lay up. Instead, takes his nine iron on the 72nd hole of a US Open, pulling off this shot to close out Scottie Scheffler and Will Zalatoris to become a major champion. 160-yard 9-iron is kind of lame, though. How about 185-yard wedge? This shot is so insane, even when the commentators saw what club he was using, they still assumed he was pitching out. But for Tiger Woods, 185-yard wedge out of 3-inch rough, that's just another day in the office. But why go over trees when you can go around them? Picture this. You're in the trees, and your master's hopes just went down the drain, unless you pull off some miracle snap hook gap wedge around the trees to make birdie. The only thing that could have made this better is when he was down to one last miracle, he holed it. She made Eagle to force a playoff with world number one Ginny Titticum on the last hole. Then put it in the water on the first playoff hole. All of it for nothing. But it was Grace Kim's week I guess. She holds it off the drop to force another playoff hole and then makes Eagle again to win. She went Eagle. Birdie hole-out eagle to win her first major. It's the most incredible finish to a major championship I have ever seen. The chip-in was easily the best shot, but this chip-in was even better. In one of Greg Norman's many heartbreaks, this shot still stands out. Larry Mize had one of the most difficult chips you could get on the property. Extremely fast, water behind the pin, perched green, the Georgia Boys championship seemed all but over. And then he got to put on the garment that every kid from Georgia dreams of wearing. You'd think by 2005, we wouldn't be surprised by anything Tiger Woods could do with a golf club. And yet, we still were. They said he would have a hard time getting this inside of DeMarco's ball. What do they know? This is Tiger Woods. We shouldn't be shocked anymore with what Tiger Woods can do. And yet, the commentators still were. Would suck. And finally, putter. It was hard for me to choose between two putts and they're probably not two you're expecting. They were both on the same golf course. Cam Smith took it around the bunker to get up and down in possibly the greatest putting performance ever to win the Open at the Old Course. But it's Konstantina Roka who takes the cake. Old Tom Morris named it the Valley of Sin because of its ability to turn birdies into bogeys if you hit it down there. Needing a birdie himself, Constantino Rocha tragically put it in the valley of sin. And even if he were to make an incredible two putt from down there, he would still lose by one. 60 feet from the hole, it had to go in to force a playoff. And it did. He ended up losing the playoff, but it's still the greatest putt ever. Every one of these shots changed a tournament, created a moment, or altered someone's career. That's what makes this game impossible to walk away from, and that's what makes it impossible to know, definitively, what the greatest shot ever is. And even with my list, there are still so many incredible shots that I couldn't include. So follow, subscribe, and tell me how I'm an idiot for not putting your favorite on there.