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Eric Alpenfels
Director of Golf Instruction /
Golf Academy / the Pinehurst Resort
Eric Alpenfels is the Director of the
Pinehurst Golf Academy and Golf Instruction
at Pinehurst Resort. He is a Class A Member
of the PGA of America and has been part of
the Pinehurst family since 1985.
His expertise has earned him recognition
from Golf Magazine as one of the “Top 100
Teachers in America,” Golf Digest as one of
“America’s 50 Greatest Teachers” and U.S. Kids
Golf as one of the “Top 50 Teachers for Kids.”
Tee Time
A Golf Lesson from the Greens
Conquering Situational
Shots on the Course, Part 1
by Eric Alpenfels
One of the unique elements of playing
golf is that every shot faced on the course
will be different in some way. For example, a
sand-wedge hit from a tight lie to an elevated
green will have a different reaction when it
hits the putting surface than a sand-wedge hit
to the same green from our current dormant
rough. The difference could require a change
in technique as well as the anticipation
on how the ball will react. A key to success
on the course is the ability to adapt to the
different situations encountered and to have
an understanding of how various situations
will influence the ball’s flight. The goal of this
first of four articles is to highlight different oncourse
situations and how one can most easily
recover and minimize the impact on score.
Whenever you are faced with a challenging
lie, whether thick grass, hard or soft ground or
even wet ground, it is important that you pay
attention to your hand position on the grip,
the position of the ball in your stance, and
your weight distribution at address. Once you
have these factors adjusted for the specific
lie, you should take practice swings as a way
to develop the feel of how the situation will
affect where the club makes contact with the
ground as well as your balance. The resulting
ball flight will be more predictable and, based
on the club choice, the amount of swing
needed to execute the shot will become more
obvious. Positive results and confidence will
come from practice and experience.
Thick Rough
When encountering thick rough, the first
step is to position the ball slightly back (two
inches) in the stance. Next, choke down on
the club approximately one inch. Both the
combination of placing the ball back in the
stance and choking down on the club will help
to create a slightly steeper angle of approach
to the ball which will help to minimize the
twisting of the clubhead as it travels through
the grass to impact. The most efficient full
swing clubs from this type of lie are mid-
and short-irons rather than fairway woods
and hybrids. This same set-up is suggested
for short shots around the green with the
addition of leaning slightly on the left side (for
the right-handed golfer) at address. In both
situations, the ball will tend to fly lower than
normal and tend to have a greater amount
of roll, which might dictate the use of higher
lofted clubs when hitting short shots.
Hard Pan
When faced with a lie where the ball is on
hard ground, the first step will be to move the
ball slightly back (one inch) in the stance and
choke down on the club approximately half an
inch. During the swing, you should attempt to
make contact with the ground in front of the
ball. The combination of this set-up along
with contacting the ground ahead of the ball
will create a slightly steep angle of approach
to the ball which will help guarantee contact
with the ball rather than the ground behind
the ball. The most efficient full swing clubs
from this type of lie are any irons and hybrids.
Practice will determine if you are able to
effectively use fairway woods. This same setup
is suggested for short shots around the
green with the addition of leaning slightly on
the left side (for the right-handed golfer) at
address. In both situations, the ball will tend
to fly lower than normal and tend to have a
greater amount of roll, which might dictate
the use of higher-lofted clubs when hitting
short shots.
Soft and Wet Ground
When faced with a lie where the ball is on
soft or wet ground, the same type of set-up
used for rough and hard pan lies is suggested.
As with the previous situations, the key is
that contact be made with the ball prior to
the ground. This can be accomplished by
intentionally attempting to hit the ground
slightly ahead of the ball or by making sure
to have a full finish and avoid any fall back
after impact. The most efficient full-swing
clubs from this type of lie tend to be irons and
hybrids. Practice will determine if you are able
to effectively use fairway woods. This same
set-up is suggested for short shots around the
green, with the addition of envisioning a full
turn-through to a full finish. In both situations,
the ball will tend to fly lower than normal and
tend to have a greater amount of roll which
might dictate the use of higher-lofted clubs
when hitting short shots. ☐
No. 141 The Pinehurst Gazette, Inc. p.9
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