How Google Earth made this pro aim directly at the trees
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Dawson Armstrong had missed the cut two weeks ago at the Korn Ferry Challenge. He was done after only two rounds, after not playing for three-plus months due to golfâs coronavirus hiatus. He was mad. He went online.Â
He found a loophole. A cheat code.Â
The 5th hole at the King & Bear Golf Course, site of last weekâs King & Bear Classic, dog-legs nearly 90 degrees right about a third of the way into its 546 yards, with trees, sand and water guarding against a corner cut. Itâs potentially a long second shot into the par-5.Â
Armstrong stuck his tee in the ground, shuffled his feet 45 degrees right and aimed at a batch of trees.Â
Just over those trees is the 6th green and the 6th fairway. Or a short iron into the 5th. Itâs risky. Itâs rewarding. He eagled it during the second round and birdied it during the first, third and fourth rounds.    Â
âI saw it when I missed the cut last week â yeah, fun times last week,â Armstrong said. âI was just doing a little mapping out of the course just to see what shots you want to hit. I realized the fairways are pretty big here, and I look on Google Earth â itâs obviously a satellite views of the holes â and I see that itâs 280, 275 to the back of the green on 6, and itâs 70 yards wide from hazard to out of bounds and the fairway up there is 40 yards wide and you have 130 yards in. I thought, well, shoot, if the trees arenât too tall, then might as well give it a try in the practice rounds.â
He gave it a try. Couple other players did too. The trees werenât too tall.Â
âEverytime we played it, we had about eight golf balls on that hole â myself and a few other guys tried it as well. We havenât had a single ball in the hazard, out of bounds,â Armstrong said.Â
âWell, I think itâs a good play if you want to take a risk. I donât know, that was kind of a fun jump-start to the round.â
Armstrong finished the tournament tied for 37th. He had entered the final round tied for third.Â
âWhatâs really funny is, if anyone was out there watching on hole No. 5, itâs such a â in hindsight, itâs a smart play, because there is so much room up there on No. 6. But if youâre just looking at it blind off the tee on No. 5, itâs such a dumb play,â Armstrong said. âWe just take it over the trees on 5 and go about 45 degrees to the right of the fairway, and take it over there and about have a wedge in.âÂ