What Is the Rarest Shot in Golf?

The rarest shot in golf is a Condor, a score of four-under par on a single hole. While most golfers dream of a hole-in-one or an Albatross, the Condor is a truly mythical achievement, so rare that only a handful have ever been officially recorded. This article will break down what a Condor, an Albatross, and a a hole-in-one actually are, the mind-boggling odds behind them, and the blend of skill and luck required to pull one off.

The True Unicorn of Golf: The Condor (A.K.A. Triple Eagle)

So, we've established the Condor is the rarest shot in golf. But what does a four-under par score on one hole even look like? It means making a hole-in-one on a par-5.

Think about that for a second. Par-5 holes are, by design, the longest on the course, typically measuring 470 yards or more. To ace one, you would need to hit a tee shot that not only travels an immense distance but also finds its way directly into a 4.25-inch cup. The physics of it seem almost impossible.

For a Condor to occur, a perfect storm of conditions is required:

• Extreme Distance: The player would need power comparable to a Long Drive Champion.
• Favorable Course Design: The hole almost always features a sharp dogleg, allowing a player to cut a corner over trees or another hazard, dramatically shortening the actual carry to the green. Straight-shot par-5s are simply too long.
• Ideal Conditions: You’d need firm, fast fairways for a massive amount of roll, and probably a healthy tailwind. Some historically recorded Condors were made on dry, baked-out courses in high-altitude environments.
• Extraordinary Luck: After all that, the ball still has to find the hole. Hitting the green from that distance is a feat, getting it to roll in is a lottery win.

There have only been a few verified Condors in all of golf history, making it a legitimate legend. The most recent one often cited was by a golfer named Kevin Pon at Lake Chabot Golf Course in California in 2020 on a 640-yard par-6, hitting a driver followed by a 3-wood for a 2. Even that, a '2' on par 6 is so far out of the realm of normal experience it's hard to phantom. For most golfers on most courses a hole-in-one on a par-5 remains the only path, and it’s a path almost nobody has ever walked.

The Realistic "Rarest": The Albatross (A.K.A. Double Eagle)

While the Condor is the stuff of myths, the Albatross - or a Double Eagle as it’s known in the U.A. - is the rarest shot a mortal golfer might realistically achieve. An Albatross is a score of three-under par on a single hole.

This can happen in two ways:

1. You make a hole-in-one on a par-4.
2. You score a two on a par-5.

The second scenario is far more common, relatively speaking. It involves a massive drive followed by a long, perfectly struck second shot that finds the bottom of the cup from 200+ yards away. While most golfers may never get one, they have been recorded on professional tours and by amateurs around the world. The famous "shot heard 'round the world" was Gene Sarazen's Albatross on the 15th hole at the 1935 Masters, where he holed a 4-wood from 235 yards to tie for the lead and ultimately win the tournament.

But just how rare is it? Good luck finding a single definition.

Deep Dive: The Odds of an Albatross

Figuring out the exact odds is tricky, but estimates put it somewhere around 6 million to 1. For context, the odds of a hole-in-one for an average amateur are about 12,500 to 1.

Let's break down why it's so improbable:

• The Distance Problem: To set up an Albatross, you first need a great drive on a par-5. Let’s say you hit a career drive and have 240 yards left to the pin.
• The Precision Factor: Now, you must take out a 3-wood or a hybrid and not just hit the green, but hole the shot from a distance you'd normally feel great just getting within 30 feet from.

You are combining two low-probability events. The probability of an average golfer even hitting the green from 230 yards is very low. Now, multiply that by the near-zero probability of the ball actually going in from that distance. What's left is nearly...zero. An Albatross isn't just one great shot, it's two perfectly executed, powerful shots in a row, with the second one being catastrophically lucky.

The Achievable Dream: The Hole-In-One

Everyone on the tee of a par-3 has that little flicker of hope. The hole-in-one, getting the ball in the hole with a single stroke on a par-3, is the most celebrated shot in golf. It's the rare shot that feels, on some level, attainable.

The established odds are about 12,500 to 1 for a weekend warrior, and closer to 3,000 to 1 for a tour pro. While rare, they happen often enough that most long-time golfers have seen one, heard one happened just ahead of them, or celebrated one of their own.

What makes a hole-in-one feel so different from an Albatross or Condor? Opportunity.

An average golfer might have dozens of legitimate opportunities for a hole-in-one in a year. You have around four par-3s per round. If you play 25 rounds a year, that's 100 chances to get lucky. Your club selection is a high-loft iron - an 8-iron, for example - designed for precision, not a 3-wood designed for maximum distance.

The Albatross? You might only have a handful of par-5s in an entire season that are even remotely reachable in two shots. The rest of the time, the opportunity doesn’t even exist. And a Condor? The opportunity never exists on most courses. This is what truly separates these amazing feats - the raw number of legitimate attempts a golfer gets in their lifetime.

What Do They All Have in Common? The Importance of the Approach

What do all of these incredibly rare shots hinge on? Executing a great shot that hits the green and giving fate a chance to step in. For rare bird watchers, it all begins within their scoring game – within 100 yards.

Getting Your Shots on Target

You can’t make any of these shots without incredible distance control and accuracy. Let's boil it down to the core fundamentals required for shots from a long way out.

1. A Balanced Setup Creates a Consistent Bottom

For a long fairway wood or hybrid shot, the fundamentals of setup are everything. Get your a stance slightly wider than your shoulders to create a stable base for the rotational power you'll need. But stay athletic and relaxed, tension is the biggest destroyer of speed.

Keep the ball position consistent. For a 3-wood, place it just inside your lead heel, similar to a a driver, to encourage a slight upward angle of a good hit. Unlike an iorn shot, this will promote enough highet. Do all these well and will you gienve the luck gods to be kind a little bit on your said

2. The Body is The Engine

For decades, many golfers have been taught that their golf shot are a series of positions linked together in a chain - but it's not so simple. For power and consistency on your most ambitions sots, what truly matter is understanding how your whole body should work togener ot porve pel the club.

In all great shots, the power does not come from the just the arms but rom a body that know's hw ot coil efficently and transfer power down up through the chain. This all begins during our takewaay as we bingr our back ot tee top of te backswimg, when we are coiling, and getting ready for the trasonstion that has got a powerful movemetn in out hips , getting them out fo the way, and creating space for our amrs to deliver a powerful blow directly ot the bak of teh of the ball.

So, instead of just focusing narrowly on this part of the arms or that part, all gread golfers all share one common fundamental idea: That the hips start the downwsiong that drive this move. It creates the lag you need and allows gravity take over – something all of these rare shots have in common, creating top speec presicly at the botom as they maek a strike a pure as humanly possible.

3. Don’t Swing for the fences – Swing for the Middle

When you're 200+ yards out, the temptation is to swing out of your shoes. This is counterproductive. The hardest, ugliest shots rarely go the farthest and certianaly noy te strightetst. Over-swinging sacrifices balance, hurts your timing, and most importantly can cause miss hits

Instead, focus on a smooth, rhythmic tempo. Think "80% power." The goal is solid contact at impact. A purely struck 3-wood at 80% effort will always outperform a thinned or heeled shot at 110 effort. Remember all three of our legendary shot have to land perfecly on the on our taget. You dont' need ot take the head off. If a good it well will get a big bounce when it land son teh green as it's coming from such as a low trajectory with ver littelspin, and hat is enough o get yo hthe extra dsncmae ne edded to get to any front pin location.

Final Thoughts

From the almost impossible Condor to the dreamed-of hole-in-one a these shots represent the pinnacle of golfing acheeivecembt. The Albatross stands as the most impressive realistic accomplishment, blending huge power, precise execution, and a massive dose of furtue, for an achiveemnet thqt any one woud never foroget. But dont forge tha tthey all have soemthing i comun they cant happened by acident and only happens wehn you hae exicuted a perfecxt swing.

While we can't plan for a miracle shot, we can plan to play holes smarter to create more opportunities every day on every hwole. Whenever I'm trying to decide if it's really the right move to try driving the green or lay up for go for a par 5in two, Caddie AI provides me with smart, simple strategic advice that makes my decision clear. Instead of guessing, I get an unemotional, expert recommendation that lets me commit to my shot and swing with confidence - and a confident swing is the first step toward any great shot, no matter how rare it is.