Masterful five-wood for a green jacket

Greatest Shots:Number 25 ... Ray Floyd: 1976 Masters

He didn't always do it, but there were times when Raymond Floyd could simply take your breath away. Even Jack Nicklaus, the golfing king of his day, would concur. "When he's hot," Jack would say, "Raymond is unbeatable." And, as he did for four days at the US Masters in the April of 1976, if he got his driver working the way he wanted, he really was unstoppable.

Floyd's visit to Augusta that year was to be the high point of his career. He led the major from start-to-finish, imposing his will on all others. When he signed his card at the end of the 72 holes, it was to give him a then record 17-under-par total, equalling the mark set 11 years earlier by Nicklaus. Floyd was a runaway winner, by eight shots over Ben Crenshaw, a mark which stood until Tiger Woods ran away from the field in 1997 and had 12 shots to spare over everyone.

But Woods' subsequent exploits don't take anything from what Floyd did over those four days. Floyd has often credited his success that week to his mastery of fairway woods, particularly the five-wood which had been added to his bag just a week beforehand. He used the woods primarily on Augusta National's four par five holes - the second, eighth, 13th and 15th - and, in his four trips through those particular holes, he notched up an incredible 12 birdies, one eagle and three pars.

There was something about Floyd that week. Nearly every time he played one of the par fives, he would reach it in two. His tee-shot would nearly always find the right spot, not just on the fairway but on the right plateau. Nearly always, that is. On one occasion, his drive didn't find the right spot and it was then, Floyd would argue, he played the most ambitious shot of his career.

It came in the third round, on the 13th hole which is the final hole of the stretch known as Amen Corner, where Rae's Creek winds it ways down the left hand side of the fairway and meanders in front of the green. Floyd, hoping to draw his tee-shot around the corner of the right-to-left dogleg, pushed it slightly so that his ball came to rest near the base of two tall pine trees.

It put him into what is known as the decision zone. Does he lay-up? Or does he go for the green in two? Floyd faced a carry of 200 yards over Rae's Creek, but that wasn't the only problem that confronted him. He had a steep, uphill lie with the ball 12 inches above his stance.

"Actually, at the time," he would recall, "I didn't think the shot was risky at all. But a week later, when I saw some videotapes of the tournament, I couldn't believe my eyes. I should never have attempted the shot I played. It just goes to show how positive my thinking was that week."

The pin that day was cut front right and, in his mind, Floyd felt that if he decided to lay up, he would still be faced with a difficult chip over the water. So he went for the five-wood that had served him so well all week.

"I remember telling myself that, if I could hit it as well as I had been, then I could carry the ball into the left trap and, from there, I could easily make par and possibly birdie."

It was a long carry for a five-wood, about 210 yards into the wind. At the time, he was three shots in front of Hubert Green, who was mounting a charge.

Two holes earlier, Floyd had made double-bogey six on the 11th, and it was essential that he had to execute this shot perfectly if he was to prevent further trouble.

As soon as he hit his five-wood, he knew it was perfect. "My God, you've flushed it," he said out loud to himself. In fact, his thoughts started to race away with themselves. He thought he had hit it too well and that it would go over its intended target - the sand trap - and into the heavy grass beyond, leaving a perilous chip back down the green towards the creek.

But he was wrong. The ball barely made the bunker, and he played a sand shot to tap-in range to increase his lead and put him into a position of strength that was never to be threatened.

At the end of the series, readers will be able to vote for their Five Greatest Golf Shots Ever. The reader whose selection corresponds with the shots selected by an Irish Times panel will enter a draw to win a custom-fit Titleist 975J Driver.