Chipping from a Heavy Lie

You will be presented with various challenges when playing shots around the green.  Chipping is one shot you will need to master to keep your score down but the lie of the ball can play a big role in the type of chip shot you need to play.

Today, we are looking at chipping from a heavy lie.  A heavy lie is when you find the ball in long grass around the edge of the green.  When approaching this shot, the first thing you must do is think about the lie of the ball.

Not all shots from a heavy lie will be the same and you must think about how the ball is sitting in the long grass.  There are two main lies here, the first of which is when the ball is buried down in the rough.

To play a successful chip shot to the green when the ball is buried in the rough, the most important factor to consider is getting a good contact on the ball.  If you send the face of the club through the long grass too early, you will lose control of the shot and that could be disastrous.

To help prevent that from happening, play the ball further back in your stance but keep your body weight and hands forward.  You will need to play this shot with wrist hinge and it needs to happen quite early in the back swing.  Think about chopping down on the ball and to help promote the wrist hinge, try pointing your thumbs upwards as early possible during the back swing.

Finally, open the club face, almost as if you are going to play a flop shot and this will help the club move through the long grass.

The second type of scenario you could be faced with when playing chip shots from a heavy lie is when the ball is sitting up in the rough.  This means the ball is sitting nicely on top of the long grass rather than down in the grass like the previous example.

While this may look easier, many players will end up sending the club underneath the ball and it will travel nowhere near the distance required.  To prevent that from happening, keep the club face square and play the shot from the centre of the stance.

Do not play the shot with the same wrist hinge has before.  Try and keep the hands and wrists under control when the ball is sitting up in the rough and with a little practice, you should be able to play this shot well.