You have achieved a good drive. You are 120 meters out. It should be an easy approach to the green. Then you reach the ball and your heart sinks. It’s down to approx. Or it’s on hardboard. Or it is in a compartment. Or it’s in a side lie that doesn’t make sense. Bad lies require different techniques, set-ups and swings, and if you want to get the ball on the court, you need to stop fighting the lie and start working on it.
The deep hard lie
When your ball is sitting thick, the grass wraps around the clubface and tends to close the clubface. In this scenario, your ball goes down and to the left every time (for righties).
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.
Place the ball slightly back in your position. Grip the club for more control. Make a steeper swing. Hit the ball and minimize contact with the grass. Do not try to delete it. This just gives the grass more time to catch your club.
Your goal from rough depth is not to stay 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 little lie to the green.
Strong lie
Hardpan is the opposite problem. There is no grass to cool your club. If you hit the ball even slightly, your club bounces off the hard ground and you drive it onto the green.
The key to the lid is the first contact of the ball. Play the ball in the middle of your stance or slightly forward. Don’t swing it back as this makes you hit too steep and increases your chance of bouncing the club on the ball. Keep your weight slightly forward throughout the swing.
Take a shallower than normal swing. You are not trying to do a split. You are trying to clear the ball from the surface. Think of it as a bunker shot. Money from tight pants still gets on the green. The fat from the yeast doesn’t go anywhere.
Use a club with more bounce if you have one. A wedge of sand is better than a wedge raised from hard slab. The bounce helps the club slide through impact instead of digging in.
The lie of separation
You are in the fairway, but your ball is sitting in someone else’s compartment. You hit a good car and got punished for it.
From a divotyou have to hit aggressively. The ball is below the surface, so your club needs to land on it. Play the ball in your position. Put more weight on your front foot. Take a steeper swing and drive the club down into the ball.
Take one more club than normal. You will strip the club by playing it into your stance and lose some distance from poor contact. Aim for the middle of the green.
Accept that this picture will not be pretty. You will hit it lower than normal. You may not have many spins. The ball may run out more than you expect. That’s good. Your goal is to get it to the green and move on.
Side lie
Ball above your feet or ball under your feet. Both are problems, just different problems. When the ball is on your feet, it will go left. When it’s under your feet, it will go straight. You can’t fight this. You can only adjust to it.
Ball on your feet: grip the club. The ball is closer to you, so you need a shorter club. Aim for your target; how far to the right depends on the severity of the slope. Make a gentler swing. The slope will flatten your swing plane and close the clubface. Let it happen.
Ball under the feet: you need to land on the ball, which means more bend at the knee and more bend at the waist. Aim to the left of your target. The slope will open up your clubface and push the ball to the right. Take one more club because you will lose distance. Make a controlled swing. Balance is everything in this shot.
The simple truth
Bad lies are not bad luck. They are part of golf. The difference between good players and average players is not that good players avoid bad lies. It’s that good players know how to handle them. Stop trying to beat your normal shot by the abnormal lie. Adjust your configuration. Adjust your club selection. Adjust your expectations. Get the ball on the green and keep going. This is how you save hits from bad lies.
