Hi my name is rick shields down here at trafford golf centre in manchester. And today.
We're going to be talking about sloping lies. And how we get around them what we need to do differently. And how we play them a little bit more effective around the golf course we do all four lives uphill downhill left to right right to left. So stay tuned and you're going to find out all four of them the first one we're going to cover is this uphill lie one probably the easiest one out of the four to be honest um the reason being is because the club already is going to be looking at being hit a bit on the way up through the shot. So it's not really too demanding you've not got anything blocking almost your entrance point into the golf ball the things that you've got to bear in mind is how we set up differently. And how the ball is going to react differently to when we hit on a shot like this. So my my biggest bit of advice when we're hitting off any slope is try. And mold your body to the actual same degree as the slope so if we're on an uphill slope like this i don't particularly want you to lean your body into the slope i want you to feel like you're going to get your shoulders level with the slope your hips level your knees level. And that way then.
You're pretty much if we were to flatten that slope out you'd be on a on a perfect flat level the thing you've got to bear in mind on the shot like this is that the loft will now be increased. So i'm in a seven iron here so effectively depending on the severity of the slope that's going to be more that's going to added loft to it. So it's going to be boring loft on that's going to hit the ball a lot higher. But not particularly going to make the ball go any shorter because you're still hitting with a seven iron golf club. So if i was to settle this i've got my shoulders my hips my knees level i'm gonna swing through maintain my balance now that golf ball has gone remarkably higher than what my normal seven iron would go. But not particularly any less distance because like i said i'm still creating the same power. But all i'm doing is adding more loft to the shot. So bear in mind when you're playing that shot you might just need a club that's got slightly less loft so now we're going to do the shot where the ball is now below our feet. So my feet are much higher than where the ball position is now generally this seems to be the slightly harder one only because it often puts a lot of players off balance the big thing you've got to maintain on a shot like this is your balance that's the biggest thing you've got to try. And maintain you've got to know a little bit about what the golf ball has a tendency of doing it doesn't mean it has to do it has a tendency of doing. And also just figure out a way that you feel more comfortable when you're setting up up to a shot like this so first things first because our our legs now are much higher than our the golf ball we have to feel like we're getting down to the ball a bit more. So we have to feel like we're probably bending our knees a little bit extra and just lean more from your hips to make sure that we're actually going to reach the bottom of the golf ball on this shot if i set up to this this time i'm already feeling like my butt my weight is all the way towards my toes. So i'm gonna do just to do that is just stick my bum out a little bit further that helps me counterbalance my weight. So my weight is more in the middle of my feet now. And then.
When i come through to hit my main job is to try. And hold my balance now the ball should come out a relatively similar height to a normal seven iron shot that you're hitting the thing you've got to be aware of and now this doesn't mean this will definitely definitely happen the ball will tend to have a have a tendency from a lie like this to slightly move left to right in the air only slightly you can still draw it from this lie if you've already got quite an aggressive draw shot anyway off this light it'll probably straighten up if you've got a bit more of a fade shot a slice shot on a lot of this probably going to get a bit more exaggerated. But honestly from any particular lie don't then.
Go i'm going to aim more left because this might turn on it it doesn't always have to the thing that's going to change is what we call the face plane tilt. So as the shaft starts to tilt the face angle points ever so slightly differently but that's the only thing you can still manipulate it in a way where you can hit the ball straighter. So just when you practice just check out that if you have a tendency having quite an aggressive draw or a slice take that into consideration when you're on a slope like this so quick recap make sure you lean a little bit further forward squat from the knees stick your bum out and like say you can hit any shot from this lie depending on your tendency of golf swing anyway. And really maintain that balance as best you so the can load that we're gonna do is where now the slope is actually going away from us. So it's go this time it's a little bit more downhill so this now i would say is probably one of the harder shots to do only because you've now got something blocking your entrance to the golf ball. So we have to come into the golf ball from a slightly different angle now like the slope that goes up the one that goes down this time we're going to hit the ball incredibly much lower we're going to deal off this golf club much lower. So instead of a seven or a nine that you're going to hit i would recommend hitting more loss. So i'm actually going to swap over this time to my a tire only because that way the ball is going to be able to at least get airborne as i hit this shot. So let us set up to the golf ball this time i still want to try and get my body more parallel to the slope so my body tilts a little bit towards the left my hips are tilted my knees have tilted. And the important factor in this is knowing that the golf ball is going to come out low there's nothing you can do about it it's going to come out low. So don't whatever you do try. And lift the golf ball up in the air because that way you're going to hit the mat behind the ball you've got to feel all the ground behind the ball you've got to still feel like your body weight is getting onto your left side. And you're striking the ball first and then.
The floor after and just like say expect the golf ball to come out low so that eight times come out more like my six iron there so i'm expecting it to come out lower the advantage of that is as long as you hit it well enough. And strike it nice enough the ball should still go very good distances because like i say you're de-lofting the golf club so slant with the slope shift your body weight onto your left side as you come into hit it and expect this golf ball to come out low that way hit a golf club with more loft so that you get away with it so the last sloping lie the one where the ball is now above your feet much more above your feet than what it was before. And again this is not massively challenging shot only because again the entrance into the golf ball is not blocked off. So it's only when the entrance to the ball is blocked off does it become quite tricky setup wise obviously we don't now the ball is much more above our feet we don't want to squat too much we want to stand nice. And tall make sure our legs are almost near straight not fully straight. But almost near straight i'm also going to feel like now my body weight's been pushed all the way back towards my heels. So i'm just going to again lean forward stick my bum out. So that way my body weight is back more into the middle of my feet now the ball should come out very neutral ball flight in height. So pretty much a normal height shot but the thing is again what you've got to bear in mind is that this golf ball could have a tendency of slightly drawing more from right to left. But again it doesn't mean it has to it still depends on how you approach the golf ball. But it's going to be slightly more draw biased only just. So if you've got a shot that's going going into a flag. And you've already got quite an aggressive draw this is going to exaggerate it if you've got a fade. Or a slice this is probably going to neutralize it quite nicely. So play to your your kind of game at the moment and it depends what the shot shape you play depends on how you approach the shot but generally is a rule of thumb you've got to stand up a little bit taller stick your bum out make sure you're balanced in the middle of your body. And when you hit just be aware that it could have a tendency of having a little bit of draw bias to it guys that's been my video tip on sloping lies guys i really hope you enjoyed that that was posted as a suggestion on my facebook wall. So if you've got any more suggestions or video bits of advice you'd like me to do please do check me out on facebook twitter send me facebook tweets whatever you want to send me um hopefully nice ones let me know what you want me to review because i'll do anything you know i'll do any review any tip any bit of advice you would like me to do um guys thanks. So much for watching my name has been rick shields down here at traffic gold central manchester you can check me out also on my channel which is down at the bottom please do subscribe the more subscribers i get the more videos i shall do. For you lot thanks so much for watching you.
