Flip the club around or take the drop?

[Where's the Cart Girl?]

Curious how others handle this when they're lucky enough to encounter it...

Last night I hit a drive about 10 yards off the left side of the fairway and when I got to it realized it was laying about 6 inches from the base of a tree on the side facing the fairway. Being right handed this meant that I couldn't possibly address the ball and swing at it from the correct side. So the options are take the unplayable with penalty or flip the club around and swing lefty.

I always flip the club around. (1.) Because I've practiced chipping with lefty clubs before so I know I can hit it and (2.) if you look at the clubs I carry the profile on the back makes it such that I don't need to "up-end" the club to hit the ball with the face. I can just grip it lefty and hit it with the back of the club.

In this case it left me a perfect 52* wedge from the fairway as opposed to a 9-iron or hard PW out of the rough (taking into account the gamble on the lie that the drop would result in). Tiny green, middle pin.. that's a no brainer.

How do you guys handle it? And for anyone else playing musclebacks, have you ever tried hitting the ball with the back of the club? I swear the loft on the back of mine is like a 7-iron.

[James_Black]

you do know that counts as two shots if you hit it with the back of your iron right?


It'd be a double hit......

I'd just try chip it back onto the fairway if I could.
If I had no option but to hit it upside down I probably would. I don't like taking drop shots....

[shades9323]

you do know that counts as two shots if you hit it with the back of your iron right?

Why are you posting a picture of a random club?

[James_Black]

Why are you posting a picture of a random club?

thought it was a taylormade rac.

That's a clone one. It still looks the same though

[wkdspd]

thought it was a taylormade rac.

check his sig, he's hitting musclebacks

also, please see: 14-1/1 Playing Stroke with Back of Clubhead Q. May a player play a left-handed stroke with the back of the head of a right-handed club? A. Yes. A player may play a stroke with any part of the clubhead, provided the ball is fairly struck at (Rule 14-1) and the club conforms with Rule 4-1.

[sean_miller]

How do you guys handle it? And for anyone else playing musclebacks, have you ever tried hitting the ball with the back of the club? I swear the loft on the back of mine is like a 7-iron.

It sounds like your play is kind of cheaty - two striking faces and all that.

I'd do one of three things: 1.) If the green is reachable, I'll probably just take a drop and play it to the green. 2.) I might stand with my back to the hole and chop straight down on the ball - a backward forehand with the toe of the club. 3.) Flip a 5 iron over and toe one out into the fairway.

[saevel25]

Why would it be a double hit? Just because it has a cavity, what if you hit it near the bottom, who says it will hit the top of the club, there's no way you can proove it unless you have slow motion camera.

My friend during my golf trip was about 4 inches from a tree, he takes his 3 iron and takes a swing backwards, hits it 170 yards to the front edge of the green and gets up and down for par. Honestly we told him to start playing lefty.

I have flip my wedge on its side, so the toe was facing down, and hit left handed to punch out.

[Fairway_CY]

First... I play the original Nike Slingshot irons. They've got that bar across the back so it's not like I'm going to get distance or anything, but... to punch out, it works great. I ran into the same situation on Sunday. My 2nd shot on a par 5 was severely sliced and landed beneath a pine tree, leaving me NO shot right handed.

I first tried to flip my 5 iron over and punch out, but I whiffed. Then, I just held the 5 iron like normal, but backwards and swung left handed... punching the ball out from beneath the tree. Still, with the whiff... I ended up making double.

To the guy who said it would be a double hit... if he bladed it or something... no it wouldn't. In my case, the only possible way to double hit it would be to pop it up from some weird lie and then hit it again... like the majority of double hits that occur.

So, to the OP... yes, I've done it. No, I'm not good at it. But... it's great that it worked out for you!

CY

[fr0sty]

According to the USGA:

http://www.usga.org/Rule-Books/Rules...ion-14/#14-1/1

14-1/1 Playing Stroke with Back of Clubhead Q. May a player play a left-handed stroke with the back of the head of a right-handed club? A. Yes. A player may play a stroke with any part of the clubhead, provided the ball is fairly struck at (Rule 14-1) and the club conforms with Rule 4-1.

What others have mentioned before about double-hits still applies but the possibility of this happening does no prohibit you from trying...

[James_Black]

There's also another rule where you can't have a club with 2 striking faces......

Also

Conforming Clubs (i) All Clubs · holes through the face; · holes through the head (some exceptions may be made for putters and cavity back irons); · facsimiles of golf balls or actual golf balls incorporated into the head; · features that are for the purpose of meeting dimensional specifications; · features that extend into or ahead of the face; · features that extend significantly above the top line of the head; · furrows in or runners on the head that extend into the face (some exceptions may be made for putters); and · optical or electronic devices. d. Striking Faces The clubhead must have only one striking face, except that a putter may have two such faces if their characteristics are the same, and they are opposite each other.

You can only use 1 face for taking your shots.

the MB's back isn't flat. That type of shot isn't allowed

[sean_miller]

According to the USGA:

I've seen that before, and I still disagree in principle. The OP said the back of his muscleback is essentially a left handed 7-iron. If it's within the rules, so be it, but it smells funny to me.

[B-Con]

There's also another rule where you can't have a club with 2 striking faces......

That rule says the club cannot be engineered to have two intentional striking faces. Ie, you can't have two clubhead faces on one shaft. It says nothing about actually

using the face. Ruling 14-1/1 that fr0sty posted clearly states that any side of the clubhead may be used.

[James_Black]

That rule says the club cannot be engineered to have two intentional striking faces. Ie, you can't have two clubhead faces on one shaft. It says nothing about actually

as long as it conforms with rule 4-1.

Which defines what is allowed. A putter that is the same on each side is the only club allowed to have 2 striking faces used. Any side of the clubhead can be used as long as the other side conforms. Think about it, you could do anything you want with the other face if that rule wasn't there.

[sean_miller]

as long as it conforms with rule 4-1.

For many irons, it probably would be just as easy to flip it and hit with the proper face upside down.

For other irons, like the TM Rac MB that was posted, clearly it would be easy to hit that backwards left handed. I'll try my own irons, to see if it's something I can use to my advantage some day.

[jamo]

I saw either Chi Chi Rodriguez or Lee Trevino do a short game clinic where they turn their backs to the target, put the club in their right hand, and chip it while holding the club with the toe faced down. That;s what i do, it makes no sense to hit with the back because there is a possibility of double hitting. I can also just turn the club toe down and hit lefty, but that's harder.

[Fourputt]

There are other options too. Chi Chi was a master of the chop shot... play the ball well behind the back foot then chop almost straight down with a lofted wedge. I can hit a ball that is 6" from the tree trunk better that way than I ever could playing it lefty. You could also just play it straight at the tree and bounce it off back toward the FW. For me, even that is a better option than playing wrong handed.

So to answer the OP, no, I would not play lefty. I'd try one of the shots I listed above, or take the penalty. A penalty is a better option for me than a whiff.

[zeg]

For me, I'd almost surely take the drop and penalty. The only way I can imagine doing otherwise is if it was in an area where virtually any forward progress would leave an acceptable situation as good or better than the drop. Otherwise, not worth the risk.

as long as it conforms with rule 4-1. Which defines what is allowed. A putter that is the same on each side is the only club allowed to have 2 striking faces used. Any side of the clubhead can be used as long as the other side conforms. Think about it, you could do anything you want with the other face if that rule wasn't there.

It's not allowed to have a second face *designed* as a striking face, but once the club is accepted as conforming, you're free to use any side of its face in any way you want. The clubs we're talking about are approved as conforming with the rules, so the clause about "conforming with 4-1" is satisfied. There's no restriction on how you may use a conforming club (for a fair strike with its head, so I'm not talking about pool-cue shots, etc.).

[B-Con]

as long as it conforms with rule 4-1.

I'm not sure what you're getting at. In your last sentance, which side is the "other" face? If it's the conforming face then you couldn't do whatever you wanted on the opposite side because then the club wouldn't conform, but if you're going to make a non-conforming club you can already do whatever you want. If it's the non-conforming side, you can already have a lot of variation.

Bottom line: Assume we have a conforming golf club, non-conforming clubs aren't of interest to us. Then, by the rule you quoted, we have one flat, properly-designed striking face and an opposing side that is not designed for ball striking, and in fact is clearly not a proper striking face. In this case, we are allowed to strike the ball with the designated striking face, which we will 99.9% of the time we play. Decision 14-1/1 tells us that we are also allowed to strike the ball with the opposite side of the club. You agree, right? It seems like the spirit of the rule is that you're allowed to hit the ball however you want with your clubhead, you just can't cheat and smuggle two faces onto one club.