High and Soft

Those of us who live in the UK, particularly in Southern England, are very aware of how hot the weather has been recently.

Many courses now have sun-baked, rock-hard fairways and, several areas around greens where tight and bare lies are plentiful.

As I have been having trouble hitting delicate shots, to tight pin positions, off these lies, I decided to put some serious practice in, this morning. My aim was to hit a high, soft landing shot from 10 to 20 yds off the green.

I used a 9 iron, PW and LW. I opened the clubface wide open, using an out to in swingpath. However, I started to s***k the ball. In an effort to find a cure, I set up with the ball about an inch or two off the end of the clubhead at address. My logic being that as I was swinging out to in, the clubhead would return to the ball in the correct place at impact.

Much to my surprise, this worked amazingly well. My concern is that, as a novice golfer, this may be a bad technique. Is this method going to lead me to have to make compensating "two wrongs make a right" adjustments as I improve?

AlanN,

Can you describe the motion you were talking about? Is it like a chopping motion, straight through like a putt with the face open?
I can't get a good mental picture of the shot your describing.

In Louisiana, US we have this wonderful ground called hardpan. It is very similar to cement. I practice with an old lob wedge off cement sidewalks so I can play these shots. I destroy the wedge but their cheap in the second hand stores. The basic shot is open the club face, open the stance. Ball position is off the right toe to back to the right instep. The wedge should be placed so the heel is centered behind the ball. Remember, when you open the blade up the center of the clubface moves back slightly. Ensure your weight is 70 - 30 on your left leg and don't shift your weight through the swing. Arms and hands only.

The type of wedge you use is important. The bounce of the club should be as low as possible. You have to be precise for this shot.

Another technique is a vertical wedge shot. This one would be for a closer shot 10-15 yards. Place the toe of the club behind the ball with the shaft straight up in the air. Use a back and through wrist only shot. This will get the ball airborne with a clean hit and looks like a pitch and run. I prefer this method, because the clean hit percentage is higher by about 20% average.

Give it a try, you might be surprised,

GolfBald

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Hi Golfbald,

Thanks for your reply.

I will study your recommendations and, have a practice with them in the near future.

As I'm a leftie, then I will describe what I was doing (if I can remember correctly)!! Right handed players will need to transpose my description.

I was practising off, what we, in the UK, call a bare lie. I believe that you, in the USA, call this hardpan.

Here goes; I set up with an open, narrow stance and had the ball position slightly back of middle. I opened the clubface and aimed at my target, then turned my body to adjust. On the backswing, I kept my right arm fairly straight but, allowed the left arm to fold. I turned my hips towards the target to initiate the downswing. I was making something like a half swing.

As I said previously, when I addressed the ball off the club, I hit the dreaded s***k, repeatedly; shot after shot. However, once I addressed the ball, outside the toe of the clubhead, the s***k disappeared. My out to in swingpath just seemed to collect the ball, perfectly, every time. I need to work at this a lot more in order to get consistent distance but, by and large, the objective of the shot was achieved. Normally, I dread to take a LW off a bare lie, as I end up blading it through the green. Today, this was the exception rather than the rule.

Hope this makes sense.

AlanN

Alan,

The motion of the swing is technically correct. To help you a little with it, you may want to turn your left foot toward the ball. This will put your left elbow slightly outside and prevent your hips from turning backward only forward on the through swing. It is a good pitch shot to learn. It works well for everything except a buried lie in fluffy grass.

Hope this suggestion helps you,

GolfBald

Hi Golfbald,

Thanks for that extra bit of info.

best regards

AlanN