How to Play
How to Play an Iron Shot
Hitting an Iron Shot requires a golfer to analyze the lie (how ball sits on ground), locate the pin location on the green, identifying trouble & where NOT to hit the ball, calculate yardage to the target and selecting a club that matches yardage, visualizing the shot and preparing with practice swings, approaching ball by placing/aiming club face first behind ball then aligning body, relaxing & breathing, hitting the shot, and then analyzing the shot and quality of strike. That’s a lot just to hit one shot!!
Downhill Lie
A downhill lie you must set-up with your shoulder parallel to the slope to allow for the bottom of the swing arc to be in front of ball. Expect a lower ball flight. Common mistakes are keeping too much weight on trail foot resulting in low point behind ball and a fat shot.
Uphill Lie
An upill lie you must set-up with your shoulder parallel to the slope to allow for the bottom of the swing arc to be in front of ball. Expect a higher ball flight so you may need to select a lower lofted club. Common mistakes are falling backwards onto the trail foot resulting in low point behind ball and a fat shot or topping the golf ball.
Ball Above Feet
When the ball is above your feet choke down on the club, swing on a flatter swing plane and expect the ball the be pulled left for the right handed golfer.
Ball Below Feet
When the ball is below your feet you need to bend your knees and lower your tush to allow the clubhead to rest behind the ball. This set up will make it difficult to use your legs dynamically so you won’t hit the ball as far.
Where to Tee Ball on the Tee Box
If you ball flight curves from left to right, tee up the ball on the right side of the tee markers and aim left to give your ball flight a better line to support your curvature. The same hold true if your ball curves from right to left. Tee up ball on the left side of tee box and aim out to the right to give room for your ball to curve.
How to Play a Draw
A draw is a bullfight that starts right of the target and curves back to the left for a right handed golfer. A draw is a desirable ball flight that every beginner needs and demonstrates the ability to deliver the clubhead from an inside club path. The science of a draw when the club face is pointed left of the club path at impact the ball will always curve from right to left.
How to Play a Fade
A draw is a ballfight that starts left of the target and curves back to the right for a right handed golfer. A fade is a desirable ball flight for golfers at the highest level of play because the golf ball lands softer when landing on the green. The science of a fade is when the club face is pointed right of the club path at impact the ball will always curve from left to right.
Low Hook Recovery Shot
To play a low hook recovery shot you must 1) Aim the Club Face on the starting direction you want ball to fly giving the ball flight enough room to curve 2) Strength the grip to help close the face at impact 3) Close your Stance & Shoulders to allow the club head to be delivered on an inside the target line path. Ball Flight Law: When the club face is closed to the club path at impact the ball will curve from right to left
Par 5 – 2nd Shot Downhill Lie
Often times while playing golf, how the ball sits on the ground (Lie), forces you to play a safer shot or take less club that hits it a shorter distance so you are more accurate, because it will be difficult to control the ball because of the lie. Downhill Lies require you to set-up with your shoulder parallel to the ground at address to allow you to hit the ball first and then ground for solid contact.
Punch Shot
A Punch Shot is when you need to keep the ball flight lower to advance the golf ball from in the woods under branches out into the fairway. A Punch Shot requires you to take loft off the club to produce lower flight by leaning shaft forward, a smaller length swing back and thru and the right amount of club head speed to keep the ball and advancing.
Track Your Golf Ball
Learning how to watch and track your golf ball is a skill. Pay attention to the quality of the strike and become familiar with with misses feel and ball flight looks like. Being able to find your ball quickly is key to maintaining pace of play.
How to Play a Finesse Wedge – Pitch Shot
A Finesse Wedge Pitch Shot utilizes the bounce interacting with the turn instead of the leading edge digging into the ground. A pitch shot requires the golfer to learn about ball flight trajectory, landing spot, and how much a ball rolls after it lands.
What’s a Chip Shot?
A Chip Shot is a golf shot required to play when you are just a yard or few off the green that hits the ball a short distance in the air and then rolls the majority of the way to the cup like a putt..
How to Play a Chip Shot
A Chip Shot is a golf shot required to play when you are just a yard or few off the green that hits the ball a short distance in the air and then rolls the majority of the way to the cup. A Chip Shot is short swing that utilizes the Crooked “Y” arm structure and very little wrist action to deliver the club to impact.. Many different clubs can be used to Chip.
Chip Shot Creativity
A Chip Shot can be played using many different tools in your bag from putter, hybrid, sand wedge, lob wedge, pitching wedge, 9 iron, 8 iron, 7 iron to really any club in your bag. Golfers should experiment with different clubs to see what they like best. This example is a short chip to a close pin where I prefer using a hybrid to putt or Sand wedge Chip.
Bump & Run Chip Shot
A Bump & Run Chip is a golf shot everyone needs around the green when the ball is sitting favorably and the pin is far away offering you lots of green surface to play your shot. The goal is to take a less lofted club and bump the ball just a few yards in the air and allow it to roll all the way back to the pin. A bump and run can be played with any club 7, 8, 9 irons or Pitching Wedge.
Tee Height – Driver
In general, half of the ball should be on the driver face and half above the driver face to encourage the driver to swing up while striking the ball. Super high tee height promotes a shallow and upward angle of attack with the driver. A low tee height promotes a steep angle of attack.
Tee Height – Hybrid or Fairway Metal
Tee the ball up approximately 1/2 inch of the ground for fairways and hybrids to allow the sweet spot of the club to freely strike the ball.
Tee Height – Irons
Generally, tee up an iron shot so the ball looks like it sitting up on the top of the blades of grass like a perfect lie in the fairway. Teeing the ball too high for an iron will result in shots off the top of the iron face resulting in a loss of distance.
Analyze the “Lie”
Your “lie” is how your ball rests on the grass or sand and determines the type of should play. The ball can lie sitting up or sit down into the grass or even buried. Understanding your lie and what shot is possible for each lie is critical to better golf. For example, if you have a ways to go to the target and your ball is buried in the rough you may only be able to advance it the farthest with a high lofted club as a less lofted club may not hit the ball in the air.
What is a Short Sided Pin Location?
The short side of the green means the hole is located closer to one edge of the green. If the pin is located on the right side of the green, the area of the green to the right of green is considered the Short Side. Missing the green on the short side requires the golfer to play a more difficult higher, softer landing, higher spinning, less rolling finesse wedge shot to get the ball “up and down” into the hole with an easy putt.
