Golf throws countless curveballs at a player during every round. But you can always count on facing sidehill lies.

When the ball sits above or below the level of your feet, or when you’re playing up or down a slope, it will react according to certain rules. Here we’ll look at how a ball lying lower than your feet – on a hill sloping away from you – affects the swing.

First of all, your weight will naturally slide toward the toes. You may also bend over more from the waist, putting your back in a flatter, more tilted position and creating a more upright (vertical) swing.

These factors alone are enough to produce a shot which starts right of target and fades even farther right. Now consider that the same lie tends to open the clubface at address, and you understand the challenges of such a situation.

In our next entry, we’ll examine how a ball-below-feet stance alters a shot’s flight.