You hit a decent drive. You’re 120 yards out. Should be an easy approach to the green. Then you get to your ball and your heart sinks. It’s sitting down in the rough. Or it’s on hardpan. Or it’s in a divot. Or it’s on a sidehill lie that makes no sense. Bad lies require different techniques, setups and swings and if you want to get the ball on the green, you need to stop fighting the lie and start working with it.
The deep rough lie
When your ball is sitting down in thick rough, the grass wraps around the club’s hosel and tends to close the clubface. In this scenario, your ball comes out low and left every time (for right-handers).
You need more loft and a steeper angle of attack. Take one or two more clubs than you think you need. If it’s a 7-iron distance, hit a 6 or even a 5.
Set up with the ball slightly back in your stance. Grip down on the club for more control. Make a steeper swing. Hit down on the ball and minimize contact with the grass. Don’t try to sweep it. That just gives the grass more time to grab your club.
Your goal from deep rough isn’t to stick it close. Your goal is to advance the ball onto the green. Aim for the middle of the green. A two-putt from 40 feet is better than another bad lie short of the green.
The hardpan lie
Hardpan is the opposite problem. There’s no grass to cushion your club. If you hit behind the ball even a little bit, your club bounces off the hard ground and you blade it across the green.
The key to hardpan is ball-first contact. Play the ball in the middle of your stance or slightly forward. Don’t move it back as that makes you hit down too steeply and increases your chance of bouncing the club into the ball. Keep your weight slightly forward throughout the swing.
Make a shallower swing than normal. You’re not trying to take a divot. You’re trying to pick the ball clean off the surface. Think of it like a fairway bunker shot. Thin from hardpan still gets on the green. Fat from hardpan goes nowhere.
Use a club with more bounce if you have one. A sand wedge is better than a pitching wedge from hardpan. The bounce helps the club glide through impact instead of digging.
The divot lie
You’re in the fairway but your ball is sitting in someone else’s divot. You hit a good drive and got punished for it.
From a divot, you need to hit down aggressively. The ball is below the surface so your club needs to get down to it. Play the ball back in your stance. Put more weight on your front foot. Make a steeper swing and drive the club down into the ball.
Take one more club than normal. You’re going to deloft the club by playing it back in your stance and you’re going to lose some distance from the poor contact. Aim for the middle of the green.
Accept that this shot isn’t going to be pretty. You’re going to hit it lower than normal. You might not get much spin. The ball might run out more than you expect. That’s fine. Your goal is to get it on the green and move on.
The sidehill lie
Ball above your feet or ball below your feet. Both are problems, just different problems. When the ball is above your feet, it’s going to go left. When it’s below your feet, it’s going to go right. You can’t fight this. You can only adjust for it.
Ball above your feet: grip down on the club. The ball is closer to you so you need a shorter club. Aim right of your target; how far right depends on the slope’s severity. Make a smoother swing. The slope is going to flatten your swing plane and close the clubface. Let it happen.
Ball below your feet: you need to get down to the ball which means more knee flex and more bend at the waist. Aim left of your target. The slope is going to open your clubface and push the ball right. Take one more club because you’re going to lose distance. Make a controlled swing. Balance is everything on this shot.
The simple truth
Bad lies aren’t bad luck. They’re part of golf. The difference between good players and average players isn’t that good players avoid bad lies. It’s that good players know how to handle them. Stop trying to hit your normal shot from abnormal lies. Adjust your setup. Adjust your club selection. Adjust your expectations. Get the ball on the green and move on. That’s how you save strokes from bad lies.
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