Golf Nut, I never seem to be able to hit a lofted shot around the green to go over a bunker or some other hazard. I don’t need to hit a real “Phil Mickelson” type flop, just something that can get up and over these obstacles. Can you help me?

Hopefully I can give you some very simple steps for hitting this golf shot. What I see a lot of golfers do on this shot is try to do too much on this shot or they try to help the golf ball get up in the air. They try to get too fancy with it or they flip their hands at the end of the swing or try to accelerate too much as they come through the ball.

Here is a simple way to hit this golf shot without trying to do too much. Set up in a normal stance with the golf ball in the middle of your stance. If you are a more advanced golfer you can hit this with different wedges, but I normally recommend just always hitting this with your lob wedge which is normally 60 degrees. This just makes it an easier golf shot for us amateurs.

Now the swing itself is straightforward. You want to take the club back until your left arm (if you are right handed) is parallel to the ground. You also want to take the club back a little steeper than normal. And you just want to let the golf club come down like a normal iron shot, not sweeping it as you would for a wood.

You want to follow through to about where your arms are parallel to the ground on the follow through. The key is to make the entire swing in one smooth slow tempo and to go back and forward at the same tempo. Also do not to try and “lift” the ball off the ground. You want to let the golf club do that.

That’s it. Practice it a few times and you’ll be hitting this golf shot with ease. And if you want more help for your short game around the green, check out these additional golf tips!