Uphill and Downhill Lies

[iacas]

I told someone in a playing lesson the other day that this information was in LSW, so they didn't have to remember it or write it down during the lesson.

They got home and told me they couldn't find it.

Turns out they were right. This may be the one reasonably sized bit of knowledge that we didn't put into LSW.

In a picture…

That's it.

The benefits here are that you don't have to adjust your swing much. Yes, more weight than normal will be on the back or front foot, but the advantage is that the loft changes are minimized - a ball back (subtracts loft) on an uphill (adds loft) lie will come off at about the same angle as normal. Vice versa for a downhill lie.

[dennyjones]

Good information.  

Maybe this is off topic but concerning hitting off of slopes, up hill or down hill, I find that that I need to flare my front foot more.   Is this just me or is this a thing?  

[phillyk]

Do you have a picture for the other lies, like ball above feet or below feet?

[DeadMan]

I really like that sternum relative to the ball portion. I will have to keep that in mind. I tend to have some real, uh, interesting lies at times during my round. That should help when I get the really extreme ones.

[Braivo]

This is very helpful. I struggle greatly with shots on uphill and downhill lies and now I know my set is all wrong. Thank you.

[DaveP043]

I think I use this general method on uphill shits, but maybe not on downhillers.  For those, I try to find the "tangent" point of my swing, and play the ball there. I think in the illustration, the ball might be a little forward of that point, at least for me.  I try to set up with my body perpendicular to the slope, or else that tangent point would be much further back,  

[iacas]

1 hour ago, DaveP043 said:

I think I use this general method on uphill shits, but maybe not on downhillers.  For those, I try to find the "tangent" point of my swing, and play the ball there. I think in the illustration, the ball might be a little forward of that point, at least for me.  I try to set up with my body perpendicular to the slope, or else that tangent point would be much further back,  

If that's the case you probably hang back a bit when you have a downhill shot. It's not unusual for me to step through a steeper downhill lie because I still want to make essentially the same swing.

That means setting up the same way relative to the ground, which puts my weight further forward and even slightly outside my left ankle by the end of the swing/follow through.

[JonMA1]

I try to keep my weight forward and shoulders level with the ground but didn't know about changing the ball position. I usually do well on uphill lies but really struggle getting any kind of high flight with the downhillers.

There's a spot with a significant downhill slope in my yard that can be used to practice these. I'll try to devote a short amount of my practice time towards this specifically until I gain a bit of confidence.

A short par 4 hole on a course I play always gives me fits. You have a small level landing area from off the tee but if you miss that narrow strip, you're left with a longish downhill approach. It is one of the most difficult greens for me to hit in regulation because I'm usually left with a long iron shot on a downhill lie.... a bad combination for me.

[Shindig]

... and I just realized I have been doing this backwards.  That's going on the note sheet for my next round.

[Killa]

Nice info. I'll try it out asap. And I second the question if you have something like this for ball above/below feet - sidehill lies?

[iacas]

On 9/19/2017 at 9:16 AM, Killa said:

Nice info. I'll try it out asap. And I second the question if you have something like this for ball above/below feet - sidehill lies?

Ball above your feet: stand a little taller. The ball is closer to you.

Ball below your feet: squat or bend your knees/hips a bit more. The ball is farther from you.

[Killa]

11 minutes ago, iacas said:

Ball above your feet: stand a little taller. The ball is closer to you.

Ball below your feet: squat or bend your knees/hips a bit more. The ball is farther from you.

How about ball flight. I never remember if I should aim left or right. Thinking a ball above will fly left and ball below right. 

[iacas]

20 minutes ago, Killa said:

How about ball flight. I never remember if I should aim left or right. Thinking a ball above will fly left and ball below right. 

I don't know. I don't really think about sidehill lies all that much. I point the face where it needs to be.

Obviously with any loft and the ball above your feet, the clubface will point left.

Have a field day.