Most average golfers find themselves in some messy situations, especially as they work their way into a new golf season.
So we asked SwingFix instructor Tyrus York for tips on how to extract oneself from a variety of bad lies.
Now that (most) of the snow is gone, it's common to find swaths of ground covered in leaf litter, left over from last fall.
How do you escape from a lie like this? In honor of the recently passed Arbor Day, we give you leaf litter.
"Leaves are considered to be loose impediments under the rules of golf, meaning you can move them without penalty if they interfere with your shot. However, in moving a loose impediment, your golf ball must not move,” York said. "So when your golf ball ends up in an area with leaf litter, where it is impossible to move the leaves without moving the ball, you are forced to play from this unusual lie.”
Rules aside, York also had some valuable advice in terms of the shot itself.
"The first thing to observe is how high above the ground your ball is,” he said. “If the leaves are loose and numerous, there could be up to an inch separating the ball and the soil beneath. This makes this shot very similar to a fairway bunker with fluffy sand.
"You will want to be careful grounding your club because if you move the leaves around the ball, causing the ball to move, there would be a penalty. As for the swing, you want to make sure you hit the ball first, with a good attack angle (not too steep or shallow) coming into the ball. You will also want to choke down on the grip to correspond to the space between the ball and the ground."
Take an online lesson with Tyrus York.
