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

01:09the low 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

01:14the low 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, it also makes the low point appear too far

01:28behind the ball.

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

01:34that leading 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, a little bit like this.

01:54So 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's 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.

02:32But sometimes maybe you can't do that, it might be a bunker there for example, so you've

02:36got to try and play the higher shot.

02:38So one of the things you can do is get the club selection right.

02:41I've got my high toe 60 degree low bounce lob wedge here, and what I really like about

02:46this wedge is how it's really shaved down on the toe.

02:48So the bounce really is measured in the middle of the sole, and the toe there is shaved down.

02:53So 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 sort of 30 degrees open

03:09with my feet, and I'm going to swing the toe across the ball.

03:13And I can hit just before it, and the toe will nip under it and hopefully hit it nice

03:19and high.

03:20So let's give that a go.

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

03:26Nice high shot, and hopefully up and down.

03:30So really tough shot, made easy by using the right club and the right technique.

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