Reading Your Lie In The Grass On The Golf Course (Video) - by Pete Styles
Reading Your Lie In The Grass On The Golf Course (Video) - by Pete Styles

To be the best chipper of the golf ball you can be, there's lots of different things that you've got to consider including the distance of the shot, the lie of the green when it gets up there, how much it's got to roll, how high you want to hit it. There is one big consideration as well. I think a lot of golfers don't take enough time-over is the quality of the lie, the type of lie that they're playing from.

You see so many golfers just make a decision when they are standing back of their golf bags and they are not really getting involved in what the lie is like and then as they set up to the ball the can finally put the clubbing behind and then realize what type of lie they've got. That then needs to make an adjustment to the type of shot of even the club selection they are going to use. That golfer is already set up and his bags are over there. His mates are waiting for him. So he just hits it anyway and potentially makes a mess of the shot because the lie wasn't considered deeply enough. What we're going to do now is look at the type of lie and make an assumption of how the ball is going to react and then make a change to the type of shot we might play if we need to. So the first consideration is if we've got the ball on the fairway quite relatively short grass, that should be the easiest and the best type of lie for a golfer to play from because effectively the club should hit the ball first and the lie shouldn't make too much of a difference to the way the ball will react. So if we're on the fairway we should find that easier to chip from. Now if we find our ball in the semi-rough we've got to consider that when it is in the semi-rough is it sitting up or is it sitting down. If a ball is sitting down in the rough, it requires you to hit down more to get to the bottom of the ball, but it also requires you to make adjustment for how the ball will react when it lands on the green. Generally speaking, if our ball is sitting down in the longer grass, the ball here, the grass here as the club comes in the grass gets between club fights and ball. Therefore were we going to make contact, the ball will not react as well on the green. It won't spin as much. So we need to allow for a bit more run outs. It is equally relevant if there is a hazard at the back of the green we don't want the ball to go shooting off and land in that hazard. So we need to allow for the ball to land sooner and roll out a little bit more. The other consideration might be if the ball is sitting in the long grass, but it is actually sitting up in the long grass, sometimes the ball could be up to two inches off the floor. The first thing to consider when you're setting up for that ball make sure you don't give yourself a penalty because if you touch the long grass here, the long grass moves the ball fall, hits the club, that's going to be a penalty. So you got to make sure that the ball is supported by the long grass, and we hover the club in. Then we want to get a feeling for how high we should make our swing, because clearly if we go down under and hit the soil we might go almost completely under the ball, the ball falls, the ball might hit right up on the top edge of the club and we don't get the full power. So what I would suggest is, you find a piece of grass that is near the ball but not too close, that is similar in terms of its height and actually go and practice swinging that. So if you've got some longer grass like this and the ball is sitting on the top of that grass, find some grass similar to that locally, couple of practice swings right near it, get a feel for how high you're going. You're not trying to dig down too much, but also you're not trying to scoop, just trying to make a nice swing at the top, then set up to the ball and then go ahead and accurately play the ball straight off that surface. Sometimes that long grass, that thick grass where the ball is sitting up looks really easy. A lot of golfers have made the mistake of going too low and go underneath it. So practice in a lie that is similar. When you get a bit more experienced on the golf course you should be able to read the type of lie that you've got relatively quickly, make the required adjustments and improve your chip shots because you're now considering the lie of the ball. 2016-10-14

To be the best chipper of the golf ball you can be, there's lots of different things that you've got to consider including the distance of the shot, the lie of the green when it gets up there, how much it's got to roll, how high you want to hit it. There is one big consideration as well. I think a lot of golfers don't take enough time-over is the quality of the lie, the type of lie that they're playing from.

You see so many golfers just make a decision when they are standing back of their golf bags and they are not really getting involved in what the lie is like and then as they set up to the ball the can finally put the clubbing behind and then realize what type of lie they've got. That then needs to make an adjustment to the type of shot of even the club selection they are going to use. That golfer is already set up and his bags are over there. His mates are waiting for him. So he just hits it anyway and potentially makes a mess of the shot because the lie wasn't considered deeply enough.

What we're going to do now is look at the type of lie and make an assumption of how the ball is going to react and then make a change to the type of shot we might play if we need to. So the first consideration is if we've got the ball on the fairway quite relatively short grass, that should be the easiest and the best type of lie for a golfer to play from because effectively the club should hit the ball first and the lie shouldn't make too much of a difference to the way the ball will react. So if we're on the fairway we should find that easier to chip from.

Now if we find our ball in the semi-rough we've got to consider that when it is in the semi-rough is it sitting up or is it sitting down. If a ball is sitting down in the rough, it requires you to hit down more to get to the bottom of the ball, but it also requires you to make adjustment for how the ball will react when it lands on the green.

Generally speaking, if our ball is sitting down in the longer grass, the ball here, the grass here as the club comes in the grass gets between club fights and ball. Therefore were we going to make contact, the ball will not react as well on the green. It won't spin as much. So we need to allow for a bit more run outs. It is equally relevant if there is a hazard at the back of the green we don't want the ball to go shooting off and land in that hazard. So we need to allow for the ball to land sooner and roll out a little bit more.

The other consideration might be if the ball is sitting in the long grass, but it is actually sitting up in the long grass, sometimes the ball could be up to two inches off the floor. The first thing to consider when you're setting up for that ball make sure you don't give yourself a penalty because if you touch the long grass here, the long grass moves the ball fall, hits the club, that's going to be a penalty. So you got to make sure that the ball is supported by the long grass, and we hover the club in.

Then we want to get a feeling for how high we should make our swing, because clearly if we go down under and hit the soil we might go almost completely under the ball, the ball falls, the ball might hit right up on the top edge of the club and we don't get the full power. So what I would suggest is, you find a piece of grass that is near the ball but not too close, that is similar in terms of its height and actually go and practice swinging that.

So if you've got some longer grass like this and the ball is sitting on the top of that grass, find some grass similar to that locally, couple of practice swings right near it, get a feel for how high you're going. You're not trying to dig down too much, but also you're not trying to scoop, just trying to make a nice swing at the top, then set up to the ball and then go ahead and accurately play the ball straight off that surface.

Sometimes that long grass, that thick grass where the ball is sitting up looks really easy. A lot of golfers have made the mistake of going too low and go underneath it. So practice in a lie that is similar. When you get a bit more experienced on the golf course you should be able to read the type of lie that you've got relatively quickly, make the required adjustments and improve your chip shots because you're now considering the lie of the ball.