Taking the Tin Cup Shot

Today I played a round of golf at Tubac Golf Resort in Southern Arizona. I had a great time playing and there are a number of interesting things about this course:

• Parts of the movie Tin Cup were shot on this course  and you can play one of the "impossible shots" seen in the film.
• Your first tee shot on the Rancho nine (the course has 27 holes, the Otero, Anaz and Rancho nines, we played Rancho/Otero) is made (literally) from a bull pen with a live bull in it (see the lower-left image in the graphic below, this is not BS but there was a lot of it around the first tee). Luckily, he's a pretty sleepy, over-weight guy--but not to be messed with or hit with an errant drive!
• This weekend, they are having a classic car show to be staged on the practice range. One of street machines arrived as we were leaving (see the lower-right image in the graphic below).

The most notorious "impossible shot" scene from Tin Cup is where Roy "Tin Cup" McAvoy (played by Kevin Costner in the video above) has a chance to win the US Open (an impossible dream for Roy McAvoy, heavy drinking, down-and-out driving-range golf pro from West Texas). Instead of playing a sensible lay-up shot, Roy goes for the "impossible" 240-yard 3-wood shot over water, puts that one and a bunch more into the water to end up with a score of 12 on the hole (it was a par 5) to loose the tournament.

Earlier in the movie, Roy actually did make a similar impossible shot. That earlier scene was filmed at the Tubac Golf Resort (from the website):

Rancho # 4 - This long par 5, Tubac’s Tin Cup hole, requires three well struck shots to reach the green. Keep tee and second shots on the fairway’s right side, away from the trees and thick rough on the left. The pond fronting the green prevents all but the longest hitters from getting “home” in two. This hole was the setting for the scene in the movie “Tin Cup” where Kevin Costner was caddying for Don Johnson and Johnson wanted to lay up with a seven iron. Costner said he could do it and that is when Gary McCord, Peter Kostis, Craig Stadler and a young Phil Mickelson began to wager on whether or not he could pull it off.

On the Rancho #4 hole at the Tubac Golf Resort a plaque is set in the right rough, 240-yards over water to the pin. The plaque (upper-left image in the graphic above) says:

"Tin Cup-3 Wood" From this Spot "Roy McAvoy" hit it onto the green. GIVE IT A SHOT. 10-4-75

There were a handful of divots beside the plaque in the rough and it was a challenge I had to take. (Some background: I'm not really a great 3-wood player and seldom hit it from the fairway but in this case I was able to fluff the ball up on a tuft of grass in the rough so it was worth the try). My goal was to hit the ball into the water hazard (this would have been quite a poke for me since I can probably realistically hit the 3-wood between 210- and 220-yards) and say I took the tin cup shot.

I hit a pretty good shot but ended up well short of the water hazard (see the upper-right image in the graphic above). After the round, my playing partner asked the starter if any of the members have ever made the shot. He answered: "Hell no, they're all too old and none of them actually hit their driver 240-yards." Well, there you have it, another Bucket List checkmark: 

[X] Take the Tin Cup shot.

(My actual score on Rancho #4, after laying up with a 7-wood, was 5).