Month: February 2015

Categories
Hit More Greens

Uneven Lies – Ball Above Your Feet

By Shooting 90

In our first post on the challenges that uneven lies present on the course, we discussed the proper setup and technique for hitting a ball below your feet. This post tackles its counterpart, an uneven lie with the ball above your feet.

With the ball above your feet, your hands are closer to the ball. You’ll need to choke down on the club a bit, as if you swing with your hands in your normal position on the club, you’ll most likely hit the ground before the ball. Choking down on the club will cause you to hit the ball a shorter distance. You may need to take one club more than you usually do for the distance you are at.

The slope of the lie with the ball above your feet will try to make you lose your balance backwards. It’s important to keep your weight in the balls of your feet to help maintain your balance.

The ball flight, to some degree, will follow the slope of the lie. So for right handed golfers, your shot will want to go left depending on the severity of the slope.

Check out the video below from PGA professional Derek Hooper as he explains how to hit a shot with the ball above your feet.

Categories
Hit More Greens

Uneven Lies – Ball Below Your Feet

By Shooting 90

You make be working hard on how to fix a slice and in turn hitting more fairways. Your second shot, the approach shot into the green, is a more difficult shot. Besides the fact that your ball isn’t on a tee, there’s a chance you are not on level ground.

Uneven lies are a big reason it is difficult for high handicap golfers to take their progress on the practice range to the course. Even the flattest of courses will present at least a few uneven lies per round. On other courses, you’ll have more uneven lies than even ones! High handicap and beginner golfers many times do not make the small changes in setup and swing necessary to hit a good shot from an uneven lie.

The first uneven lie we are going to cover is the ball below your feet. There are a few key things to remember when setting up for a shot with the ball below your feet.

First, you’re farther away from the ball. You’ll need to bend more at the hips and flex more at the knees to compensate for this and get closer to the ball.

Second, both the slope and bending more at the hips will want to put more of your weight on your toes and give you the feeling that you are going to fall down the slope. Keep your weight back on your heels to stay balanced.

Being bent more at the hips and knees will limit how much your lower body can move, so the shot will be more arms and shoulder movement. It’s important to maintain your spine angle and not come up during the shot. This is why many golfers end up topping the ball from this lie.

Lastly, the ball flight will tend to follow the slope of the lie. So your ball will go to the right (for righties) a certain amount based on the amount of slope.