How to Hit a Golf Ball from a Downhill Lie

Marc: Welcome to another episode of Golf is Hard TV, The Golf Show for the Rest of Us! I am standing here on a downhill lie. We just showed you the bunker shot, that's my number one, most weird shot. My number two most weird short is this shot, where I've got -- I am real close to the green and I am kind of lean in over on myself and I just know I am going to flub one. I mean that's the next thing that's going to happen, is that the ball is going to dribble and I am going to be left with a chip up on the green from two feet where I am standing. So, how many were these, Dave? Coach Dave: I know I have played with you, I know what you do when you have the shot. Marc: Yeah, what do I do? Coach Dave: You kick it down the hill towards flat and then you hit the shot. Marc: I'll go like this. Coach Dave: You can do that or-- Marc: That's a little bit like mulligan thing. Coach Dave: Exactly, or you can set your body up. Marc: Yeah. Coach Dave: Similar to where you are headed. You got to basically fool the ball into thinking -- Marc: I am going to fool the ball? Coach Dave: Yeah, you're going to fool the ball here into thinking that you are on a flat ground. Marc: Let me just talk. I hope I can fool a golf ball. Coach Dave: That's it. Well, how often do you think you really fooled it? Marc: I'd never. It's clearly lots more than that. Coach Dave: You've been fooling us, making a fool out of us. That's golf though. Marc: Yeah Coach Dave: Golf is hard, right? Marc: Golf is hard. Coach Dave: Alright, so we are going to fool the ball this time. Marc: Alright. Coach Dave: Probably one of the few times that we can actually do it, into thinking that we are on a flat ground Marc: Okay! Coach Dave: I mean just keep that in mind. Marc: Okay! Coach Dave: If we can do that, we are going to have lot more success. Now, the reason he was leaning sideways when he introduced in the show is because basically, you got to get your spine angle perpendicular to the ground for these downhill lies and uphill lies, which we're going to look at next. Marc: Alright Coach Dave: So that's it. So now really in this case, I am really leaning towards the hole. I need to get my spine angle perpendicular and in this case, my weight is 80% of it, maybe 90 towards the hole, and then boom. Now the other thing is this ball is going to fly a lot lower because we are on this downhill lie, we are taking loft of the club, and you just have to accept that. Marc: Alright. I accept the challenge. Coach Dave: You have to accept that this is going to fly lower so you take a more lofted club, if you need to, if you don't have a lot of green. But luckily, in this case, we have lot of green to work. Marc: And am I open in the face? Coach Dave: Square face? Marc: Square face Coach Dave: You can open and touch it if you need but- Marc: Spine angle, alright let's get this a try. One shot, one take. Coach Dave: Lean towards the hole. Keep your balance, just kind of let it swing down, down, a bit slow. Marc: Hey! Coach Dave: There you go. Marc: Am I going in the hole? No, not quite. Coach Dave: He's a good student and I can tell you that. Marc: That was one shot baby! Coach Dave: That was one shot. We are not like Tiger Woods where he is flipping the ball up and he did that a thousand times. Actually, he did that the first time. Marc: That's was one shot deal too. Anyway, that's a downhill lie. Keep watching Golf is Hard TV, Golf Show for the Rest of Us!