Hard Fairways - Strategy Change?

[boogielicious]

Lately, with the high heat and no rain, our fairways have been getting hard with virtually all tight lies. I've been struggling is some situations to execute my normal pitch or short iron shots. I'm pretty good with my short irons and wedges from 130 in. I've tried to adjust ball position back to prevent blading from the club bouncing off the hardpan, but the ball tends to come out lower and go longer that I want.

Yesterday, I ended up doing bump and runs with some success where I had fairway to play with.

My question is: What do you folks do with these conditions? I almost prefer being in the rough.

[saevel25]

If your club is bouncing into the ball then your not using the club right. Your probably hitting before the ball, which is not good anyway. If you strike the ball first than there shouldn't be any issue with tight lies.

For me, i been working on this shot. Ball is slightly back of center, I just rotate my shoulders doing a half pitch shot. I make sure to continue forward and not let my wrist flip or try to help the ball off the ground. When i do this i find that i clip the ball clean and its a really nice shot.

[pittpanther]

My question is: What do you folks do with these conditions?

If you hit the ball before the ground, a tight lie should make no difference in your game - you should be able to hit off the cart path if you wanted to.

For me, that's a pipe dream - first cut of rough is much easier than a dry, hard fairway. But that's because I'm not hitting the ball with a true descending blow. If you're having trouble with tight lies, then you also are not hitting the ball with a descending blow. We need to work on our ballstriking...

[jamo]

I've been facing this a lot too. Just use other, lower lofted, clubs to chip with off the fairway. From the rough the grass is usually a little more green, so you can usually play as normal.

But the best way is to play at nicer courses. Find courses with better upkeep. Most of the munis right now are near unplayable. I played Ponkapoag last week and it was just hard to hit any feel shots because the club-ground interaction was so much different than normal.

[pittpanther]

I've been facing this a lot too. Just use other, lower lofted, clubs to chip with off the fairway. From the rough the grass is usually a little more green, so you can usually play as normal.

You're a 1.5 HC - I'm surprised you have any difficulty with tight lies. To be a 1.5, your ballstriking must be darn near perfect. You could get a ball in the air off of concrete if you wanted to.

[jamo]

You're a 1.5 HC - I'm surprised you have any difficulty with tight lies. To be a 1.5, your ballstriking must be darn near perfect. You could get a ball in the air off of concrete if you wanted to.

Ballstriking and pitch shots are two different things. I have no real problems hitting iron shots off of hard fairways. As long as you hit down on the ball and catch the ball first the hardness of the ground really makes no difference. But when I need to hit short "feel shots" like pitches and chips it is much harder on hard ground.

Here is my scorecard from when I played Ponkapoag. I was 1/6 (not counting the sand shot) on up and down attempts. It's just a lot harder, especially since I don't practice my short game often.

[The Recreational Golfer]

From time to time I hit pitches in my back yard (plastic golf balls) off a board. Can't get a tighter lie than that. It teaches me to concentrate on hitting the ball first, then the ground. See also this video by Lee Trevino.

[Shorty]

From time to time I hit pitches in my back yard (plastic golf balls) off a board. Can't get a tighter lie than that.

That won't help at all. It's the easiest thing in the world to do. You need to hit those shots with a proper ball off a tight lie, but not so tight that the clubface doesn't dig in a little bit. (Or a lot). With the board and plastic ball thing, the plastic ball doesn't replicate a golf ball and the board doesn't replicate the ground. You won't be able to chunk it, and that's more of a danger than hitting it thin. I would rather hit a ball off concrete than a poor lie in grass (as long as it's not my club !), because I know I wouldn't hit it fat.

It's like hitting irons off artificial grass rather than real grass. If you have the option, why would you do it? If you don't have the option, you won't be practising shots with anything remotely resembling the feedback you get from a ball off grass. In other words...If you gave me a tight lie from 30 yards on a board, I'd expect to hit 100% of them perfectly. Off a thin but dirty lie, I'd expect to chunk a couple if not 3. It's the way the leading edge responds to the ground that matters, and no ground feels like a piece of wood.

[double_j]

I've been facing this a lot too. Just use other, lower lofted, clubs to chip with off the fairway. From the rough the grass is usually a little more green, so you can usually play as normal.

This - if your wedges keep bouncing on you, switch to something with less bounce and accept a little run out after the shot (or put lower bounce wedges in your bag if you happen to have old ones lying around, etc.).

Otherwise it usually helps me to think about adding a bit more wrist action on my chips from tight lies instead of trying to hit my standard low/spinner. I don't know why but trying to play something with a little higher flight helps me to make better contact (probably because the shot shape forces you to think about coming through properly).

[DavidFehertysBike]

I just nuke my irons off of hard, tight lies. I love em.

[BostonSully]

Ballstriking and pitch shots are two different things. I have no real problems hitting iron shots off of hard fairways. As long as you hit down on the ball and catch the ball first the hardness of the ground really makes no difference. But when I need to hit short "feel shots" like pitches and chips it is much harder on hard ground.

Ponkapoag is usually terrible anyways. Just abandoned sand traps from like 1960 completely unmaintained and greens that seem to always be just airated..... That and the fact they only really mow the few holes insight of the clubhouse and once you get out to the 3rd of 4th your like "wtf is this the same place??"

I like hard fairways shots bounce I dont notice further difficulty with irons. But like Jamo said I think chip shots , flop shots get tougher.. I need to work on my bump-n-run

[misty_mountainhop]

From time to time I hit pitches in my back yard (plastic golf balls) off a board. Can't get a tighter lie than that. It teaches me to concentrate on hitting the ball first, then the ground. See also this video by Lee Trevino.

I love Super Mex; one of the game's great characters and players. However, I'm not sure he has it right though re. either compressing the ball against the ground or the ball rolling up the clubface. Be interesting to see some modern, super slo-mo video of the sort of shot he's talking about.

I just nuke my irons off of hard, tight lies. I love em.

+1. Me too. Makes me focus that bit harder and no blades of grass to interfere. Trust your swing and blast it.

[double_j]

I don't mind irons from hard fairways. What really kills me is the extra run out you get off the tee - you never realize how much trouble the rough saves you from until it's not there to stop the ball anymore. When the fairways are dry at my home course, it forces you to drastically change how you play many of the holes.

[boogielicious]

Thanks for the responses. I guess I was looking for more of what Jamo was saying. My full iron shots are OK on the hard pan as I can still take a divot in front of the ball. It's more of the finess pitch shots that are acting wierd. I will try more lower punch and run type shots if the lie is really hard.