Golf Nut, I struggle with hitting from uneven lies. I always seem to catch the golf ball thin or fat. Can you help me with this?

I can definitely help, and I will probably give you more information than you want on this topic, so strap in and get ready. I’m going to answer this question in multiple parts, to make it easier to learn all of types of uneven lie golf shots.

First let’s understand what an uneven lie really means. There are two types of lies. One is where the golf ball is above or below your feet. And the second is where the ball is even with your feet, but is either on an uphill slope or a downhill slope. These golf shots take different approaches, so I will break them down and look at each one individually.

In this article, I am going to focus on the ball being below your feet. Many golfers consider this to be the hardest shot in golf, but I can show you how to easily make solid contact and advance the golf ball a decent distance down the fairway.

One of the reasons many golfers hit this shot poorly is that they don’t make the correct adjustment and then tend to hit the ball really thin, top it, or whiff the shot completely. The key on this shot is to GET DOWN to the golf ball. And it’s also key to understand that your objective is to get off the hill and get a little distance, not to hit a miracle golf shot to within birdie distance on the green.

At this point you have a bad lie and you don’t want to compound the problem trying to create a miracle. So addressing the ball correctly is critical. First your need to bend your knees more than normal. You also need to bend over towards the ball.

One additional thing that sounds crazy is I want you to also choke down slightly on the club. This sounds crazy because the ball is farther away from your club head than normal so won’t choking down cause more problems? It could, but we are not going to take a full swing and I’ve found that choking down slightly on less than a full swing helps to ensure solid contact.

Now because the golf ball is below your feet AND because we are not taking a full swing, the ball will tend to go right. So aim a little left of where you want the shot to end up.

Now take the club back to about 60-70 percent of your full swing. And hit through the golf ball to about the same percent of your follow through. As you make this golf swing, the club will almost feel like it wants to go up more than normal on your back swing and that’s ok.

Don’t try to swing hard on this shot and be sure to focus on not standing up or straightening up as you swing the golf club. Also make sure your knees stay bent and that you stay bent down over the golf ball.

That’s it! It sounds simple and it is, if you don’t try to do too much with this shot. Give this a shot on the practice range a time or two and you should see instant improvement.