Coming out of the trees

tsped83

tsped83

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I’m making too many mistakes with one particular shot at the moment, one I’m inevitably forced to play several times a round. Coming out low from the trees.

Our course is tight and tree lined and it’s not unheard of for me to be under the trees at regular intervals. Why I’m there in the first place is a point for another time.

So, I’m under the trees and all I want to do is get back to the fairway. I’m not looking for some Seve magic here, just clip it low and solid back to the short stuff, usually 20 yards or so. My problems with the shot are twofold;

1. Not making solid contact, I either end up topping it or just not hitting it firm enough.
2. IF I make decent contact, it’s too decent and the ball climbs and clips that last branch and falls miserably into the rough, or worse, under the trees.

In most instances I play the shot with my 5i with the aim of keeping it low and running. Only, I don’t seem to be executing it well at all. I did say it was simple but any pointers please?

Thanks
 
im fairly good at this shot...plenty of experience i suppose

I use my 5i or sometimes 2h. Only thoughts i have are to place the ball in the middle my stance, grip down and swing as SMOOTHLY as possible. Any power in the swing just causes my ball to rise up and hit branches.

I also make sure my finishing position is with the club pointing straight down my target line.

Thats only my tuppence. Someone more learned person will be along soon with proper advice.
 
Try the following with your hybrid.
Place the ball in the centre of your stance, weight and hands forward and swing gently

The harder you hit it the more it will spin, the more it will climb
And practice
 
5 iron is like using a sledge hammer to crack a walnut.


de-loft the he'll out of an 8 irom. get the hands well forward. keep you weight left and hit down on the ball with a little dunt. No follow through.

It is much easier to control the shorter shaft of say and 8 iron. Other short irons are available and work too.
 
garyinderry said:
5 iron is like using a sledge hammer to crack a walnut.


de-loft the he'll out of an 8 irom. get the hands well forward. keep you weight left and hit down on the ball with a little dunt. No follow through.

It is much easier to control the shorter shaft of say and 8 iron. Other short irons are available and work too.
Click to expand...

Won't that just create a lot of spin though and cause the ball to rise quickly?
 
No because you have de-lofted the 8iron and essentially tuned it into a 5iron loft. just give it a sharp dunt and it will squirt out nice and low.


It is much easier to control due to the shorter shaft than using a 5iron.
 
Driver.
Choke down and give it a good tap. It'll come out low. Use this a lot and you get some good distance with no effort.
 
I've used a fairway wood before now, close/hood the face grip down on the shaft back in the stance and rock your shoulders comes out every time and easy to control. Each to his own.
 
[video=youtube;g7qSZuC4IM8]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7qSZuC4IM8[/video]


Experiment with different clubs and ball positions. Soon it will be second nature.
 
Maninblack4612 said:
Easier to go down the shaft on the 5 iron. You'd get a lower trajectory delofting a 5 than an 8
Click to expand...

It is not limited to an 8 iron. use whatever, deloft it. the shorter shaft is more manageable when you have other things like bushes or trees behind you as well or even rough.
 
I have (quite successfully) used my putter for such a shot. As long as the lie is good, then just a nice hard putt & away it goes. If there are obstacles to get over (twigs/branches/roots) not so good. Similarly if the ball is plugged/in a rut etc not so good.

I set up with the ball toward my front foot & go for a nice solid stroke. Worked for me.
 
Spin??

The amount of spin on this shot is absolutely irrelevant to the flight of the ball as there's normally only a split second between the hit and the dreaded sound of ball on wood.

Just use a 4 or 5 iron, hybrid or fairway wood, slightly back in the stance and use a chipping or even putting action with no release to control the distance.

Ten minutes practice around the chipping green will work wonders.

I too, have played this shot as much as any other :D
 
Thanks for the responses so far.

I’m going to give Bob’s hybrid suggestion a go, lie permitting. The putter/driver options I’m not sure would work as running it along the floor is not an option, the ball needs to be off the ground to escape the horrid ground and tree roots but low enough to scoot under hanging branches.

Gary, I’ve used the 8 iron approach before, but if I don’t de-loft it enough, I find myself worse off than with the 5 iron!
 
Coming at it from a slightly different angle....

If you have a line to the fairway under branches but another line to the fairway 20yds further back with no branches to negotiate, save yourself the grief and wedge it out settling for a little bit longer third shot.
 
Well you know now how to use that approach. As I said, practice it with different clubs, ball positions back in stance and different amounts of shaft lean to delft the club.

Hybrids are fine if the lie and space allows you. You can get greater distance with them but to surgically remove yourself from trees this way works best I find.

It is easier to judge distance control with the iron. Seen many peeps pop them out and into trouble on the other side. Comedy of errors.
 
tsped83 said:
Thanks for the responses so far.

I’m going to give Bob’s hybrid suggestion a go, lie permitting. The putter/driver options I’m not sure would work as running it along the floor is not an option, the ball needs to be off the ground to escape the horrid ground and tree roots but low enough to scoot under hanging branches.

Gary, I’ve used the 8 iron approach before, but if I don’t de-loft it enough, I find myself worse off than with the 5 iron!
Click to expand...

Having played a tight tree-lined course for quite a while, I gained quite a bit of experience of these shots! And there's actually a variety, depending on what the lie/swing area is like!

I'm not a huge fan of using a hybrid for what I imagine your shot to be - more the Bubba Watson Masters situation than the one in the vid above. Shaft length definitely could make it awkward.

The one thing to remember, whichever style you use is to play it smoothly (even if the requirement is for a bit of a jab) as 'panic' will be bore likely to either raise the flight of the ball or go under it, if it's on leaves/branches/bracken etc.

To work out which club to use, you could actually practice from rough under trees. The flights and distances should become pretty much instinctive after a short time.
 
garyinderry said:
It is easier to judge distance control with the iron. Seen many peeps pop them out and into trouble on the other side. Comedy of errors.
Click to expand...

Have to admit I have done this on the odd occasion. Suddenly that nice low runner up the fairway becomes absolutely middled and in the cabbage the other side!:eek:
 
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