You're Correct!

Hit down and make sure the club head is making a downward striking action to get the ball up out of the divot. It can be really annoying on the golf course if you hit a nice shot and you walk up to it and find it in a divot on the fairway that somebody has not replaced.

However, if that does happen you have still got to play the shot. It is possible to get the ball up nice and high out of that divot and to still make the green and to make a great score on that hole. But the key is you have got to get the club head striking down on to the ball, so that you take the ball and then the turf and if you do that you will get the ball out nice and high.

To ensure that you strike down on to the golf ball first, make sure that the golf ball is in the middle of your stance and set your hands forward of the golf ball and the club head. Ensure that you have got a nice straight line from the left shoulder all the way down the left arm and then extend this into the shaft of the club, if you are a right handed golfer. This will ensure that the hands are forward and with the ball slightly further back in your stance, you are going to make a downward hitting action into the golf ball with the club head.

Make sure that you position your head so it is just left of the golf ball, so that your nose is on the left of the golf ball and this will position your weight on to your left side. From this position, as you swing the club, it will now allow you to pick the club head up and make quite a steep back swing, giving you a good angle of attack and a steep angle of attack back down into the ball.

So if you are set up in this position and you want to practise hitting this shot, obviously if you are hitting on the practise ground you can take a divot and put the ball into it and then practise hitting out of it. But if you are on the driving range, on a mat, it is more difficult.

In this situation you need to remove the tee peg from the range mat, so that it leaves the hole in the mat. Now push the ball into that hole so it is sitting down more than it usually does and then just work on the process of having the ball slightly further back in the stance, with the hands forward and the weight forward, so you get a downward striking action and practise hitting the ball out of that hole. This will get you used to hitting nice high shots out of that divot and you will find it much easier to play from this position whenever it subsequently happens out on the course. You should find that you are hitting much better shots from bad lies and you can still score really well on the golf hole if it does happen.

A ball in a divot will be difficult to strike cleanly unless an alteration to the technique is made.

Scooping a ball from this type of lie will only exacerbate the situation and result in a very poor contact.

If your ball finishes in a divot, you do have the option of calling it unplayable and taking a drop that will allow you to improve the lie. However, this will cost you one shot penalty. Rather than doing this and adding to your score, learn to play a good shot from out of a divot and you will achieve a lower golf score.