Pete Finch – PGA Teaching Pro
How can I keep my footing on loose ground? Now wherever you play there will always be parts of the course, where the ground is a little bit loose and not quite as solid as the fairway. So if you think about going in the bunker where the ground is loose, if you think about going in the pines draw where the ground is loose, if you think about going on a bit of bait a bit of moody ground there the ground will also be quite loose as well. Now there are a couple of other ways, you can adapt to your setup and adapt your stance to hopefully not lose your footing while you’re swinging. Now one of the key aspects you need to do is take a slightly wider stance and therefore make a slightly wider base for yourself. In the sand and in the pines store what you can also do is shuffle your feet a little bit into the ground. If you can break through that top surface and actually move those loose bits out of the way, you’ll soon find there’s a bit of a firmer footing underneath the loose ground.
Now just remember if you do shuffle yourself into the loose ground, you’ll need to hold the club a little bit further down the handle. If you shuffle your feet half an inch into the sand, half an inch into the pines draw, you need to group down the club, half an inch as well to compensate. Now what a lot of people don’t do when they are playing on loose ground, is actually reduce their swing speed and their swing length. They go at it hell of a rather full throttle and then wonder why their feet start slipping. Off a lie where the ground is loose, just take a wide stance, shuffle yourself in, but then just take a nice relaxed smooth swing. If you take a nice relaxed smooth swing, the feet will stay pretty much where they are, and you won’t be sliding around all over the place. You’ll be out to make a nice smooth swing and hopefully not lose your footing. So when you're playing off loose ground, take a wider stance, keep your swing under control, and don’t try and smash it. If you can do that you’ll get the ball out successfully and hopefully finishing up near the target. 2014-05-29How can I keep my footing on loose ground? Now wherever you play there will always be parts of the course, where the ground is a little bit loose and not quite as solid as the fairway. So if you think about going in the bunker where the ground is loose, if you think about going in the pines draw where the ground is loose, if you think about going on a bit of bait a bit of moody ground there the ground will also be quite loose as well. Now there are a couple of other ways, you can adapt to your setup and adapt your stance to hopefully not lose your footing while you’re swinging. Now one of the key aspects you need to do is take a slightly wider stance and therefore make a slightly wider base for yourself. In the sand and in the pines store what you can also do is shuffle your feet a little bit into the ground. If you can break through that top surface and actually move those loose bits out of the way, you’ll soon find there’s a bit of a firmer footing underneath the loose ground.
Now just remember if you do shuffle yourself into the loose ground, you’ll need to hold the club a little bit further down the handle. If you shuffle your feet half an inch into the sand, half an inch into the pines draw, you need to group down the club, half an inch as well to compensate. Now what a lot of people don’t do when they are playing on loose ground, is actually reduce their swing speed and their swing length. They go at it hell of a rather full throttle and then wonder why their feet start slipping.
Off a lie where the ground is loose, just take a wide stance, shuffle yourself in, but then just take a nice relaxed smooth swing. If you take a nice relaxed smooth swing, the feet will stay pretty much where they are, and you won’t be sliding around all over the place. You’ll be out to make a nice smooth swing and hopefully not lose your footing. So when you're playing off loose ground, take a wider stance, keep your swing under control, and don’t try and smash it. If you can do that you’ll get the ball out successfully and hopefully finishing up near the target.
