My 10 worst lies in golf
We're talking golf shots not little white ones!
They say there are lies and damn lies (and statistics) but in a golf sense on the course, the lie we get when we miss the fairway or the green usually dictates our state of mind and how focussed we are on our course management. It struck me there must be dozens of situations that can occur during a round with various types of bad lie and it would be an interesting exercised to ask the Golfmagic forum, which lie proves most difficult (apart from those little white ones we tell when we're playing golf when perhaps we should be working or helping around the home).
We've all been there but what's the best way to extricate myself? Once I've found my ball do I aim for the nearest short grass, take my punishment and move on or do I try to muscle it forward in the hope of getting lucky?
A flop shot from this lie calls for confidence and skill to make perfect contact to slide the club under the ball and loft it on to the green. The fear is skinning it with the leading edge into possibly an even worse lie. | |
Easier but still difficult. Danger here is sliding the club too far under the bar so it never actually exits the rough and merely leaves me red-faced.
Do I try to be too cute to try to get the ball close to the flag and end up leaving it in the sand? Or do I accept that it's going to bounce and run when it comes out - and that I'm probably going to drop at least one stroke?
Surely this is one of the worst situations? Do I fancy playing the one-in-ten spectacular recovery - after putting on my waterproofs - or accept a one-stroke penalty and drop the ball, keeping the point where it crossed the hazard between me and the flagstick? | |
Does it always have to come out hot and right (as a right hander)?
I never seem to aim for enough to the right (for a right hander) to allow for the natural right-to-left ball flight.
Most, like me, forget to use a club with more loft than I need for a normal shot to allow for natural de-lofting at impact. Ball against the collar of rough around the green Do I putt it, belly-wedge it or use a hybrid? The modern, fashionable way is to use a rescue club or a deeper-faced 3-wood rather than risk trapping your putter face in the grass or hitting the ball on its equator with the leading edge of your sand-iron. Decisions, decisions... | |
As a right-hander, do I play it left-handed with a reversed wedge or lofted iron or stand with my back to the target and play it right-handed with the club positioned on my right-side? The number of shots I've screwed up by making poor decisions from bad lies must run into tens of thousands during 30 or more years playing the game. That's why (at last!) in 2008 my New Year resolution is to concentrate on my course management and not let my heart rule my head in tricky situations.
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