Tommy Armour on Playing Sloping Lies

This is a short section from Armour's book How to Play Your Best Golf All the Time, first published back in 1953. I want to call your attention to something you've probably heard many times before but didn't quite understand.

On a downhill lie thru the fairway, the first factor to recognise is that you may probably slice the shot, so intention the shot properly to the left.

Take a barely open stance and play the ball a chunk farther back from the road off the left heel than you would play a shot from a level stance. Have your weight barely more potent at the left foot.

As you will slice, you'd higher take a membership one or two numbers stronger than you'll play for the equal distance from a stage lie.

Play an uphill lie from a closed stance and permit for a mild hook by way of aiming to the right of the pin. Use the same membership you'd use on a level fairway. Have the ball handiest a little bit again of the road out out of your left heel and in cope with and all of the way thru have the accent of your weight for your left foot.

When you have a sidehill lie, and the ball is decrease than your toes, follow the same technique as mentioned at the preceding web page for a downhill shot. Conversely, on a sidehill lie where the ball is higher than your ft, use the identical approach of gambling the shot which you could use on an uphill lie.

First let's sum up what he says.

On a downhill lie OR a sidehill lie wherein the ball is decrease than your feet:

• aim for a noticeable slice
• slightly open stance
• ball a bit farther back in your stance than normal
• weight slightly on lead foot
• use a stronger club than you would for a level lie (for example, for a normal 7-iron shot use a 6- or 5-iron)

On a downhill lie OR a sidehill lie where the ball is higher than your feet:

• aim for a slight hook
• slightly closed stance
• ball about the same position in your stance as normal
• weight slightly on lead foot
• use the same club as for a level lie

Now here's what I want to point out. You'll notice that Armour tells you to open your stance slightly and play for a noticeable slice OR close your stance slightly and play for a slight hook. That sounds like you're going to play a slice or a hook, right?

But you aren't. The trick here is that you AREN'T TRYING to play a slice or hook. A normal swing is going to slice or hook off these lies without any help from you. You just need to aim for it.

So why open or close your stance? Won't that add to the slice or hook?

No, it may not. You open or close your stance barely to make sure you stay consistent enough to make a regular flip via the ball -- with a downhill lie you need to open your stance a chunk to keep your stability (there may be greater weight to your lead foot routinely due to gravity), while on an uphill lie you want to shut your stance barely to keep away from falling backward (again, because of gravity) and pulling the shot.

So don't try to slice or hook these sloping lie shots. Just ensure you intention for the curves, because they WILL curve with none help from you.