02 July 14  |  Golf   |  

How to Hit Uphill and Downhill Lies

Written by Mike Cooney, Director of Golf.

If you’ve been keeping up with my previous golf blogs and putting these tips into practice on the course, you may feel like you’ve got the basic fundamentals down. But what happens when you’re faced with something like an uphill or downhill lie? When it comes to mastering bunker shots, pitch shots, chips shots, and full shots, the best advice I can give is to allow your shoulders to match the slope of the ground. Here’s what I mean…

Hitting an Uphill Lie

If you have an uphill shot, lie with your left foot higher than your right foot. You should have your left shoulder a little higher than normal to get your shoulders relative (parallel) to the slope. If you don’t have your left shoulder higher than normal, there is a tendency to hit the shot fat, causing you to stick the club in the ground.

uphill lie collage

Hitting a Downhill Lie

If you have a downhill shot, lie with your left foot lower than your right foot. You should set up with your left shoulder a little lower to the ground than normal. If you keep your shoulders set up like you normally have them, chances are that you will hit the ball thin (in other words, hit the belly of the ball) or even top the ball.

downhill lie collage

To Summarize…

Trust your shoulders to match the slope of the terrain and you will have a much better chance of swinging the clubhead parallel to the ground and hitting more solid shots on a consistent basis. Check back soon for more golf tips and see you out on the course!

NOTE: The above tip is for the right handed golfer.