Tag: uneven lie

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Hit More Greens

Uneven Lies – Downhill Lie

By Shooting 90

Hitting the ball from a downhill slope presents a few challenges and requires a few adjustments from your normal setup. Beginner and high handicap golfers have a tendency to hit these shots either fat or thin.

The first thing to do is to line up your shoulders parallel to the slope of the ground. Your lead shoulder will be lower than your back one, how much depending on the severity of the slope. This will put the majority of your weight on your front foot. Due to the slope, your weight will stay on your front foot during the whole swing. Attempting to place too much weight on your back foot is what contributes to hitting the ground before hitting the ball.

Hitting off the downhill lie will make your ball fly lower. This is because the slope is delofting

Aim a little bit to the left because the ball will go slightly to the right as having most of your weight on your lead foot will tend to make your body get ahead of the ball and will but a slight fade on it.

Watch the Free Online Golf Tips video below where Peter Styles explains the proper shot for a downhill lie.

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Hit More Greens

Uneven Lies – Uphill Lie

By Shooting 90

Hitting a ball from an uphill lie will result in a shot that is higher, shorter, and tends to go to the left. There are a few adjustments needed in your setup to hit a ball from an uphill lie.

You need to align your body with the slope. Align your shoulders so they are parallel with the slope. This will put the majority of your weight on your back foot. Aligning your shoulders parallel to the slope will allow you to use your normal swing for an uphill lie.

Swinging up the slope will add loft to your shot, forcing your ball to go higher in the air and thus a shorter distance. Take more club to make up for the increased loft. If you normally hit a 8 iron, take a 7 iron instead, or maybe even a 6 iron depending on the severity of the slope.

Since most of your weight will stay on your back foot, you won’t be able to rotate your body through the shot as well. This will cause you to pull the ball slightly so aim a bit to the right.

Watch the video below to see Hank Haney show you how it’s done.

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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.

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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.