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Newsletter - Issue 26 Date 06/30/07
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Golf Tip: Tall Grass
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If anyone has a golf question that they would like answered, 
please email your question to: teachingpro@bataviacc.com and 
I'll do my best to answer it in an upcoming newsletter.

Dick L. emailed this question:

I have a golf problem [gee, just one? haha] that has troubled 
me [and others?] for many years.  What is the best way to get on 
the green when your ball is deep in the long grass about 1-2 feet 
off the green?
  
Thanks for the question Dick, this actually happened to me 
this morning!  

The answer is that the lie dictates the best shot when you find 
yourself in this situation. The most consistent shot is when you can 
use a sand bunker explosion type of shot: hands loose, ball forward, 
body aimed a bit left (for right handed golfers), clubface open, 
and you use a sand wedge. Hit down sharply and behind the ball with 
a long smooth swing, just like you would in fluffy sand, and the 
ball should come out high and soft.  

To use the explosion shot you have to have a lie where the ball is 
not nestled too deep into the grass, so the clubface will be able to 
slide under the ball.

If you get a lie like I had this morning on hole 5 at BCC, you have 
to use a different technique.  My gap wedge approach shot spun back 
off the green, and my ball came to rest in a "bowl" of long grass, so 
deep that I couldn't see it walking up to the green.  It was in a spot 
that the lawn mower couldn't get to, and it was nestled down low to 
the ground.

Here's what worked for me: I played the ball back in my stance with a PW, 
weight was forward, hands were forward just like a traditional chip shot.
The difference in this shot and a traditional chip shot is that you have 
to hit down on the ball from a steeper angle than with a clean chip shot.
Gauging the distance involves a bit of luck, but I dropped the PW onto 
where I thought the back of the ball was, it squirted forward about 55 feet 
and left me a 5 footer, which I drained for par.

Life is good.