Three-irons out of the bunker. Three-irons on the green. Balls skipped over other balls with his putter. Balls flipped over his head with his putter.
Saturday was the 11th anniversary of the death of Seve Ballesteros, the Spanish shot-making genius. And an old video making the rounds over social media this past week may make you miss him even more. It had the shots above. It had others.
After the two minutes of wizardry, the video even had this nugget, which you can take as you will:
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“So why we need those lofty sand wedges, 60, 62 degrees?” Ballesteros said. “Here we have a 3-iron, and I can show you that it’s possible to chip and pitch. So that’s why I keep saying that the R&A and the USGA, they must look for the rules and change because otherwise the game becomes too easy for those pros out there. So think about that.”
The video starts with the 3-irons out of the bunker, which Ballesteros hit to within a few feet. From there, from in front of the green, he opened up the face of a 3-iron and hit a pitch. He lifted his left leg and hit a ball underneath it.
Then it was on to the putter. From 6 feet away, Ballesteros took the butt end of the club and made a putt with it. Again from 6 feet away, he hit a ball that skipped over a ball in front of it — and missed. He was successful on a second attempt.
“Not so difficult putting, isn’t it?” he said.
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On another 6-foot make, Ballesteros took his putter with his right hand, positioned it behind his right leg and anchored it to his right ankle. He rolled one in conventionally, then turned the putter head 90 degrees and hit — and again missed before making on a mulligan.
“We have to miss one otherwise they won’t believe me,” he said.
Toward the end of the video, from about 40 feet away, Ballesteros took the back end of the putter and flipped a ball over his head. He missed the first. He missed again. He made the third.
“OK, how about that,” Ballesteros said.
It goes without saying that it’s worth a watch, which you can check out below.