How To Chip And Pitch From Muddy Lies

Golf Monthly

In this video, Dan Grieve, head professional at Woburn Golf Club, explains how to pitch from muddy lies.

Transcript

00:00Hi, I'm Dan Greave, head professional here at Woburn and we've got a beautiful wet summer's

00:10day here at Woburn and we are going to talk about the muddy lie, which I know for a lot

00:15of you amateur golfers is a real difficult shot because it's so difficult to get that

00:19contact to get that ball first contact from these lies is really tough.

00:23So it's really all about setup.

00:24So if we get the setup right, like all lies, it becomes a lot easier.

00:29So you'll see in some of the other videos we talk a lot about the bounce and how the

00:32bounce is really your friend and for almost all short game shots that's the case, apart

00:37from this one where it really becomes your foe.

00:39So we need to make sure we're using more of the leading edge, more of the shaft leading

00:43edge to make sure we can get that contact into the back of the ball.

00:46When we start using too much of the bounce off these lies the club just goes into the

00:50turf and the ball just goes a yard or two in front of you.

00:53So like all short game shots it's critical that we get the setup right.

00:55So if we look at this face on you'll see that the key here is the ball position.

01:01So we need that ball position to be just back of centre and let's make sure that the chest

01:05bone is a good couple of inches there in front of the ball because that really dictates the

01:09low point in the swing.

01:10A lot of club golfers I see they get way behind it from these sort of lies so it brings the

01:14low point back and it's very easy to hit the ground first.

01:17So the key there is ball position just back of centre.

01:20Let's make sure that the chest bone's ahead and shoulder's nice and level as well.

01:24When you start tipping this right shoulder also makes the low point appear too far behind

01:28the ball.

01:29So nice level shoulders, get the chest bone in front of the ball and the key here is that

01:34leading edge getting into the back and really think about your finish.

01:38When you have a long finish you tend to release more of the bounce.

01:41When you have a short finish or curtailed finish with a little bit more pace it just

01:45allows the hands to stay a little bit more ahead of the club head and get that ball first.

01:50So let's see if we can play one, should be a little bit like this.

02:04A nice ball first contact, it will go lower, the ball will be fairly hot but that's the

02:10sacrifice you make in terms of getting the quality of that strike.

02:13Okay this is a really tough shot here okay but it is real life, we do get it sometimes

02:17so really wet muddy lie to a tight pin.

02:20So the pin there is only about four yards on.

02:23Now of course there's options here and really I probably would advise most of you to play

02:27a low shot there maybe with an 8 or 9 iron running it into the bank, try and take some

02:31pace off the ball but sometimes maybe you can't do that, it might be a bunker there

02:35for example so you've got to try and play the higher shot.

02:38So one of the things you can do is get the club selection right, I've got my high toe

02:4260 degree low bounce lob wedge here and what I really like about this wedge is how it's

02:47really shaved down on the toe so the bounce really is measured in the middle of the sole

02:51and the toe there is shaved down so I can use that to my advantage here.

02:54So I'm going to set up with the toe lower than the heel, I'm going to face a little

02:59bit open but really put that toe down and address it slightly out the toe of the club

03:03as well.

03:04I'm going to stand quite a bit weight to the left here so a good 30 degrees open with my

03:09feet and I'm going to swing the toe across the ball and I can hit just before it and

03:16the toe will nip under it and hopefully hit it nice and high so let's give that a go.

03:21So high hands, toe down and we're going to work across the ball.

03:27Nice high shot and hopefully up and down so really tough shot, made easy by using the

03:33right club and the right technique.

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