How to play the ball below your feet

Golf Monthly Top 25 coach Andrew Reynolds has some tips to help you hit it straighter with the ball below your feet.

These tips should help you if you find it hard to make decent contact from hanging lies and you struggle for accuracy with the ball below your feet.

Facing an iron shot when the ball sits below the level of your feet is a tricky scenario that no player enjoys.

The lie of the land will affect the flight of the ball, and it’s very hard to counteract that effectively. However, what you absolutely must do is aim further left than usual.

Pick a spot on the far left edge of the green, aim the clubface at that point and then set your body parallel to your ball-to-target line.

Secondly, you need to put more weight on the balls of your feet than usual. This will set your sternum over the ball, increasing your chances of making a sweet strike.

Use these simple tweaks the next time you face a hanging lie, and you should escape with a good score intact.

Read more top golf swing tips

Just remember to play the slope, rather than try to fight it. You'll find that to be a much more successful way of handling side hill lies.

Top tips

• Always remember that the lie of the land will affect ball flight.
• It's not easy to counteract this effectively.
• One thing you must do is aim further left when the ball is below your feet.
• Such a lie will naturally case the ball to fade if you make you're normal flat lie swing.
• Pick a spot on the far left hand edge of the green and aim the clubface at this point.
• Then align your body parallel to your ball to target line.
• Put more weight on the balls of your feet than you normally would do.
• This will result in your sternum being more over the ball, increasing your chances of making a crisp strike.