Hitting off Tight Texas Fairways

[MGN]

Folks,

I have trouble getting the ball airborne when hitting off a tightly cut fairway with a 7 to 5 iron shot (range).  The soil below the tight cut fairways here in south Texas are like hard compressed clay and it poses a challenge.

Any advice would be appreciated.

 

Thanks.

 

[MrGolfguy67]

Try moving the ball a little forward in your stance, toward your left foot.

[Shorty]

Your challenge is to hit the ball first. If anything, a tight fairway will help you get the ball in the air and traveling the right distance. 

And....... TOTALLY IGNORE THE ADVICE IN THE ABOVE POST. Do the opposite.

Edited May 23, 2018 by Shorty

[Patch]

I practice with long/short irons off a dry lake bed some times. 

Ball in the middle part of my stance. (My sternum is my stance center) Some folks will have the ball back in their stance, and some forward. Just depends on where their swing's consistant low point is. 

Hands some what a head of the club head at impact. 

The trick is to hit the ball first, and not worry about a divot after impact. Who wants to take a divot off firm turf anyways?

It takes practice to hit this type of thin lie shot. Part of the learning process is knowing where the club head is in the swing.  Once I learned this thin lie shot, that's all I ever hit anymore from the fairway. "Thin To Win" as the saying goes. 

I'd probably start off practicing slow swing pitch shots, and go from there. Punch shots are good starting point too.  As you start making better contact, increase your swing speed.

[billchao]

1 hour ago, Shorty said:

And....... TOTALLY IGNORE THE ADVICE IN THE ABOVE POST. Do the opposite.

Why? Moving the ball back tends to get people steeper into the ball. You want to be shallower on ground you can't really dig into.

[Shorty]

1 hour ago, billchao said:

Why? Moving the ball back tends to get people steeper into the ball. You want to be shallower on ground you can't really dig into.

You have to make sure you are hitting the ball first. That doesn't imply that you are going to go steeper into the ball. The advice to hit it further up in your stance (for someone who doesn't know their basic swing mechanics and thinks they're not getting the ball up in the air BECAUSE of a tight lie) is almost a guarantee of getting the player to hit it thin, which will exacerbate the problem. My advice is to have the ball in the CORRECT location, not back in your stance.

[MrGolfguy67]

4 hours ago, Shorty said:

And....... TOTALLY IGNORE THE ADVICE IN THE ABOVE POST. Do the opposite.

He is free to make his own choice; he can try my suggestion and if it works for him then great, if not there's no real harm he can try something else. Fair enough?

[MarvChamp]

15 hours ago, MrGolfguy67 said:

Try moving the ball a little forward in your stance, toward your left foot.

I know there is a little controversy in the thread about this. However, similarly, my rheumatic right hand hurts if I hit the ground/take a divot. This makes me cringe. So, I'm working on crisply "nipping" the ball, not exactly sweeping but leaving only a small mark. I have found that the ball forward stance helps me, in tandem, of course, with all the other parts of my swing that are peculiar to me as an older arthritic golfer. Good topic and debate. Best, -Marv

[Club Rat]

Tight lies are a challenge for me due to not playing on hard tight Bermuda on a regular basis.
I struggle when I play courses in Florida and Texas adjusting to hitting slightly down on shots with mid and long irons.
My thoughts are to take a few practice swings and firmly bounce the surface with out being steep and digging. 
Then I note where the club contacts the surface and adjust the ball slightly forward.
 

[MGN]

On 5/24/2018 at 5:26 PM, Club Rat said:

Tight lies are a challenge for me due to not playing on hard tight Bermuda on a regular basis.
I struggle when I play courses in Florida and Texas adjusting to hitting slightly down on shots with mid and long irons.
My thoughts are to take a few practice swings and firmly bounce the surface with out being steep and digging. 
Then I note where the club contacts the surface and adjust the ball slightly forward.
 

Thank you @Club Rat, @Patch, @billchao, @MrGolfguy67, @MarvChamp.   Looks like you appreciate the conditions we face in the Gulf Coast of Texas where these tight fairway lies with bottom hard-packed soil feels like the ball is sitting on green spray-painted cement at times.  Since I take a decent divot during my normal iron shots, these conditions are a problem for me.  I will try your suggestions this long-weekend.  Cheers.

[Patch]

38 minutes ago, MGN said:

Thank you @Club Rat, @Patch, @billchao, @MrGolfguy67, @MarvChamp.   Looks like you appreciate the conditions we face in the Gulf Coast of Texas where these tight fairway lies with bottom hard-packed soil feels like the ball is sitting on green spray-painted cement at times.  Since I take a decent divot during my normal iron shots, these conditions are a problem for me.  I will try your suggestions this long-weekend.  Cheers.

You are most welcome. Hopefully with some time spent practicing, you will add this shot to your golf journey. 

[iacas]

Tight lies require good ballstriking. I loved the lies at St. Andrews… the tightest I'd ever seen. You could do whatever you wanted with those shots.

[MrGolfguy67]

3 hours ago, iacas said:

 I loved the lies at St. Andrews… the tightest I'd ever seen. You could do whatever you wanted with those shots.

Even putt it

[Buckeyebowman]

On 5/23/2018 at 9:04 PM, Shorty said:

You have to make sure you are hitting the ball first. That doesn't imply that you are going to go steeper into the ball. The advice to hit it further up in your stance (for someone who doesn't know their basic swing mechanics and thinks they're not getting the ball up in the air BECAUSE of a tight lie) is almost a guarantee of getting the player to hit it thin, which will exacerbate the problem. My advice is to have the ball in the CORRECT location, not back in your stance.

I have to agree. If I don't miss my guess the OP is probably playing off Bermuda grass. I had a couple of golf buddies play some in Florida. Oddly enough, the starter was from Ohio and engaged them in conversation before they headed out. He asked if they had ever played on Bermuda before. They told him no, and he advised them that they might want to play their irons a little further back in their stance.

As one guy described it to me, "Back in my stance, Hell! How about BEHIND my stance!" Bermuda is different!

[Zeph]

If you hit the ball first, does it matter what kind of grass it is sitting on? 

From tight lies I either hit from a normal spot if it's grass (centre of stance to inside left heel), or slightly more forward if I don't want to dig into the soil. 

[Victor Olivares]

I carry 5 fairways, Ping G400’s SFT (16°, 19°, 22°) and Ping Rhapsody (25°, 30°) which allow me to hit from 80 to 200 yards using the same swing on tight lie fairways. For yardage under 80, on the tight lies, I use my wedges positioning the ball on or behind my non-leading foot. In addition to the clubs mention my bag consist of Ping G400 SFT (10°) G10 irons (7 to LW).

Edited April 29, 2019 by Victor Olivares

[Zippo]

On ‎5‎/‎25‎/‎2018 at 2:20 PM, MGN said:

Thank you @Club Rat, @Patch, @billchao, @MrGolfguy67, @MarvChamp.   Looks like you appreciate the conditions we face in the Gulf Coast of Texas where these tight fairway lies with bottom hard-packed soil feels like the ball is sitting on green spray-painted cement at times.  Since I take a decent divot during my normal iron shots, these conditions are a problem for me.  I will try your suggestions this long-weekend.  Cheers.

I don't have a good answer for you but I know what you're talking about. My home course fairways are clay based and dry to concrete in the summer. The good thing, though, is that the ball runs a mile on a good strike. Makes even a geezer like me look like a long hitter!