The Golf Slice

Two of the most popular, or common, causes for penalty strokes are lost golf balls and hitting into an unplayable lie.

Most often these situations both arise when you’ve put your golf ball somewhere in a wooded area. Golf course designers love to put treed areas off to the sides of fairways so be careful when you’re around such conditions. I’ve spent more time than I’d care to admit rooting around the woods looking for lost golf balls. If you can’t find the ball you can go back and hit again and take a penalty.

The unplayable lie is a really good opportunity to strictly follow the rules and be an honest golfer. It’s also a good time to look the other way and cheat a little. Honest golfers will either more the ball two club lengths and take a penalty stroke or go back and hit another shot from their original spot and take the penalty stroke. Dishonest golfers (i.e., everyone I know and play with) will just kick the ball slightly to give it a better lie then hit their shot. The choice is yours to make.

When my friends and I first started to pick up the lovely game of golf we had a really bad problem with hitting topped shots. A topped shot, as the name implies, is when the head of your club doesn’t get under the ball and instead grazes the top of the ball. The result is less than spectacular.

It turns out fixing this problem is relatively easy. All you need to do is keep your head level throughout your swing. When you move your head or lift it up during your swing you have a tendency to top the golf ball.

An easy way to work on this is to have your playing partner watch you while you swing. In our group, everyone yells out in unison “Keep your head down!” whenever someone lifts their head and hits a topped shot.

In all honestly, putting from out of a bunker is going to be an absolutely terrible idea 99.99999999% of the time.

Yet under a very specific set of conditions it might be possible and in your best interest to try and putt your golf ball out of the sand instead of using a wedge.

Here’s my list of rules under which putting out of a bunker will be at least justifiable to the rest of your group:

1. The sand in the bunker is packed and hard. I’m talking cement quality sand.
2. The bunker does not have a lip at its edge.
3. Your golf ball does not have to go across a lot of sand to get out. This is pretty obvious but very important. God did not intend you to putt along sand so make sure the distance your golf ball needs to travel is at a minimum.

Putting out of a bunker is the kind of golf shot you take when you’re relaxed and trying to have a little bit of fun. If you’re trying to shoot your record low for a round or something then please reconsider your bunker putt.

This may come as a surprise to many people but your right foot might be the reason many of your golf shots are going off course. It’s not very often that you hear someone talk about their foot when they swing but it is sometime a reasonable excuse for a bad shot.

For right-handed golfers, the toe of your right foot should be square to your line or maybe turned out to the right. By doing this you can help the head of your club come away low from the ball, make a nice turn and start downwards correctly.

What if you want to hit your golf ball farther or higher than normal? In that case, the toe of your right foot should be aiming farther to the right. This will give you a larger and more powerful turn away from your golf ball without ruining your balance or rhythm. In addition, your hips will stay behind the ball through impact which leads to a cleaner motion and greater distance and speed.

If you’re looking to hit a low shot try turning your right foot slightly to the left. This will cut down on your backswing and give you more of a punch shot to keep the golf ball low.

I know this is just one more thing to worry about during your swing but with some practice you might find these subtle adjustments helpful.

A lot of newer golfers might be confused about some of the rules and details about the tee box so I’ve put a short explanation together.

At most golf courses there are three separate tee boxes per hole. This number varies but it’s rare to see any less than two: one for men and one for women.

A lot of courses will have two more tee boxes as well for junior golfers and “professional” or “experienced” players. Each set of tees is based on the starting distance to the hole. So the professional tees are the farthest away from the green and then the men, women and lastly the junior tees.

The idea behind different tee boxes is to level the playing field and make the round competitive for everyone in your group regardless of their skill level, gender or age.