How to hit out of a divot with ease, according to a Top 100 Teacher

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During the 1998 U.S. Open at Olympic Club, (*100*) Stewart held a two-stroke lead on the again 9 over Lee Janzen. He hit a excellent drive on the par-4 twelfth that left him in optimum place to hit the inexperienced and keep his lead.

There was just one downside: the ball had settled in a divot. Stewart studied the shot fastidiously and gave it his greatest effort, however his method discovered the greenside bunker. He made bogey on the opening and finally misplaced the title by a shot. If not for that divot, Stewart might nicely have two U.S. Open titles as a substitute of one.

Hitting into a divot whereas defending the lead at a main is a nightmare state of affairs for a professional, however even leisure gamers have to play from less-than-ideal spots regardless of fairway-finding drives generally. And whereas many weekend warriors will simply foot wedge it out of the divot, it’s necessary to know the way to play these pictures. When it comes time for a cash sport or your membership championship, you received’t have the option to enhance your lie.

Check out under for extra from GOLF Top 100 Teacher Sarah Stone on how to hit out of a divot with ease.

How to hit out of a divot

Seeing your ball settled in a divot within the center of the green will make your abdomen sink. Splitting the green ought to be rewarded with a respectable lie, however that’s not all the time the case. Sometimes, we simply get unfortunate.

Most leisure gamers do not know the place to even begin when it comes to hitting out of a divot, however it’s not too tough a shot to pull off. All you’ve to do is make use of the right approach.

“First you have to realize that the golf ball you’re going to hit is much lower than a normal ball would be sitting on the fairway,” Stone says. “You need to understand that your golf club needs to travel further away from you and further down.”

In different phrases, the low level of your swing arc goes to be decrease than you’re used to. So whenever you prepared to take your shot, you want to hold that in thoughts.

“I would also take a club with more loft,” Stone says. “Just to get it to launch higher and to get below the ball.”

Once you’re taking your stance, keep in mind that you want to be hitting down on the ball to get it up and out of the divot. To do that, put a little extra weight in your entrance facet and really feel a little steeper through the downswing. When you get steeper, the ball will possible transfer with some minimize spin, so alter your purpose accordingly.

And lastly, it’s necessary to handle your expectations on the shot from a divot. It’s a robust lie to start with, so purpose for the fats half of the inexperienced and don’t strive to tackle an excessive amount of bother going for the flag.

“The famous saying is take a divot out of a divot,” Stone says.

If you possibly can observe these steps, hitting out of a divot doesn’t have to be a score-killer. Who is aware of, you may even have the option to save par.

Zephyr Melton

Golf.com Editor

Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com the place he spends his days running a blog, producing and modifying. Prior to becoming a member of the group at GOLF, he attended the University of Texas adopted by stops with the Texas Golf Association, Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. He assists on all issues instruction and covers beginner and ladies’s golf. He could be reached at zephyr_melton@golf.com.