Coping with hard ground?

[pokerjoke]

Having played all winter on really soft courses and generally using my 60 degree lob wedge and pitching all the way to the flag im now finding it a little difficult adapting to the harder ground and using the bump and run even though im practicing like mad.How are you adapting and what are your tips?

 

[brendy]

Play it to run as much as possible as opposed to flying it as far as you can. Once the ball is on the ground it wont be as unpredictable. On harder greens, landing it near the flag could still see it bounce and run further than you wanted it to.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I tend not to use my 60 degree in summer unless I'm in a grassy lie around the green as its so easy off a firm or bare lie to thin it. If I'm playing a long chip and run (links type shot) I play it in the middle of my stance, gripping down a tad and making sure I keep my weight forward. I then just basically make a putting style action and rock the shoulders. If its a long shot there will be a small degree of turn but otherwise try and keep movement to a minimum.

 

[JT77]

My 60 degree has been redundant for the winter. I have been bump and running, or popping my 52 at the pin as the stop has been great and there was less risk with the 52 for me. I will prob still bump and run when I can, but if I have to go over a hazard, will prob use the 56/60. My bump and runs go through the bag, but I will mostly play anything from my 8 iron-52 and just pop it up and let it release toward the flag.

 

[RGDave]

Less than two weeks ago, I was pitching everything. Now I'm back to the 8 iron chip n runs. It's taking a while to get used to it (I've been over-enthusiastic, running balls WAY past) but I am finding my touch.

I chip n ran in at least 5 today with a putting stroke 8 iron.....I love this way to play and it'll hold me in good stead for some links action in the summer.

I played on Sat (3rd April?) I missed a green from 45 yards after pitching a SW one yard too short and it plugged. I then chipped again and two putted for a 7....arghh....today, (from the same spot) I just bumped it in. Simples...

 

[HawkeyeMS]

I've always struggled with the transition from soft ground to hard ground and our course is firming up fast. I can hit the shots but judging how hard to hit it I really struggle with. Just gonna have to get practising.

As for technique, I play it like a normal chip with no wrist break. As someone else has said, if it's a longer shot I'll tend to get a bit of draw. Just always seem to get the distance wrong. Mentally it's quite tough as I spend a lot of time with my short irons and have the yardages pretty accurate, with this shot I feel like I'm guessing but I'll get there. No chance of single figures if I don't

 

[TRS30]

Safest way to play (IMO) is to get the ball on the ground as quickly as possible, that could involve using anything from a 7i to a lob wedge.

Weight slightly forward, ball a bit back in the stance and make sure you accelrate through the shot.

 

[freddielong]

Ah loverly hard ground, where technique takes over from equipment and you cant just rely on square grooves to stop the ball for you.

 

[Screwback]

Ah loverly hard ground, where technique takes over from equipment and you cant just rely on square grooves to stop the ball for you.

Sounds like proper golf to me....

 

[jammydodger]

Pin cut tight to the front of the green , nice hard ground so you have no choice but to land the ball short and run on. Bang , boing and off it bounces at an unbelievable angle after hitting a nice dried out piece of ground.

Technique really helped with that one then

 

[Robobum]

You can hide the odd drop kick or fat one when the ground is hard as you will still get ball contact after the club has bounced off the turf.

Soaking wet and soggy seperates the technically good as the ball striking has to be so precise.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

Pin cut tight to the front of the green , nice hard ground so you have no choice but to land the ball short and run on. Bang , boing and off it bounces at an unbelievable angle after hitting a nice dried out piece of ground.

Technique really helped with that one then

Have to admit, I'm with jammydodger on this one. I find bump and run golf extremely frustrating, I know I have to learn to do it better if I want to get to single figures, but if I have 120 yards to the hole, I get more pleasure hitting a 9-iron a couple of yards over the flag and have it spin back than I do bumping a ball along the ground and hoping I get the distance right and don't get a dodgy bounce. If I'm driving the ball well, I can almost go whole rounds in the summer making nothing more than chip shot swings other than off the tee. Don't seem right to me

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Its part and parcel of the game though surely. For every chip and run that kicks off at 90 degrees theres the carved drive that hits a tre and doesn't go OB. I agree though that the really wet conditions sort the decent ball strikers out from the pack. Mind you I've no fear of the bump and run. Wimbledon Common use to get really dry in the summer (no fairway irrigation allowed) and the greens are tiny and so the only way to get close sometimes was to run it and let the contours of the green do the work

 

[Swinger]

I find it easier it chip in the wet tbh. Still re adjusting atm have to stop throwing the ball most of the way!!

I'm not convinced about the better ball strikers perform better in winter conditions. I've seen alot of golfers get away with bad actions in both conditions a fair bit.

I think the better ball strikers in regards to chipping probably come in to their own in the harder conditions.

 

[jammydodger]

Its part and parcel of the game though surely. For every chip and run that kicks off at 90 degrees theres the carved drive that hits a tre and doesn't go OB.

Not when I play golf it doesnt Homer. I dont do carved drives heading for OB very often. I do however consistently get shite bounces around the fringes of greens

 

[HomerJSimpson]

OK maybe not the carved drive OB but we've had the rub of the green at times where we've hit a bad shot and not been punished as we should have been. The variable bounce is the golfing gods way of balancing the ledger

 

[HawkeyeMS]

What frustrates me about hard ground is that it forces me to play the bump and run. I appreciate the bump and run has a place in golf but I want to be able to choose to use it when I want to. For instance, if I playing a matchplay, we get to a hole and I'm giving the guy a shot. I'm in the fairway, he's pulled his drive into the left trees. There's a bunker protecting the right half of the green and it's OB at the back. The flag is front right just over the bunker. He plays a bump and run to the left of the bunker and it stops 25ft from the hole. It's a good shot, no question. I'm 80 yards away, I know my 3/4 SW is perfect and I would expect a good birdie chance, however, the ground is so hard I would never hold the green and would end up OB. So I have to play a bump and run to the left of the bunker, I play it well but end up 25ft from the hole, just like my partner.

I know it's all part of golf but it frustrates me that I put so much time in getting the yardages of my short irons right to give myself an advantage but when the ground is hard, so very often that advantage is taken from me. It's my problem I know, and I have to get over it, maybe I'm alone thinking like this, I don't know, but that's just the way it is

 

[Imurg]

Last few rounds I seem to have had nothing but bad bounces so I'm due some good ones!
Perfect example of the difference in ground is at my old club. There's a par 3 slightly downhill about 160 yards. Through the year I used to hit anything between 5 wood and Sand Wedge into it and finish on the green. A 5 wood into the wind stopping vitrually where it lands when the ground is wet and a SW pitching about 90 yards down and rolling the rest in the height of summer.
Impossible to judge the latter shot - its just hit and hope. Don't see any skill in that.
I've also suffered recently with pitch marks around the greens. While its been wet dirty great pitch marks were left a yard or 3 from the greens. Then the ground dried out and the mowers havn't been able to flatten them. Pitch on one of those and the outcome is in the lap of the Gods.

 

[HawkeyeMS]

The 6th at my course is the same, downhill par 3, everything slopes to the right. There is a bunker front left and another one on the right. OB at the back. If you don't go over the front bunker the only part of the green you can hit is the front right and your line is at the right bunker. From the white tees it's 197 yards, 2 weeks ago I hit 3-iron pin high. Next week I have no idea what I'll hit, probably an 8-iron to land short, the problem is I have to go right of the front bunker, if I carry it there's no chance of stopping it, but from there everything rolls towards the right bunker and it's in the lap of the god's - as you say, I don't see any skill in that.

 

[DCB]

For cying out loud... we go all winter with moans and groans about the state of the courses and the fact that it's too wet to play proper golf. We no get into spring, the gound dries up a bit and we've got people moaning about the course being difficult as the gound is too hard.

It's a game of improvisation and ability to adapt to conditions. That's the mark of a true golfer