Up Against It: Three Options When Swing is Obstructed (Video) - by Pete Styles
Up Against It: Three Options When Swing is Obstructed (Video) - by Pete Styles

So you join me now in a position where I’m pretending my golf bag is a tree so for a right-handed golfer hitting the ball this way, I can’t get it here to hit the ball because my imaginary tree is in the way. So here I have three options I think you should utilize to try and get this golf ball moved as far forwards down that way as quickly as possible. The first time option and always the first thing to consider is if this is unplayable, you always have the option to drop it. Within the dropping rule there are three options again. I could either go back and play the shot that put me in this position, one-shot penalty back to my exact spot. I can drop it in line with where my golf ball is and the flag and as far back in this direction as I like, keeping the ball on the flag in line or alternatively I can drop it two club lengths away and try and get it out sideways, two club lengths but not two club lengths nearer the hole so two club lengths back away from where the ball is and play it from there, all those three options available to me but all three would cost me one penalty shot.

If I wasn’t happy to accept a penalty and I wanted to get the ball going forwards towards the flag, I do have options that I can hit this but I can’t hit it in a right-handed fashion so my first option is to hit it left-handed. This isn't as difficult as it might sound and with a bit of practice you can get quite good at doing this. Take quite a lofted club, normally a wedge and turn it over so it sits on its toe. You can see why we use a wedge here because it actually has a wider clubface and it has a little bit of a bigger hitting area. So I take my pitching wedge and turn it over. I then go ahead and grip the golf club in my normal fashion and you can see I’m angling the club back so it has a bit of loft in it. I haven’t turned the clubface like this with no loft. I’m just sitting it there with a little bit of angle. I grip it now but I grip it like a left hand so just consider how a left-handed grip would work into linking the fingers and everything, a normal stance and just practice just chopping backwards and forwards there and just feel like you're going to skim the ground at the right sort of level.

I’m just going to turn my back on you here. I’m just going to play this ball forwards and hopefully you'll see the ball pop out and you can see that I’ve shuffled it forwards and I might be able to get 30 or 40 yards out of it. So a little scuff, a little click away and I’ve got that one out there and that's gone 60 yards. So I’m 60 yards closer to the green than I would have been if I’ve taken a penalty drop so that one works. With a bit of practice you could probably get that swing up a little bit further if you wanted to as well.

The other option from here is actually to play this one-handed and backwards and again, this is a bit easier than it might sound initially. But we basically stand there, one-handed and backwards and flick it away like that. So you take again a pitching wedge, put it in your right hand, turn the club back on itself and just flick it back past your legs and you can see with my golf bike proving as a tree I can flick that one backwards that way and get that one shifted 30 yards, that one has gone. Didn’t go up in the air that time but I’ve shifted it 30 yards so I’m nearer than I would have been certainly if I’ve gone back and played my original ball again or for dropping it away. So next time you're next to a tree consider your three different options: drop it, left-handed, or one-handed and backwards. Have a little bit of practice next time your on the practice ground trying those and they could save you some valuable shots next time you're next to a tree.

 2012-09-17

So you join me now in a position where I’m pretending my golf bag is a tree so for a right-handed golfer hitting the ball this way, I can’t get it here to hit the ball because my imaginary tree is in the way. So here I have three options I think you should utilize to try and get this golf ball moved as far forwards down that way as quickly as possible. The first time option and always the first thing to consider is if this is unplayable, you always have the option to drop it. Within the dropping rule there are three options again. I could either go back and play the shot that put me in this position, one-shot penalty back to my exact spot. I can drop it in line with where my golf ball is and the flag and as far back in this direction as I like, keeping the ball on the flag in line or alternatively I can drop it two club lengths away and try and get it out sideways, two club lengths but not two club lengths nearer the hole so two club lengths back away from where the ball is and play it from there, all those three options available to me but all three would cost me one penalty shot.

If I wasn’t happy to accept a penalty and I wanted to get the ball going forwards towards the flag, I do have options that I can hit this but I can’t hit it in a right-handed fashion so my first option is to hit it left-handed. This isn't as difficult as it might sound and with a bit of practice you can get quite good at doing this. Take quite a lofted club, normally a wedge and turn it over so it sits on its toe. You can see why we use a wedge here because it actually has a wider clubface and it has a little bit of a bigger hitting area. So I take my pitching wedge and turn it over. I then go ahead and grip the golf club in my normal fashion and you can see I’m angling the club back so it has a bit of loft in it. I haven’t turned the clubface like this with no loft. I’m just sitting it there with a little bit of angle. I grip it now but I grip it like a left hand so just consider how a left-handed grip would work into linking the fingers and everything, a normal stance and just practice just chopping backwards and forwards there and just feel like you're going to skim the ground at the right sort of level.

I’m just going to turn my back on you here. I’m just going to play this ball forwards and hopefully you'll see the ball pop out and you can see that I’ve shuffled it forwards and I might be able to get 30 or 40 yards out of it. So a little scuff, a little click away and I’ve got that one out there and that's gone 60 yards. So I’m 60 yards closer to the green than I would have been if I’ve taken a penalty drop so that one works. With a bit of practice you could probably get that swing up a little bit further if you wanted to as well.

The other option from here is actually to play this one-handed and backwards and again, this is a bit easier than it might sound initially. But we basically stand there, one-handed and backwards and flick it away like that. So you take again a pitching wedge, put it in your right hand, turn the club back on itself and just flick it back past your legs and you can see with my golf bike proving as a tree I can flick that one backwards that way and get that one shifted 30 yards, that one has gone. Didn’t go up in the air that time but I’ve shifted it 30 yards so I’m nearer than I would have been certainly if I’ve gone back and played my original ball again or for dropping it away. So next time you're next to a tree consider your three different options: drop it, left-handed, or one-handed and backwards. Have a little bit of practice next time your on the practice ground trying those and they could save you some valuable shots next time you're next to a tree.