"Urgency shrinks time."
Not everything goes as planned, even the best made efforts can find occasional trouble. Taking it in stride and working out to the dilemma is the challenge of recovery shot's. Knowing what to do and how to do it is the trick of stopping the 'bleeding'. There's always room for recovery.
At one time or another every club in the bag will be used for a recovery shot. Combined with every conceivable way of swinging the club we end up with a wide variety of available shots to fit almost every situation. A little creativity and imagination are good to have when faced with an odd situation and coming up with particular shot.
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"Get it back in play" Recovering from an errant shot is important. Retaining or regaining concentration or any momentum sometimes hinges on how one recovers from a trying situation. First, get mentally adjusted then the physical will follow. Taking the attitude that there is always time to bet it back later will enable one to assess the situation soberly for the best position to play to and the most probable shot to pull off. |
Lob Shot
One of the most common recovery shots around the green is the lob shot. Played technically like a sand shot, the lob shot is a high arching shot with relatively little roll. This is ideal to play from thick rough close to the green because one can take a larger, slower swing to get through the thick grass while not hitting the shot very far. It's also a valuable shot to have when not much roll is required. Due to the increased loft created by ''opening' the face of the wedge, as a rule of thumb, the distance made with the wedge selected is only half of what a full shot normally would be.
Untrue Lies
Uneven lies can play havoc with shotmaking. Adjustments in stance position will allow one to play the shot when the ball is above or below the feet level. First determine the amount of drop from left to right in the stance width and move the ball back in the stance a corresponding amount for a downhill lie and up in the stance for an uphill lie. For sidehill lies determine the amount of drop from the ball to the feet and adjust a corresponding amount for the ball above the feet and to the opposite side a corresponding amount for a ball below the feet. Normalize the shoulders to the slope by putting more of the body weight on the low leg in the stance. Adjusting to a true gravitational hang will allow for best ball contact.
Next Chapter: Mind Over Matter, If You Don't Mind It Doesn't Matter