Natalie Adams – PGA Teaching Pro

In this golf tip, we're going to have a look at how lady golfers can play their best golf shots into greens with false fronts, so false fronted green is basically a green which has a slope at the front of the green. It cut to the surface level of the putting surface and not the fairway, but its called the false front because if you hit the ball onto that area of the putting surface, the ball isn't going to stay on. It will just roll back down as it hits into the slope, the slope is going to kill the ball flight. The ball won't stay on that surface because of the slope and it will roll back down and you'll end up back on the fairway, so that's why it's called a false front.

It looks like the putting surface, but actually it isn't, it's playing more like the fairway and you need to feel that the putting surface is above this area, so to play your best shots in here my first piece of advice you're playing in from distance would definitely be take an extra golf club. If you normally play the yardage to the front of the green with the 7-iron, I'd recommend you then hit a 6-iron, so you're going to get more yardage. The ball is going to be in the air for longer, and you'll clear that false fronted area, get the ball landing on the flatter surface above that slope false front.

If you do hit the ball into that false front and end up rolling all the way back down to the bottom of it then I think you've got two options. My first piece of advice here would be play the shot with the hybrid or even take the putter. Keep the ball really low to the ground, get the ball running up the slopes. It gets to the top of the slope and makes it to the flatter area at the top of the green. What you don’t want to do is hitting the ball into the slope and getting the ball to bounce in the slope so take the rescue club. The ball won't lift very high from the surface. It will roll up the slope, it will go a little bit faster than would it if you were putting. You'll get it up to the slope, up the slope, up to the top surface and then you can take the putt from there.

If you're not happy with that shot, or you feel it's inappropriate to play for the situation that you're in, then the other option you've got is taken a lofted club. Play something like your sand iron or your pitching wedge. Hit the shot. Make sure the ball lands at the top of the slope. What you don’t want with playing to the false fronted green is the ball landing on the slope so you've either got to use the hybrid, hit it low, make it run all the way upto slope, and to the top or play totally to the top of the slope with a more lofted club.

So what I'd suggest you to do if you want to play the more lofted option take your pitching wedge or your sand iron and the next time you're at the driving range, just play some little shots from various distances. So if I just go to my sand iron here, I'd look again in a good setup so for this shot we want to play the ball in the middle of the feet. We want to make sure the left foot is pulled back slightly to play the left side to allow you to follow through and just keep the hands forward, so working on having a really straight line from the left shoulder down to the hands, down to the club head.

Just work on taking little swings feeling like you're just swinging into an 8 o'clock position so if you imagine a clubface in front of you with 12 o'clock up by your head 6 o'clock down by the ball just work on swinging back 4 o'clock to 8 o'clock and hit a few shots, and just notice how far that ball actually lands out from you. Then do the same again, and go more to a 9 o'clock so slightly bigger backswing, make sure you go 9 o'clock through to 3 o'clock. Strike the ball there you should see slightly more distance achieved before the ball bounces, and then try upto that 2 o'clock 10 o'clock position.

Again that will give you slightly more distance. Now if you do that while you're on the driving range and you start to note down and notice how far that's making the ball go, you'll then know the shot to play to get you to the top of the slope rather than landing halfway up the slope and the ball coming back down. But I think if given the choice I'd certainly play the running shot with the hybrid. It's going to give you more consistency and out of 10 you're going to hit a higher number of shots of that slope.

So to play the hybrid, hold down at the bottom of the handle. You place the ball in the center of the feet. Again just pull the left foot back, directly back, it allows you to follow through well. Slightly more weight on the left side, arms nice and long, and then just keep this Y shape, this capsule Y shape that you've created with the arms and the club to swing that Y shape back, swing it through, just working on brushing the ground as you swing through. This will give you a really low shot so the ball won't lift from the ground, but it will really help the ball scurried that slope and get to the top.

So the next time you're faced with the false front green if you're hitting it from distance take an extra club. If you do find yourself at the bottom of that slope, I'd recommend you take the hybrid, play the low shot, get it scurrying of the slope to the top, or if you haven't got that option take your sand iron and land the ball to the top at the slope.