Leaning the Shaft for Different Lies

There's a short slide show over at Golf Digest called Basics: Get a Handle on Your Short Game that shows how to position your grip (club handle) for four different short game shots. Essentially, it's a photo guide to leaning the club shaft. I'll summarize them here, but seeing the photos will really help you lock them in your memory.

The photo at the side here shows the standard position for a short game shot from the fairway. The shaft is vertical. You want to use the bounce here.

With buried lies -- either in rough or sand -- the shaft leans forward. You want to use the leading edge to get down in there and dig that baby out! The deeper the ball is buried, the more you want to lean the shaft.

And with a fluffy lie -- where the ball is sitting up on top of the grass -- the shaft leans backward. The ball is teed up, if you will, so you want to hit up on it. Otherwise you'll just slide completely under the ball.

Simple guidance it really is smooth to take into account. Just take a look at the snap shots and study the captions; it will in reality assist you don't forget a way to deal with the ball in every case.