We’ve all been there: you hit a great drive down the fairway, only to find your ball resting on a tricky sidehill slope. When the ball is sitting noticeably above or below your feet, using your standard swing setup is a fast track to a mishit.
In these two quick video tutorials, PGA Professional Zoe North shares her simple setup adjustments to help you master uneven lies, maintain your balance, and keep your ball tracking perfectly toward the target.
How to Play a Ball Above Your Feet
When the ball is resting above your feet, the ground is closer to your body than it normally is on a flat lie. To avoid hitting the ground too early, you need to alter your grip and alignment:
- Choke Down on the Grip: Because the slope brings the ball closer to you, grip slightly further down the handle. This effectively shortens the club to match the altered distance to the ball.
- Flatten the Clubface: Match your clubhead to the angle of the slope. Be careful not to let the toe of the club lift up or your hands drop too low; focus on making the sole of the club lay flat against the gradient.
- Aim Slightly Right: When the ball is above your feet, your swing plane naturally flattens and wraps around your body, which usually causes the ball to curve to the left. To compensate for this, aim your setup slightly to the right of your target line.
How to Play a Ball Below Your Feet
When the ball sits below your feet, the ground drops away from you, making it easy to thin the shot or lose your balance mid-swing. Zoe suggests these key adjustments to lock in your posture:
- Grip Higher Up: To compensate for the ball being further away from you, slide your hands right to the top of the club handle to maximize its length.
- Set Your Stance and Base: Take a slightly wider stance and bend your knees a bit more than usual to get down to the ball. Make sure you keep your weight positioned back in your heels to fight gravity from pulling you forward down the slope.
- Match the Slope and Aim Left: Just like before, work on matching the sole of the clubface to the angle of the ground. Because a ball below your feet naturally tends to push the ball out to the right, aim your alignment slightly to the left of your target to compensate.
The secret to both of these tricky shots is trusting your alignment changes. Don't try to fight the slope mid-swing—set up correctly, swing smoothly, and let the adjustments do the work for you!
