Slopes and Lies Overview
Slopes and Lies Overview
Becoming an elite golfer requires adjusting your stock swing for each scenario, such as lies and slopes, you face in competition.
In general, you have two different categories of adjustments for your wedge game.
Slopes refer to the different tilt of the ground you face around the green. The four types of slopes you can face are:
- Uphill
- Downhill
- Ball above your feet
- ball below your feet
You'll usually want to match the slope with your hips and knees and then adjust your ball position and weight shift to help move your low point to where the ball matches the shot design.
Lies refer to the type of grass your ball is nestled in. I usually use the following criteria for reading the grass
- Thickness of grass
- Length of grass
- Ball location in the grass: sitting on top, in the middle, or at the bottom
- Grass direction
- Clump behind the ball?
These factors will help your brain figure out how much faster you'll have to swing to get through the grass and how much spin will be decreased by the loss of friction.