Sidehill/Uphill

[Sherpat]

Hi Guys - After 4 or 5 years of just cruising along and accepting my swing flaws as "god's will", this season I decided to really bear down and fix as many as I could. The hell with determinism. I'm glad (startled, frankly) to say I've actually had some success. But there is one shot that bites me time and time again, and I face it at least once a round on the course I play most often. There's this one par-4 that has an elevated tee, and whether you hit it 150 or you hit it 300, it's gonna land on the side of one very long hill. If you're a righty (I am), you'll have the ball above your feet. To compound it, from there the green is elevated rather high up. So you've got a steep sidehill, uphill lie. To top it off, there's a large bunker fronting the green. All it needs is dementors to make it perfect. For some reason I have been absolutely unable to pull off this swing. It is my Linear-A, golf-wise. I just can't decipher it. It's not like I haven't utilized the various free videos and advice columns online, either. (The only thing I haven't resorted to, strangely, is a paid lesson. Ask my wife....). So I've tried everything from the obvious ( "grip way down and swing flatter ") to the, well, more faith-based apparently (" wear a green hat and tug your left earlobe three times before you take your grip "). Nothing. Chunk chunk chunk chunk chunk. I could have (and have) just pulled off the drive of my life (210? 220? Who cares - it looked great from that elevated tee!), and I'll still be on the green, finally, in 5. If I'm lucky. So...anybody here have a tip they can pass along to an increasingly frustrated - but otherwise improving - mid-handicapper? One that's at least as useful as tugging body parts and color co-ordination? Me and my sanity both thank you!

[tanktwo2]

I try to set my spine to the hill and in your case, aim to the right of the green and just make my normal swing.  It really is nothing fancy.

Its hard to explain.  Don't fight the slope, just stand with the slope and make a normal swing.  If your standing on the side of a hill, it is impossible to stand straight up as if it was flat ground.  You shouldn't be on your tip-toes trying to address the ball making your normal stance.  Just ground yourself, address the ball, aim right and let it rip

[Sherpat]

Thanks very much, Tank. I'll give it a shot!

[Zeph]

I stand paralell to the ground, but my main focus is on a good ball position and having the weight in the right place. Getting the weight too far back can ruin the entire shot.

[Sherpat]

Hey thanks for that, Zeph! Can I ask, though, what you consider "good ball position" for you?