How to Play From an Uphill Lie

Believe it or not, practicing and learning how to play from an uphill lie can train your golf swing with a number of very positive benefits of which you should be aware.

When your body is fighting an uphill elevation change on the follow-through, it normally triggers an involuntary tension increase during the downswing, which has a detrimental effect on your ability to strike the ball flush and subsequently on the quality of the shot. Tightening the shoulder and arms during the delivery will actually impede your ability to follow-through. It is always important in a golf swing, regardless of the lie, to swing as level turning through as possible. All uneven lies in a proper swing, especially uphill lies, should be dealt with by lining up farther to the left at address. This will enable you to turn through the shot without fighting the hill. The ball position should be moved slightly farther back in the swing to compensate for the alignment change.

Developing a feel for the geometric challenges of sidehill lies is very important if you wish to be a complete player. The first release in the swing, where the heave ends, should be a little earlier, otherwise the hill can facilitate the heave, causing you to over- shift and get stuck on your back leg. The change of direction in the swing should be super-soft, allowing you to go full-depth into the counter-fall, which in turn, enables an effortless follow through.

When learning how to play on an uphill lie, one should remember, never try to deliberately hit down on the ball. In the change of direction, allow your arms and club to purely dead-fall, and as you turn through, feel the club just brush the grass. If your counter-fall is deep enough, and your arms soft enough, you should be able to easily walk through the shot on the follow-through even on a severely uphill lie. Hitting the ball properly from uphill lies, which is problematic for most golfers, becomes an effortless and enjoyable experience once you know how to do it correctly. Get out on the course or the back-edge of your practice tee and work on some uphill shots using the Gravity Golf transfer drills with your feet moving. It won’t be long before you master one of golf’s most difficult shots.