How do you play soft muddy lies?

[turkish]

Wedges I’m talking about- or not even wedges but short game from 50 yards and in.

Got knocked out a matchplay tonight which frankly I should have won had it not been for awful chipping and pitching. Regularly fluffing etc

 

[srixon 1]

Use less loft.

 

[turkish]

Sorry I should have meant when you need height.... over a bunker, a heavily raised green etc

When I can I will use hybrid or even a toe down pw/9 iron or even less but tonight for example going back down the 1st in a playoff our green is about 8 feet above you and I took the scared option of trying to run a hybrid up it only for it to come rolling back.... was totally the wrong shot out of fear of duffing a chip

 

[duncan mackie]

If you hit the small ball first it doesn't matter that the ground is soft and muddy...but I agree with Srixon 1 that using less loft can assist in making clean contact.

The downside of less loft is that it can be tougher to make a positive swing through the ball.

 

[CliveW]

More bounce. If you don't have wedges with high bounce, try opening the face a little and don't quit on the shot.

 

[garyinderry]

I raise the handle through the shot to shallow out the angle of attack. Works well.

That and make sure I don't have any slack in my left arm at address. If I have a loose lead arm it straightens out on the down swing and effectively lengthens the radius of my swing and I stick a big sod over the ball. Lol

 

[turkish]

Thanks guys- I think I really need to go to practice ground and hit a ton of balls to find what suits best.

Both concepts make sense (shaft lean forward but having to be more aggressive, or less lean and use bounce to nip it without much turf interaction) but I haven't got on with either technique. The shaft lean you need to be absolutely spot on with ball 1st contact and can sometimes be overly aggressive and go by the pin/over the green.

Got a medal this weekend and only thing I can think of right now is make sure I don't have chips where I need to hit it high.

 

[clubchamp98]

Get a 60* wedge with 10 bounce this allows you to hit the ball hard but not to far .
Big problem is trying to be to cute and get to the pin .
Settle for 15ft and your target is massive.
Practice this one shot off bad lies , I see people who can’t play this shot go and practice off nice fluffy lies , just don’t see The reasoning.

 

[Curls]

Of course the strike needs to be good, but what happens is you can get quick/stabby when it's a high tariff shot. Try to hit a lazy shot, long languide swing with nice acceleration but not fast through the ball - and keep the lower half quiet.

Most importantly have an exact picture in your mind of what you're trying to achieve, see the ball in flight , landing and running out (should run too much, if the fairway is that soggy the green should be soft) - with that in mind pick an exact landing spot and be thinking of that when your swinging. Takes you away from yourself and micro-managing the little movements in your swing that might cause a problem.

 

[patricks148]

its not something I;m faced with much, but around the queens last week, there were plenty of very soft patches with relaid turf, that probably should have been GUR. i putted pretty much everything within reason, apart from a couple... i wish'd putted

I would try and practice from those lies if it were a reg thing. TBH, after almost 6 months of mats chipping needs working on at the moment. Need to get to the practice ground one night.

 

[turkish]

its not something I;m faced with much, but around the queens last week, there were plenty of very soft patches with relaid turf, that probably should have been GUR. i putted pretty much everything within reason, apart from a couple... i wish'd putted

I would try and practice from those lies if it were a reg thing. TBH, after almost 6 months of mats chipping needs working on at the moment. Need to get to the practice ground one night.

I played the Queens last week too and that hard panned compared to my track right now

You're right I need to just go with a bucket of balls and squidge them down and practice. I seen on one youtube video a guy saying play like a bunker shot and be aggressive- so actually hit the turf an inch behind instead of 2 inches but doing this you know you need to be really aggressive which might actually be a winner given how soft it is.

 

[Curls]

I played the Queens last week too and that hard panned compared to my track right now

You're right I need to just go with a bucket of balls and squidge them down and practice. I seen on one youtube video a guy saying play like a bunker shot and be aggressive- so actually hit the turf an inch behind instead of 2 inches but doing this you know you need to be really aggressive which might actually be a winner given how soft it is.

Wow. Now that is high tariff!

 

[garyinderry]

There is a story of seve playing such a shot where he took a massive divot and the ball stayed in it until it landed on the green before popping out and rolling gently down the slope to the pin.

Only seve :rofl: