Most golf courses aren't exactly flat. That means you're probably going to see your fair share of uneven lies, especially if you're missing the fairway. But, even a lot of fairways are built on hills that cause certain spots to be uneven. Basically, you've got to know how to play a shot when you're faced with a tricky lie.
"Silgocottage" plays a lot of golf courses that feature prominent undulations, so many times his feet are above or below the ball. He's looking for some rules to follow whenever he has to play these difficult shots.
Could you do a couple lessons on uneven lies? The courses I play have a lot of undulations and often my feet are not on the plane nor with the lie of the ball. Occasionally I get lucky and make contact with the ball, but having some "rules" would really help. We have a hole that is nearly vertical from the forward tees and about a 100 yard carry across heavy rough. 18 crosses a canyon uphill usually into the wind and you have to have a lofted carry of more than 100 yards to make it over the canyon.
Silgocottage
When you have a shot on uneven ground, the accordion effect must be used that much more than on a regular, flat lie. If the ball is above your feet, your accordion motion down won't be as much. If the ball is below your feet, your accordion effect will be more pronounced. The setup determines the motion, so being able to set yourself up in the right position is critical, especially with uneven lies.
You also need to be aware that the ball flight is different from an uneven lie than it is on a flat lie. The easiest way to remember which way the ball will fly is to look at the hill you're on. Whichever way the hill slopes from top to bottom is the way the ball will naturally fly when it is struck. Anytime you have an up hill or down hill lie, you need to set your shoulders in line with the slope.
If the range you practice at has any areas that have uneven lies, I would recommend you practice these types of shots. If not, practice some shots the next time you're on the golf course, as long as you're not holding anyone up behind you!
Good luck and keep it vertical!
The Surge
If you can't view the YouTube video above try CLICKING HERE. You must allow popups from this site for the link to work.
Comments
Uneven lies
Thanks Surge for the reminder of how critical it is to do a practice swing with uneven lies. We have a lot of moguls around our newer greens and can get some very extreme lies. When using the high lofted pitching clubs with these lies it is important to remember that the more loft the club has the farther left or right you have to aim with sidehill lies to hit it to the target.
Problem with lies
I do fairly well off of side hill lies but I have to be conscious of my tendency to go against general tendency and pull-draw shots with the ball below my feet.
On uphill lies I'm OK as long as I don't under-club myself.
Where I don't do well AT ALL is on downhill lies. I hit WAY to many of those fat and also have more misses either left or right than on any other shots.
When possible I try to avoid downhill lies.
Downhill Lies
Steve, I'm with you on this one, uphills are so easy for me, in fact when I see
one I get drooly. My theory on the downhill lies is it's a natural tendency to
follow the ball which is my biggest curse and being propped at setup parallel to the ground, makes it so easy to come out even easier.
Downhill round downfall
On our 18th hole there is a level landing area about 15 yards wide and 200 yards out. Any miss to the right of that is in the water and any miss to the left of that is on a severe downhill slope.
The second shot is an easy 135 to 150 yard shot across the water IF you hit the level landing area. The second shot can be anywhere from 150 to 180 yards off of the downhill slope if you miss the landing area to the left.
That hole and especially that second shot has been the demise of many good rounds for many people (including me many times).
My wife and I were behind a foursome yesterday and all of them hit their tee shots in the water to the right. Then they each hit more balls and two of them hit it in the water again, and again, and again. Finally one missed the landing area to the left and one missed to the right and probably thought it didn't go in the water. The one that missed to the left hit his next shot in the water off of the downhill slope and they looked for the ball to the right for a few minutes and then all completely gave up on the hole and went back to the clubhouse.
I told my wife it would be miracle if I did any good after watching all of that. LOL
Luckily I hit a good tee shot and only had the easy second across the water from the level lie.
BTW. There is a Ladies Green that doesn't require the shot across the water (thank goodness) or my wife would never be able to play that hole at all.
Downhill problems
I think one of the problems a lot of us have with downhill lies is the shallow path into the ball we get with the PPGS. Combine that with difficulty getting our shoulders properly on line with the slope and it's as if we're leaning too far to the right trying to hit a really high shot, and the ground behind the ball arrives sooner than the ground under it. What I'm trying now, with mixed results, is to imagine I'm trying to hit a low shot into the wind from those lies, so I level my shoulders more, take one more club but play it in the position of the lower club, and try to swing out level after the ball rather than swing up so much.
Don's 9/30 videos
The Surge added a couple new videos on 9/30 - one regarding forward shaft lean and another regarding the square to square critique.
I have seen the square-to-square method videos but they seem so hokey that I can't believe that a self-respecting PGA tour pro would hawk such drivel.
As for the forward shaft lean issue, I am guilty. And it's been a tough swing habit to break. A few years ago, I started out learning from teachers who were strong advocates of The Golfing Machine (TGM) book. Then, I got really hooked on Stack & Tilt. I bought a couple Tour Striker training clubs to help me with the forward shaft lean concept and downward strike on the ball. But even now, Martin Chuck (Tour Striker inventor) comments in some of his new videos on YouTube that there is enough "down" in the golf swing already.
So, as I progress with PPGS, I know when I have made a good shot because it's nearly a mindless process and impact feels so good. The swing does it for you, almost. But when my brain starts to think mechanics, I am in trouble.
Thanks, Don, for your latest videos. They really help clarify what we need to do.
JKP