Uneven Lies: Downhill

Video Transcript

Most of you practice golf on a perfectly “level lie,” some of you off of a mat, some of you on a nice level tee. Unfortunately when you play golf you don’t ever get a “level lie.” The fairways are always gently rolling, and some very severely sloped. The good news is the same swing works if you understand how to make the proper adjustments. Adjustment number one, is simply understanding that this is a “down hill lie.” The ball is going to go lower; if this slope is 12 degrees, I’m going to lose 12 degrees of loft. So I have to plan for it, by planning to land my ball a little short and let it run. I know it’s not going to go as high. The second thing, I have to fit the club to the slope. If this is my club fitted to a “level lie” that is my club fitted to a “down hill lie,” the relationship doesn’t change to the slope though it might to the horizon. Third of all, once I fit my club to the slope, I fit my body to the club. That puts me farther forward. My weight is certainly a little more left. Now four, I’m going to make a practice swing. From the practice swing, I can see, if I’m swinging along the slope, where my club starts to cut grass. I need this golf ball right about there because that’s the bottom of my arc. Five, I simply play the shot at a pace I can control. The worst thing that could happen would be if I did not get in the right position and I lost my balance. So if you follow those rules and there the same for all of the “lies.” You can play “uneven lies” about as well as you can off of a “level lie.”

Jack Lumpkin
Sea Island Golf Club
100 Retreat Ave.
St. Simons Island, GA 31522
Tel: 912-638-5119

Jack Lumpkin is a legendary instructor to PGA Tour Pro Davis Love III and is listed as one of Golf Magazine's Top 100 Teachers and Golf Digest's #12 instructor in the world.

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