How to Escape from a Buried Lie in Sand

Saturday, December 21, 2013

Hitting from buried lie seems hard, but it doesn't have to be. There are two ways to get out from this lie.

 

1. Using square face

Set up with square face instead of open face like regular bunker shots. You want to line up your feet and shoulders parallel to the target line as well. Aim at 2 inches the ball and swing down with a descending blow. Take no follow through. Also, because the ball is buried, you need to take deeper divot than usual to get the ball out. You are going to swing harder than normal as well. With this shot, the ball will come off low and running.

 

2. Using Open Face

This method uses open face like regular bunker shots. Set up like regular bunker shots but put the ball in the center of your stance. Swing the sand wedge with a descending blow. It won't be a slight descending blow. Because yuor ball is buried deep in the sand, you need to enter your clubhead in an acute angle to the sand.

 

The open face at address will make it harder to dig into the sand, so you need to swing much harder than normal to apply extra force. From this lie, you won't be able to swing through the sand, so forget about follow through. The ball will fly higher than the first method. But the ball still doesn't have much spin so its after it hits the green.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/short-game/bunker-buried-lie.htm

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How to Hit High or Low Bunker Shots

Hitting it High

 

To hit it higher, you need to adjust your set-up.

1. Open your face more. Also, open your shoulders and feet more as well

2. When gripping, open your face before gripping the club

3. To hit it extra high, widen your stance a bit more

4. Try to aim 1 or 2 inches behind the ball and slode the clubhead under the ball

5. As you take your follow though, make sure your face points toward the sky after impact

 

Make sure to keep your knee flex during the swing to slide the clubface under the ball.

 

Hitting it Low

 

If you have lots of green to work with, you might want to roll the ball to the pin. It's much easier to control distance this way.

 

To hit it low with less spin, adjust your set-up like below.

1. Position your ball in the center of your stance

2. If you want to hit it much lower, use square face at address

3. Aim 2 to 3 inches behind the ball

4. Keep your clubhead low to the ground after impact

 

To take spin off the ball, you want to take more sand. So aim 2 to 3 inches behind the ball. You can also use pitching wedge or 9 iron for much lower bunker shots.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/short-game/bunker-shot-high-low.htm

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Hitting Bunker Shots on Uphill or Downhill Lie

Hitting from uphill lie or downhill lie is not as hard as you may think. The key is not to fight against the slope.

 

Uphill Lie

 

Address:

From uphill lie, the important key is to set your shoulders, waist and knees parallel to the sloper. So your right shoulder will be much lower than regular shots. The tendency is to lean against the slope. But if you do this, you will hit it fat.

 

The Swing:

The key is to swing along the slope. Expect the ball to fly higher than normal. So you may not want to open your face as much as you do for regular bunker shots.

 

Downhill Lie

 

Address:

Same thing with uphill lie. You need to set your shoulders parallel with the slope. So your left shoulder will bu much lower than regular bunker shots.

 

Ball Position:

Position your ball in the center or little right of center of your stance for this shot.

 

The Swing:

Again, swing along the slope. Try to keep your clubhead low to the ground after impact.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/short-game/bunker-uphill-downhill.htm

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How to Stop Topping the Golf Ball

Topping the golf ball is a common fault you see among average players. Some teachers say that topping is a good player's mistake. If you swing from inside out, your bad shots tend to be topping the golf ball. But if you swing from outside to in, it's easier to hit it fat than topping it. But I know lots of high handicappers having this type of problems as well.

How you should look at the Golf Ball

I guess most players look at the top of the golf ball. Because you stand over the ball, it's easier to look down at the top part of it. But sometimes causes topping. When you strike the  ball, clubface will hit the back of the ball. So when you set up to hit the ball, you should look or focus on the back of the ball because that's where you want your clubface to go. But if you looke at the top of the ball, what happens? You tend to hit the top of the ball. So try to look at the ball and sweep the ball to stop topping the golf ball.

Another Cause for Topping

Another cause for topping is trying to lift the ball in the air. High handicappers often make this mistake, but you will see good players doing this sometimes. When you try to hit it high, your instinct will tell you to hit up on the ball. But there is one problem. The golf ball is on the ground. So if you try to hit up on the ball, you will top it or hit it fat. The reasons why golf ball will go up in the air are the loft on the club and the backspin. So hit it higher, you have to trust the loft on your club and hit it on the slight descending blow for more spin. It's hard to do the opposite of your instinct. But that's really the key to improvement in golf.

Good Drill to fix it

If you want to stop topping the ball, you should sweep the ball off the turf or hit it with a slight descending blow. To do that, your hands should be little bit ahead of the ball at impact. For players who top the ball, the clubhead beats hands at impact causing them to flip the clubhead.

Swing to the top and begin your downswing. At impact, make sure your shaft is leaning toward the target. In other words, your hands should be well ahead of the ball at impact. Your hands should beat the clubhead to the ball. For this drill, you should exaggerate the move. Make sure that your hands are in front of your left thigh at impact. After hitting 20 balls using this drill, hit balls with your normal swing.

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/how-to-stop-topping.htm

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Tips and Drills to Fix Topping the Golf Ball

One of the reasons you top the ball and don't hit it on the sweet spot is too much body movement during the golf swing. When you slide to right during the backswing, the axis of your golf swing will also move to the right. If this happens during the backswing, you need to slide back to hit the ball on the downswing.

 

Here are the drills to stop on the backswing and stop topping the golf balls. Let's use 7 or 6 iron for these drills.

 

1. Feet Together Drill

In this drill, you want to swing with your feet close together. When you actually hit the ball with this drill, start with a half swing. Your objective with this drill is to hit the ball on the sweet spot. So don't try to swing hard.

 

Make sure you turn instead of slide to the right. Turning your shoulders on the backswing adds distance, but sliding will rob you of distance. When you swing with your feet close together, the tendency is to stand up too straight. So make sure you bend enough from your hips and keep that angle throughout the swing.

 

2. Pull Your Right Foot Back

Here is another good drill. Set up to the ball. Now, pull your right foot back about 10 inches. Make sure your shoulders are parallel with your target line. Next, raise your right heel off the ground. Hit balls with 60% of your swing speed in this set up. By pulling your right foot back and raising your right heel, it makes hard to slide to the right. Closing your stance will also make it easier to turn rather than slide.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/drills-to-fix-topping.htm

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Can't hit it on the Sweet Spot

When you feel like you can't hit it as far as you usually hit on the driving range, you might start to swing faster or harder in order to get more distance. But if you are not hitting it well, you need to do the opposite.

 

How Tiger Wood's Practices Long Irons

At the golf clinic, Tiger Woods said with long irons, he tries to hit it on the sweet spot first. To do that, he sometimes swings very slowly with his long irons. When you feel like you are not hitting it well, the first thing to do is not to swing faster but to swing slower instead.

 

You can even try half swings. Hit 10 balls with 60% of your power. If you can make good contact with all of them, start increasing your clubhead speed. Most golfers do the opposite. They start hitting it harder in order to get more distance. But they end up losing tempo, rhythm and balance. Even more, they might start sliding or reverse pivot because they feel like they need to do somethinf to hit it far. If you start with slower swing speed and hit it on the sweet spot first, you might need any extra movement at all.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/hitting-the-ball-on-sweet-spot.htm

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Fixing a Whiff or Topped Shots

Whiff is an air shot where a golfer completely misses a ball. Whiff can happen a lot to a beginner. After playing golf for a while, you probably won't miss a ball a lot, but you may hit lots of topped shots instead. One of the reason why you miss a golf ball or hit the topped shots is lifting your upper body on the backswing. If you do this during the backswing, you are going to drop down to compensate.

This can cause lots of topped shots or fat shots.

Checking Your Address

To avoid or stop lifting your upper body, you have to check first your address position. If you have rounded back at address, that may be causing you to lift your upper body. When taking your address, try to bend from the hips. Lots of players bend from the waist. You don't want to do that. After bending from the hips, try to hang your hands and arms naturally. When taking your grip, lower your right shoulder before taking your grip.

Stop Lifting Your Upper Body

To stop lifting up, you need to understand how you should hit the golf ball. Because the golf ball is resting on the ground, golfers naturally try to hit down on the ball too much. But this will cause  you to lift your upper body during the backswing.

 

Instead, you want to sweep the ball off the turf. Technically, you want to hit it with a slight descending blow with your middle and short irons, but you can forget about that for now. As you look down on the ball at address, try to focus on the back of the ball instead of looking at the top of the ball. This will help you sweep the ball instead of hitting down on it.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/whiff-topped-shots.htm

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How to Cure Fat Shots

Fat shots are often caused by the swing that is outside in. When you cut across the ball or hit down on the ball, your clubhead will come down to the ball with a steep angle of approach. So it's hard to make consistent contact at  impact. That's why golfers who slice the ball also hit it fat so often.

 

But if you look at good players, they swing from inside in. They are not hitting down on the ball but sweeping the ball off the turf. If you sweep the ball, you can avoid fat shots easily. By sweeping the ball, good players have larger or longer impact area. That's why they can hit it consistetly.

 

High handecappers often have smaller or shorter impact zone. So it's really hard to get solid contact with the ball at the time. To cure your fat shots and hit it crisp all the time, you need to sweep the ball. When you hit it on a descending blow, you don't want to have steep angle of approach. What you want is a slight descending blow with your irons. Try to swing from inside the target line. This will make it so much easier to get good contact with the ball consistently.

 

Change the Way You Look at the Golf Ball

When you look down on the golf ball at address, what part of the golf ball do you look at?

 

Most of players probably look at the top of the ball. That's why they hit down on the ball with steep angle of approach. You need to focus or look at the back of the ball because that's where your clubface will make contact with. Looking at the back will let you sweep the ball instead of hitting down on it.

 

The Drill to Cure Fat Shots

To have larger or longer impact zone, you need to sweep the ball. Here is the good drill that will help you do just that. Set up to the ball with your 7 iron. I want you to hit balls but try to imagine that there is one more ball right next to the actual ball. The imaginary ball should be placed to the left (toward target) of the actual ball. So in your mind, you are hitting through two balls at once. This drill will fix your steep angle approach into impact and give you consistent contact with the ball.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/how-to-cure-fat-shots.htm

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Cure Fat Shots and Slice at the Same Time

If you tend to hit fat shots and slice, there is a good chance that you are swinging it from outside in. In other words, you are coming over the top. Cutting across the ball will cause slice. Golfers with this type of swing usually hit more fat shots than topped shots.

 

On the other hand, tour pros sweep the ball or it hit with a slight descending blow (for irons). So they have more like a shallow angle of approach into the ball. That's why they don't miss a lot of shots. Even if they miss a little, theu still hit it well because they have larger margin of error or larger impact zone than average players. To fix your fat shots and slice, you need to start swinging in from inside the target line.

 

The Drill to Swing from Inside

Here is a simple drill for you. Set up with you 7 iron or 6 iron. Place your ball in the middle of your stance. Now, try to hit the golf more toward the toe of the clubface. If you come over the top, you will find it hard to hit the ball toward the toe of the clubface. But this is a good drill that helps you swing from inside.

 

Draw an Imaginary Target Line

When you hit balls, make sure your clubhead comes from the inside of your target line. To do that, you should draw an imaginary target line from your target through your golf ball in your mind. On the golf course, you should do the same. I have a clear image of my target line. It makes it easier for me to swing inside in. Slicers usually don't have this imaginary target line on their mind at address. When slicers hit balls from inside, you will hit it to the right of the target. But don't worry about that.

 

Keep swinging from inside. But when you do so, try to face the back of your left hand toward the ball on the downswing.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/cure-fat-shot-slice.htm

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Hitting Fat Shots with Short Irons

Short Irons are basically easy to hit. It's very forgiving because they have more loft and shorter shaft than other irons. But some golfers struggle with fat shots with short irons.

 

There are many reasons for this. But I see two common faults for hitting fat shots with short irons.

 

1. Trying to hit the ball in the air

If you try to help the ball up in the air, you will tend to hit it fat or top the golf ball. Shots with short irons should go higher in the air, but you don't have to scoop the ball. The loft will get the ball airborne. So trust your loft and hit it with a slight descending blow.

 

2. Trying to guide the ball to the target

Because you are not so far away from the green, the tendency is to guide the ball to the target. This will cause deceleration of clubhead through impact. Don't try to guide the shot. Instead, try to focus on your routine. Don't try to control the result because you really can't. If you have very steep angle of approach into the ball, you should feel like you are sweeping the ball off the turf with your short irons.

 

To practice this, tee it up high as if you are going to hit a driver and hit ball with your short irons. When you hit balls with this drill, try to focus on the back of the ball and sweep the ball of the tee. I hope this will help you stop your fat shots.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/hitting-fat-shots-with-short-irons.htm

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How to Fix your Hook

Hooking is really generally player's fault. When you see golfers who hook the ball, you'll find some common faults. If you hook the ball and want to fix it, see if you have any of the problems below.

 

1.Grip

The biggest cause for hooking is the grip that is too strong for you. You can read the book and grip it like it was illustrated but still hook the ball. The grip was too strong for you. So the correct grip changes from person to person. But generally, people who hook the ball have very strong grips.

 

Here is how you can find the correct grip for you. First, look at the left hand at address and see how many knuckles you see. If you can see 3 knuckles or more, rotate your left hand until you see 2 1/2 knuckles in your left hand. If you still hook the ball, try 2 knuckles.

 

Golfers sometimes forget to change the right hand grip. So try to rotate your right hand to the left as well to match your left hand. Feel like your hands are facing each other. If the V formed by your right thumb and forefinger points toward your right shoulder, try to point the V more toward your right ear. Some golfers have stronger right hand grip and weaker left hand grip. So pay attention to both hands.

 

2. Stop aligning to the right of target

Hookers tend to align themselves to the right of target because they hit the ball right to left. To fix your hook and start hitting it straight, you need to align your body parallel with the target line. I fyou weaken your grip, you will start hitting it right. After seeing the ball going to the right, you might think this grip is not going to work. But if you just fix your alignment, you might start hitting it straight with your new grip. So after changing your grip, you need to fix your alignment as well.

 

3. Ball Position

Hookers tend to put the ball more to the right to avoid duck hooks. The clubface is going to close at impact. So if your ball position is more to the left, the ball will go even more to the left. But if you put your ball too much right, you are going to swing inside out. The ball will start right of the target most of the time, so you almost have to turn the face over through impact. If this becomes your habit, you will have a hard time hitting it straight. At first, you might feel awkward to position your ball more to the left because you are worried you will hit it left.

 

But if you have a correct grip, your new ball position will help you swing inside in with a square face at impact. Your ball position has a lot to do with swing path. To fix your hook completely, you have to work on your swing path as well.

 

4. Face angle at address

Do you pay attention to the face angle at address? If your face is looking left of the target, you are likely to hit a hook. I know some golfers having closed face at address. They want to avoid right because they are aiming right to compensate for their right to left ball flight. So they are unconciously closing their face at address. Jack Nicklaus is known to hit a fade. He said he has an open clubface at address. He was aiming his clubface little right of the target to hit a fade. So if you want to avoid hooks or plan to hit it straight, make sure your clubface is facing directly to the target.

 

5. Shoulder Alignment

Shoulder alignment often determines your swing path. Hookers usually align their shoulders to the right of target. This promote inside out swing. Fixing your feet alignment might not be good enough. Pay attention to your shoulder alignment as well to fix your swing path.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/how-to-fix-hook.htm

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The Causes of Duck Hook and How to Fix it

The direct cause of duck hook is a closed clubface at impact. There are two types of cause.

1. Clubface is closed at impactc + Swing path is inside in

2. Clubface is extremely closed + Swing path is either inside out or inside in

 

Golfers hitting duck hooks tend to hit a hook or draw on regular shots. If your normal shots is right to left shot, you have to aim right of the target to work the ball to the target. But if you align your body square to the target, you are going to hit a hook or duck hook to the left. Golfers with this type of problems usually swing inside out to compensate for the closed clubface at impact.

 

But for some reason, if they swing inside in, they are going to hit a duck hook. So duck hooks usually happen when hookers try to hit it straight.

 

How to fix it

So fix your your duck hooks, you need to understand that your clubface is closed at impact if you swing inside in. If you swing inside out, you will probably hit it straight (at least it looks like a straight shot) or little draw. But this is not going to cure the root of the problem.

 

The real problem is somewhere else. First thing to do is to look at your grip. Rotate your left hand to the left until you'll see 2 1/2 knuckles of your left hand. Pay attention to your right hand. Make sure the V formed by your right thumb and index finger points more toward your right ear.

 

The Drill for Duck Hook

Here is the drill used by Jim Mclean to fix pros' duck hooks. Let's use 6 iron for this drill.

1. Position your ball in line with your left heel.

2. Flare your right toe about 45 degrees.

 

Now try to hit a fade from this position. Hold your wrist through impact and try not to turn your face over. This drill is for advanced players, but Jim Mclean said it work really well.

 

The Ball Position

When hookers position the ball too much left, they can easily hit a duck hook because they tend to close their face at impact. So if you normally hit a draw, move the ball a bit to the right to avoid duck hooks. But if you position it too much right, you are going to block the shot to the right so you need to experiment with ball positions. With a driver, you might want to try placing the ball one or two ball length right of your left heel if you draw the ball.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/how-to-fix-duck-hook.htm

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If you are having Hard Time Fixing Strong Grip

To fix your hooks, you need to change your grip. The grip that is too strong will cause closed clubface at impact. However, as you know, it's hard to change your habit. Some golfers tell me they changed their grip, but I don't see any changes. If you comfortable with your grip after changing it to weaker grip, you are not really changing it. It has to feel awkward at first. That's why most golfers hate changing their grips. I know a golfer who was fighting hooks. We changed his big hook to a gentle draw.

 

Here is how we did it. I asked him to grip club like usual. But before gripping it, I told him to rotate his club little to the right and grip it. This is like how we grip a sand wedge for a bunker shot. For bunker shots, you need to open your clubface first and then grip the club. By opening his club a little before gripping it, he was able to weaken his grip. When hitting ball with his new grip, I asked him to point his clun face directly at the target at address. He felt strange at first but soon started to hit a little draw. You may want to experiment how much you rotate your face open before gripping it. The ball flight will tell you how much you should rotate your club face.

 

Reference: http://www.golfsamurai.net/fault-fix/fixing-strong-grip.htm

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