How to PURE your irons from a downhill lie
Hitting the ball when it's sitting on a downhill lie can be a frustrating shot, but not anymore.
Hitting the ball from a downhill lie can often lead to some pretty poor golf shots, followed by the excuse "I had a downhill lie." With a few simple adjustments to your golf swing, you can start striking your irons pure from a downhill lie, so check out these simple tips from Shain Johnson, PGA Professional at Farleigh golf club.
In the video below, Shain explains where most golfers are going wrong when it comes to facing shots where the ball is below your feet and how to correctly adjust both your body and swing to tackle this tricky shot.
HOW TO HIT A BALL THAT'S BELOW YOUR FEET
1. Aim left - when the ball is below your feet, one of the first things you need to address is where you are aiming. For right handed golfers, hitting off a downhill lie means aiming left of your target (for left handed golfers, aim right). This is because the slop is naturally going to make your ball want to follow the direction of the lie, so you need to adjust your aim to make your shot more accurate.
2. Wider feet - make sure that you stand with your feet a little wider than you would if you were playing off of flat ground. This is because it can be easy to lose your balance when swinging at a ball below your feet, so by increasing the distance between your feet, you're making sure your body is more stable.
3. Weight in the heels - now usually your weight would predominantly be in the balls of your feet, but this can cause you to have too much weight going forward when playing a shot like this. Put a little more weight in the heels and then bend over slightly more, to get your body more in line with the slope.
4. More club & less swing - due to your feet being wider than usual, you're not going to be able to use the lower part of your body as much as you typically would. This means that you want to take one club extra than you normally would and shorten the swing to about 70%.
Take these tips on board next time you're on the course and you'll no longer fear seeing the ball below your feet!
