By Christopher Powers
If a tour pro is lucky, he may only hit one or two shanks his entire career, and the hope is that it doesn’t happen when there’s a camera around. Unfortunately for Ian Poulter, he’s hit his fair share, and just about all of them have been captured on video, including his latest from the Waste Management Phoenix Open, which came at the worst place possible at TPC Scottsdale.

Late in the afternoon Poulter stepped to the par-3 16th tee three under on the day, when he pulled out an iron and hit a cold-hard shank right into the stands. Check it out, courtesy of PGA Tour Live’s featured hole coverage: 

The Englishman has hit some shanks at some inopportune times in his career, but the 16th at TPC Scottsdale might take the cake. Although, he’s lucky it came so late in the day with the stands close to half empty. We’d fear for his safety if he sent one into the bleachers when they were full. Not surprisingly, Poulter was a good sport about it, giving a fan a high five even after someone threw his ball back into play. He ended up taking a drop, making a bogey and finishing with pars at 17 and 18 for a two-under 69, which helped ease the pain.

“It’s not my first shank, and it won’t be my last shank. That’s it. I laugh at it. It’s pretty funny,” he told Golf Channel’s Will Gray afterwards.

This past May, one of Poulter’s more notable shanks came at the 18th hole at the Players Championship while he was in contention. Remarkably, he nearly holed out for par from the woods right after:

Clearly, he knows how to bounce back. Let’s hope for his sake he won’t have to do it again any time soon.