The Shot of the Year?
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Millions of people have watched the video of Matt Wheatcroft’s “shot of the year”. TG talked to him…
Here is a sneak preview of the exclusive interview with the 25-handicapper Matt Wheatcroft about that shot – a rebound off a fencepost!
Do you play miracle recovery shots every day?
You must be joking. I don’t even play golf every week. I play off 25 and rarely practice. I usually just turn up and attempt to hit the ball off the 1st tee. If it goes straight, then I will end up having a decent day. If it goes right, then I am in a mess.
So playing alongside ex-Ryder Cup star Brian Barnes must have been pretty nerve-wracking…
I was shaking. I walked onto our 1st tee hoping that I wouldn’t look like an idiot on TV or hit someone in the crowd. Then, somehow, I birdied my opening hole.
Impressive start…
It totally threw me. I was so amazed at being 1-under that I picked the wrong club on the 2nd. I used a 9-iron instead of a pitching wedge and my ball flew miles over the green. The marshal put his thumbs up to tell me I was in bounds, but when I got up to my ball I discovered I was six-inches from a fence post. It’s at this point the video starts.
In the video, we see you talking to Brian Barnes. Can you recall the conversation?
I told him I was thinking about going for the ricochet off the fence post. ‘Chip out sideways,’ he replied; reckoning it was better to lose a shot than my left eye. I ignored him, went with my gut instinct and hammered it off the post.
For the full interview see page 11 of TG issue 317, on sale 26th December 2013.