We live in an area of valleys and hillsides. Our golf courses would not be called Flat Landers Country Club. Uphill, downhill, side-hill — there always seems to be a hill on which we’re trying to hit that silly ball.
Today, let’s focus on the side-hill lie, where the ball is below your feet and you have to squat down and reach for it. It’s tough on the legs and a real pain in the rear.
The key here is to create a posture designed to maintain balance throughout this shot. Gravity wants to take you to your toes when the ball is below your feet, so you have to counter that by squatting with a deeper knee and hip bend.
It’s also important that your upper body tilt is forward enough so your chest is pointing at the ball. The farther the ball is below the feet, the more tilt required to keep your chest pointing at the ball, allowing you to stay in posture during the shot.
As a result of the slope and posture, you should feel flat-footed, and your body turn will be limited, creating more of an arms-and-hands swing. An arm swing with less body rotation will create a more vertical swing with less arm rotation through impact, so aim left to guard against leaving the face open and leaking the ball right.
Get used to this crazy lie with a few practice swings and notice where the club hits the turf. This will likely be your ball position.
During the swing, focus on maintaining the same knee bend throughout the shot. Also, take more club than normal. Your body rotation is limited, so you won’t be able to generate normal club head speed and if you swing too hard, you will also lose your balance.
So when the ball is below your feet, squat, tilt and aim left just in case, then keep your knee bend and swing easy so you’ll stay in balance, or it will be all downhill from there.
Peter Harris is the director of golf at the Fore-U Golf Center in West Lebanon. His column appears in the weekly Recreation page during the golf season.