Especially for middle-and high-handicap golfers

One shot many golfers have a misconception about is the recovery from an uphill bank in the rough that fringes the green area. It is really quite a simple shot. In taking your stance—which is the key to making the shot simple—the golfer should bend his left knee to compensate for the incline of the slope and should play the ball just slightly forward of the center of his body. The right shoulder should be down a bit, but the incline usually takes care of that anyhow.

The golfer should step up to this shot understanding that it is a member of the chip-shot family. The common error golfers make is to pick the club up steeply on the backswing and to force the hands quickly up and over on the follow-through, as if the stroke required was a punch-scoop delivered with all possible strength. What this faulty technique accomplishes is to drive the ball into the bank. The golfer should instead understand that he is playing the stroke correctly when there is only slight wrist-break action and when the back of his left hand goes straight out toward the pin, as it does on an ordinary chip. The club head should stay low, merely follow the upslope of the bank. The angle of the face of the club provides all the loft that is needed. It is up to the golfer to provide the delicacy the shot calls for.

from AL ESPOSITO, Country Club of Charleston, S. C.

TWO PHOTOS

TWO ILLUSTRATIONS

correct

TWO ILLUSTRATIONS

incorrect

NEXT WEEK: MIKE SOUCHAK ON THE CRUCIAL FOUR-FOOTER