Long Uphill Tee and Approach Shots

[boogielicious]

There are a couple of holes that give me a lot of trouble and they have the same characteristic. They are significantly uphill and I usually have a long shot, 150+ yards. The first is a par 3 I played yesterday. The tees are either at 180 or 160. The second is an uphill par 4 where a good drive will put me at the 150 mark or thereabouts.

The problem is the club I need for the distance, I don't hit high enough to keep on the green. If I hit the green, it is off the back. The par 3 yesterday I hit my 4 iron. I use my 6 iron for most 160 yard shots. I hit the green with the 4 iron, but it was coming in a such a shallow angle, it went 20 yards off the back.

Should I set up differently for these such as put the ball further forward and try to get the ball higher?

[DaveP043]

I play a couple of similar holes at my home club.  Yes, playing the ball forward to hit a higher shot can help.  On the other hand, if its possible to roll the ball onto the green, a lower ball flight may be the thing, as long as the ball hits short and runs up.   A longer club, easier swing, lower trajectory with less spin, all will promote some roll up onto the green.  The last approach is completely mental, somehow getting yourself to accept that you've hit a good shot, even if the results aren't quite what you "deserve".  

As an example of that thought process, our 4th is an uphill 174 yard par 3, with a steep face in front, and a two-tier green.  The ball will NOT bounce up if it lands short.  Just to help, the prevailing wind is generally behind.  If its a front pin, I try to just carry it over the front edge, and if I end up short, that's not so bad.  A short uphill pitch is easier than a chip down the steep slope separating the tiers.  For a back pin its reversed, I'd rather be a little long with a short chip, as opposed to putting up the slope, its just hard to get that speed right.  I can hit a good shot, land it 10 feet short of the flag, and still be over, and  I don't mind.

 

 

[boogielicious]

15 minutes ago, DaveP043 said:

I play a couple of similar holes at my home club.  Yes, playing the ball forward to hit a higher shot can help.  On the other hand, if its possible to roll the ball onto the green, a lower ball flight may be the thing, as long as the ball hits short and runs up.   A longer club, easier swing, lower trajectory with less spin, all will promote some roll up onto the green.  The last approach is completely mental, somehow getting yourself to accept that you've hit a good shot, even if the results aren't quite what you "deserve".  

As an example of that thought process, our 4th is an uphill 174 yard par 3, with a steep face in front, and a two-tier green.  The ball will NOT bounce up if it lands short.  Just to help, the prevailing wind is generally behind.  If its a front pin, I try to just carry it over the front edge, and if I end up short, that's not so bad.  A short uphill pitch is easier than a chip down the steep slope separating the tiers.  For a back pin its reversed, I'd rather be a little long with a short chip, as opposed to putting up the slope, its just hard to get that speed right.  I can hit a good shot, land it 10 feet short of the flag, and still be over, and  I don't mind.

 

 

Thanks. The Par 3 I was referring to has a bunker in front for most of the greens width. The Par 4 front is usually mowed really tight, so the ball rolls back down. I've played both of them into the hill hoping for a bounce up with limited success. The pitch up after is usually pretty easy, but up a downs are not that frequent. 

I guess I will work on a more forward ball position and focus on getting a higher shot.

 

[natureboy]

Depending on how much you de-loft your irons on a typical swing, you might try to swing so that you have more of the true loft at impact for higher launch. With less compression it might carry substantially less, but possibly just right..Another option might be to add a little more spine axis tilt at address (and carry through impact) and tee the ball just a little bit higher, but that may be less dependable than relying on your normal setup and swing. If you do play it forward in your stance with your normal swing you may want to open the face a touch (which may also add a bit of height) to lessen tendency to pull.

If you take 1 less club you can't hit the green?

Edited November 18, 2015 by natureboy

[vangator]

I live in Florida, so I'm not sure what a hill looks like.   Actually, I grew up in an area where every course had the name Hill or Valley in the name, so I know elevations.

I would tee the ball up more and play it forward.  I would probably also play a club less and swing harder.  So, a 180 yard hole would normally be a 5 iron, so I would tee up a 6 iron.  I normally tee up about 1/4 inch for an iron, but I'd probably tee up 1/2 inch or so.  The higher loft and firmer swing would put enough on the ball to get it to stick near the pitch mark.  Also, normally an iron would have a definite negative AoA.  For a tee shot where I want loft, I have a flatter swing, maybe even a slight positive AoA.  Never videoed it.

Obviously, you should play a urethane ball.  A Surlyn or Ionomer cover won't hold.

For the par 4, if you are on an upslope to the hole, taking your address perpendicular to the slope will add the loft you need.  If your on level ground, I'd play it a little more forward and may sweep the ball more.  If you're on a downslope, I'd take a putter and roll it along the ground.   Actually, from 150, I'd take a more lofted club and again swing harder for more loft and spin.  This is a tougher shot.

I wish I had more shots like this at the courses I play.  I'm heading to NY next week and bringing my clubs just in case....

[boogielicious]

10 hours ago, vangator said:

I live in Florida, so I'm not sure what a hill looks like.   Actually, I grew up in an area where every course had the name Hill or Valley in the name, so I know elevations.

I would tee the ball up more and play it forward.  I would probably also play a club less and swing harder.  So, a 180 yard hole would normally be a 5 iron, so I would tee up a 6 iron.  I normally tee up about 1/4 inch for an iron, but I'd probably tee up 1/2 inch or so.  The higher loft and firmer swing would put enough on the ball to get it to stick near the pitch mark.  Also, normally an iron would have a definite negative AoA.  For a tee shot where I want loft, I have a flatter swing, maybe even a slight positive AoA.  Never videoed it.

Obviously, you should play a urethane ball.  A Surlyn or Ionomer cover won't hold.

For the par 4, if you are on an upslope to the hole, taking your address perpendicular to the slope will add the loft you need.  If your on level ground, I'd play it a little more forward and may sweep the ball more.  If you're on a downslope, I'd take a putter and roll it along the ground.   Actually, from 150, I'd take a more lofted club and again swing harder for more loft and spin.  This is a tougher shot.

I wish I had more shots like this at the courses I play.  I'm heading to NY next week and bringing my clubs just in case....

Thanks. I will add that for the par 4, the ball is usually on a side slope and above me feet. So add that to the complexity.

I'll have to do some range tests to see if some of these techniques would work for me.

[vangator]

Yeah, the two basic things to get the ball to stop are steeper decent angle and spin,  Teeing the ball up higher for your iron shots (and playing the ball forward) requires more focus on face control or you may just pull the snot out of it.  I keep the head steady and also consciously think about keeping it behind the ball.  That cures a lot of evils that creep into my swing.  If I start to draw or hook the ball too much, that's usually the problem for me.

Boston is just about shut down for the year isn't it?

I'm playing Saturday morning, watching Gator football at noon, Gator basketball after that then driving to NY for the Thanksgiving break.

[saevel25]

18 hours ago, boogielicious said:

Should I set up differently for these such as put the ball further forward and try to get the ball higher?

A nifty shot a few of my golfing buds do on a similar hole, 162 yards that is 25 yards uphill. They take their driver, tee it up really high and try to hit a soft high drive. 

I would think maybe a hybrid, or 3-wood teed a tad higher, but hit softly might help since the they launch higher than an iron. 

Besides that, maybe try to gauge the bounce if you drive the ball into the bank infront of the green. 

[boogielicious]

6 minutes ago, saevel25 said:

A nifty shot a few of my golfing buds do on a similar hole, 162 yards that is 25 yards uphill. They take their driver, tee it up really high and try to hit a soft high drive. 

I would think maybe a hybrid, or 3-wood teed a tad higher, but hit softly might help since the they launch higher than an iron. 

Besides that, maybe try to gauge the bounce if you drive the ball into the bank infront of the green. 

Thanks. You mean hit it high on the face, which will take yards off but give it a lot of height, correct? 

[chspeed]

20 hours ago, boogielicious said:

The problem is the club I need for the distance, I don't hit high enough to keep on the green. If I hit the green, it is off the back. The par 3 yesterday I hit my 4 iron. I use my 6 iron for most 160 yard shots. I hit the green with the 4 iron, but it was coming in a such a shallow angle, it went 20 yards off the back.
 

I find hybrids a lot easier to hit high than the long irons. 5-iron is the longest I carry, and I can hit the 4 and 3 hybrid 185 and 195 respectively. On a similar hole (150 yds severely uphill), I choke down on the 4 hybrid and am able to keep it on the green assuming I make decent contact.

Edited November 19, 2015 by chspeed

[Gator Hazard]

I was going to say that it sounds like a hybrid hole to me as well.  We have a par 3 on my home course (#17) that is about 180 yards and although it is not really elevated the green is high and slopes downward pretty well from back to front.  I play my 3 Hybrid nice and smooth (if I had a 4H I would play that), and as others have mentioned I will tee it up a bit which allows me to not have to take too much off the swing, feels more natural that way.  Not sure you want to take advice from a guy who posted a 123 last time out however.  Ha-ha.  In general I am just wondering if you don't bag a hybrid for that course if you have a few holes where it makes sense so that you don't have to adjust your swing too much.  Sounds like you have all sorts of options and looking forward to hearing what eventually works out for you.  Good luck.

[saevel25]

1 hour ago, boogielicious said:

Thanks. You mean hit it high on the face, which will take yards off but give it a lot of height, correct? 

That also works with irons as well. Just tee it a quarter of an inch higher and make sure to ht it high on the clubface. 

[boogielicious]

Thanks all.

[DaveP043]

Good luck.  Golf is hard!

[natureboy]

On 11/19/2015, 7:02:51, boogielicious said:

Thanks. I will add that for the par 4, the ball is usually on a side slope and above me feet. So add that to the complexity.

I'll have to do some range tests to see if some of these techniques would work for me.

Well the good thing with that is you can open the face so that the loft points straighter at the target and launch it higher at the same time.