yoga74017

Hitting the ball from uneven lies is one of the hardest things to do in golf and is one of the reasons why golf is so hard. Once you get out on the course, it is not flat like the driving range, and in order to shoot low scores and save as many strokes as possible you must know how to play form uneven lies.

Today i’m going to focus on teaching you how to play when the ball is below your feet as well as when it is above your feet. The good news is that these shots are not all that hard once you make the proper setup adjustments!

Playing when the ball is below your feet:

When the ball is below your feet you will feel as if you have to lean way over and really stretch to reach the ball. This is the major mistake that most golfers make when playing this shot, they bend too far forward from the waist to get down to the ball. This totally changes their body angles in the shot and causes mishits. Instead of bending more forward at the waist to get down to the ball, you need to bend your knees until your club reaches the ball. The angle that you bend forward should be exactly the same as that of a regular shot. So, when the ball is below your feet, bend those knees to get down to the ball.

Playing when the ball is above your feet:

When the ball is above your feet you need to flex your knees a whole lot less, and you want to have the feeling of standing nice and tall. In addition, because the ball is now higher up the distance between you and the ball is a lot shorter. So you will need to choke up on the club. making these 2 adjustments will put you in a good position to make your regular swing, although it will end up being a little flatter because the ball is up higher.

one thing to keep in mind when playing these shots is that you will tend to miss in a certain direction for each type of shot. When the ball is below your feet the tendency is the miss a little bit to the right. And likewise when the ball is above your feet you will tend to miss to the left, so aim accordingly!

So, there you can see that playing from uneven lies is not that hard once you know how, so get out there and start practicing!

Michael Dikun - Author of the Bogey Killer Ebook. http://www.Bogeykiller.com

Why should this cliche mean anything to us? On the surface it seems like a pretty meaningless catch phrase the pro's like to throw out during interviews because they have nothing better to say. And whilst this may sometimes be true, "One shot at a time" has a very real meaning.

golf is a slow sport and we have a lot of time to think. We have the luxury of musing on the past and future. That missed putt, "Oh damn just think how well I'd be doing if I hadn't missed it. Oooh, there's a par five coming up if I birdie it I might be abole to avoid going up 0.1..." Whatever.

These thoughts really aren't at all helpful. Rather we should aim to remove them because they break our concentration totally, lead to nervousness and anger. Ultimately they are the cause of poor play and all "caves" can be put down to suddeny becoming aware of how well you are doing (thought about the past) and hoping to finish it off well (thought about the future). When this happens we are likely to get nervous and "choke."

The pro's use one shot at a time as a mantra to bring them back into the present moment. They are only concentrating on what they are doing at exactly that moment, whether that be lining up a putt or talking to their playing partners. When the present moment is all that matters a Retief-Goosen-like calm descends. No shot is more important than another and interestingly golf can't make you angry.

Can you remember what you were thinking about during your best round ever? Take a few seconds to consider this...

For most people the answer is invariably very little. It's because you were so focused on what you were doing you didn't really think that much at all. You were too busy playing to worry about irrelevant things like the hole before or the greenside pond on the next hole. You were in "The Zone". Another of golf's favourite cliches... :).

Falling out of the present isn't so much of a problem in continuous or fast moving sports though it is still possible. But that is no excuse to let it happen to you in golf. Next time you catch yourself slipping say that mantra to yourself "One shot at a time." And if that isn't enough there is the master cure to the disease of thinking too much: stretching your muscles. When you stretch you become aware only of the feeling in your muscles and it takes your focus into the present. Feelings can only exist in the present moment.

Fraser Hasell is the owner of www.goodatgolf.com