How Do You Spell Relief?

Trouble seems to come from everywhere on the Golf course. Golfers 
are constantly confronted with situations that cry for analysis and 
decisions ... The lie, the stance, the wind, the rough, the trees, 
uphill, downhill and sidehill lies, water to cross, in the sand. All 
that causes tension, if not frustration, when all we want to do is 
enjoy ourselves. No wonder that Golf is often referred to as the game 
we love to hate.

We've already covered several of what are often called "Trouble" 
shots, but there appears to be one situation that we have not 
addressed and that apparently strikes fear (not to mention anger) in 
the hearts of Amateur Golfers ... the DIVOT.

Actually, if everyone adhered to the rules of golf etiquette, there 
wouldn't be many situations where you find your ball in a divot. 
Retrieving the yard of grass carpet you incised with your last iron 
shot, replacing it as neatly as possible and tamping it gently with 
your foot only takes seconds and possibly prevents apoplexy in the 
following foursome.

But, the world is not perfect and you just found your best drive of 
the day in a fairway divot. 

Fear not, this is not as bad as rumor would have you believe. Fear 
and/or anger cause tension ... tension makes a smooth swing nearly 
impossible and you can't execute a good swing while wrestling with 
internal demons, either. Golf, like life, isn't fair .. there are 
lots of bumps in the road, but, overall, luck evens out. The divot 
you landed in today might just be the lucky bounce onto the green 
tomorrow. 

Some of your best golf shots are from close or tight lies. This 
allows you to contact the ball just before the bottom of your swing 
(always a goal) and "pinch" the ball between the club face and the 
ground. With today's soft turf and lush grass fairways you're a lot 
better off than your Grandfather who had to carry a special "Track" 
iron to extricate the ball from horse drawn wagon tracks. Don't you 
feel lucky and better already?

Due to the shape of a typical divot, your ball will generally roll to 
the center of the divot. It's still on bare ground, but at least you 
have room on all sides of the ball. There are, of course, exceptions 
and we will talk about those in a bit.

One of your first considerations is that the ball is now lower, by 
the depth of the divot, than your normal shot. This means that you 
will have to dig your feet in securely and flex your knees just a
bit more to get down to the ball. 

Address the ball a bit further back in your stance than usual, shade 
your weight toward your left leg and make sure the clubface is square 
to the target or even a few degrees closed. Now, bring the club down 
with your hands ahead of the club head firmly into the back of the ball. 
This setup will produce a more "V" shaped swing so you needn't try any 
swing manipulations or force a new swing path. It'll happen that way. 
Take about a 3/4 swing and finish with your club pointing at or a bit 
above your target. That smaller swing will help keep you in balance and 
in time. What we've described here is almost a punch shot, but not quite.

The ball will come out smartly and surprisingly easily. You may even 
hear that satisfying "whir" that denotes good backspin. 

If your ball has rolled to the front of the divot, up against the 
front lip, you're still not in bad shape. Merely set up a bit more 
on your left side and bear in mind that you may not get much follow 
through if the divot front edge is deeply depressed below the fairway.

The reverse, however ... your ball is up against the back edge of the 
divot can cause the bigger problem which is, getting the club down to 
the ball. Thankfully, these lies are rare, but they do occur.

Look this one over carefully, guage the grass depth and thickness as 
well as the firmness of the soil. Long grass and very dry conditions 
can make this shot as demanding as any you'll encounter. Average grass 
length and typically moist soil will, again, make this shot appear more
difficult than it really is.

Same setup and same resultant swing ... ball a bit back (about an inch) 
and weight shaded toward your left side. Now you have a shot that is 
more similar to that found in deep rough ... you're going to encounter 
grass and turf before you get to the ball. 

Again, lead the club into the ball with your hands ahead of the club 
head, "spank" the ball firmly toward the target. You'll be happy 
with the results.