How do you hit a shot from a sidehill lie? (Video) - by Pete Styles
How do you hit a shot from a sidehill lie? (Video) - by Pete Styles

Its a good question here about how we can hit a shot from a side hill lie. So we have hit the ball down the fairway we have got a green in front, its 150 yards away. Everything should be pretty simple, when we get to the ball we realize the ball is above the feet and this could cause quite a few problems unless you make an adjustment for it. Now the basic adjustment to make from this position is to understand the ball will fly in the direction the hill is aiming. So if I got a ball above my feet I'm standing here, it’s going this way it will overly draw the ball.

And likewise if the ball was below my feet it would go this way and it would make the ball fade. To simplify that and think about it imagine you’re on the hill you roll the ball and it curves down the hill the way the slope is going that’s the way it will do the same thing in the air. There is various numbers of reasons for that but I'm not going to fill your head with too many ideas about that just at the moment just understand the hill will make the ball curve in the way it would do if you rolled the ball. So the easiest way to compensate for that curvature that will happen in the air is actually just changing your alignment. So depending on the severity of the slope depends on how far left or right of target you should be aiming. For a moderate slope probably just aim at the edge of the green and for a more severe slope probably aim sort of the edge of the bunker so it might feel quite strange to aim at a flag but actually to pick a point out well to the left and right of that flag, aiming off line, but then trust yourself and make your normal stroke. Don’t try and make too many other compensations or adjustments and certainly don’t fight the hill and try and turn the ball back onto the green. If you’ve understood the way the slope is working, you’ve understood the severity of the slope your ball will generally take that normal shape as long as you make a standard swing. So I'm aiming to the right of my target I make my normal golf swing as the ball is in flight it will start left and curve further left, if I’ve got the hill correct. And likewise with the ball below my feet I’d be aiming down the left hand side of the target just making my normal swing from there, I don’t expect to see the ball curve left or right in the air in that instance. So understand that the ball will turn in flight the same way it would turn if you roll the ball along the ground therefore use your alignment to compensate for the side hills that you are standing on. 2015-03-26

Its a good question here about how we can hit a shot from a side hill lie. So we have hit the ball down the fairway we have got a green in front, its 150 yards away. Everything should be pretty simple, when we get to the ball we realize the ball is above the feet and this could cause quite a few problems unless you make an adjustment for it. Now the basic adjustment to make from this position is to understand the ball will fly in the direction the hill is aiming. So if I got a ball above my feet I'm standing here, it’s going this way it will overly draw the ball.

And likewise if the ball was below my feet it would go this way and it would make the ball fade. To simplify that and think about it imagine you’re on the hill you roll the ball and it curves down the hill the way the slope is going that’s the way it will do the same thing in the air. There is various numbers of reasons for that but I'm not going to fill your head with too many ideas about that just at the moment just understand the hill will make the ball curve in the way it would do if you rolled the ball.

So the easiest way to compensate for that curvature that will happen in the air is actually just changing your alignment. So depending on the severity of the slope depends on how far left or right of target you should be aiming. For a moderate slope probably just aim at the edge of the green and for a more severe slope probably aim sort of the edge of the bunker so it might feel quite strange to aim at a flag but actually to pick a point out well to the left and right of that flag, aiming off line, but then trust yourself and make your normal stroke.

Don’t try and make too many other compensations or adjustments and certainly don’t fight the hill and try and turn the ball back onto the green. If you’ve understood the way the slope is working, you’ve understood the severity of the slope your ball will generally take that normal shape as long as you make a standard swing. So I'm aiming to the right of my target I make my normal golf swing as the ball is in flight it will start left and curve further left, if I’ve got the hill correct.

And likewise with the ball below my feet I’d be aiming down the left hand side of the target just making my normal swing from there, I don’t expect to see the ball curve left or right in the air in that instance. So understand that the ball will turn in flight the same way it would turn if you roll the ball along the ground therefore use your alignment to compensate for the side hills that you are standing on.