Today I’ll be discussing sidehill lies, because all lies have an appreciable affect on your impact. I am qualifying my remarks by assuming all set-up variables are equal. My current focus is terrain differences.

In my last post, I discussed how uphill and downhill lies affect impact. We know many factors influence a golf shot’s curvature and direction. But, each factor is knowable. Therefore, we can account for them when planning a golf-shot.

We tend to push or fade our ball off-target when the ball is below our feet. Our impact shallows due to one set of physical factors. Therefore, we are required to steepen impact just to optimize impact. I recommend adapting by opening your stance. Therefore, aligning your feet and body more into the slope creates desirable impact and allows for your lie and clubface to do the rest.

We tend to pull or draw our ball off-target whenever the ball is above our feet. Impact steepens due to another set of physical factors. Therefore, we are required to shallow impact just to optimize impact. I recommend adapting by closing your stance. Therefore, aligning your feet and body more into the slope creates desirable impact and allows for your lie and clubface to do the rest.

In both examples you’ll notice a similar sidehill lie remedy, which is aligning ourselves into the slope. I’ll focus on shoulder movement to answer any confusion you have. Our shoulders function to express our torso position at address. They rotate more horizontally through impact if we stand more upright. They rotate more vertically when we bend over more.

We know that our alignment allows our shoulders to open more or less along our target line by the time we make contact. Remember, all set-up variables in this discussion are “Equal”. Therefore, when we make an alignment change for a sidehill lie, we can still optimize impact by adapting to an optimal set-up.

There are adaptive options for sidehill lies with regard to clubface, torso tilt, ball position, etc. However, set-up variables require their own, individual discussion. Therefore, I’ll be covering set-up variables next. Best Wishes.

John Wright – Founder
The Open Stance Academy