You're Correct!

One of the most frustrating sights a golfer can see is when a good golf shot is resting up against the collar of the fringe around the green.

With the ball sitting against a wall of grass, it is virtually impossible not to get some grass trapped between the ball and the putter face at impact. This will seriously affect the control you have over the putt and there is also a possibility of the ball being deflected off line.

You will often see players on your TV striking the ball in the equator with a wedge from this type of lie, but there are a couple of ways that you can play an effective shot with your putter too. The first shot you can play is to hit the ball just above the equator with the lower half of the putter face. The main issue you may encounter playing this shot is the high risk of catching the ball on the top and the ball hardly moving or only moving a couple of feet. The shot that offers you the greatest chance of a successful outcome is to strike the ball with the toe end of your putter. Although a difficult shot to play, it’s a very effective one to have in your locker, so get down to the practice putting green. Place your ball against the collar and do the following:

Take your address position as usual with the ball just inside the back foot of your stance. Now turn your putter 90 degrees in your hands so you are holding the putter sideways so the face is turned in towards your feet and the toe end of the putter is in behind the ball.
Now you need to make sure that your hands stay in front of the ball during the stroke and you still use a pendulum style motion, taking care not to use your wrists. By rocking your shoulders, the toe of the putter will strike the ball on a downward angle of attack. This will see the ball releasing down towards the hole at a greater speed than usual so you will need to make adjustments accordingly for the conditions you face, i.e the speed of the green and whether or not your putt is downhill.

If you try to hit the ball with heel side of the putter face, the ball will not have the intended amount of speed required to travel the distance you want it to due to the strike being off centre, along with the possibility of the putt starting off line too.

The problem with making your normal putting stroke is that there will be too much grass for the putter face to travel through before it makes contact with the ball. This will see you get lots of the grass trapped between the ball and the putter face, resulting in a shot that is unpredictable and almost impossible to control.

Playing the ball further forward in your stance will stop you from getting too much grass between the ball and the putter face. However, the biggest issue comes from the putter travelling upwards after the low point and this can result in the putter face contacting the ball above the equator and you hitting topped shots.