Golf Tips » September 2003: Hitting out of a divot!

This month’s golf tip comes at the request of Penny Atkins of Hackettstown, NJ. Penny, a student of the golf school for many years, was recently in a playoff for the ladies club championship.  She encountered her ball in a divot after a beautiful drive right down the middle of the fairway. Needless to say, it affected the outcome of the match as Penny was unable to put her ball on the green and her opponent made par.

I remember Payne Stewart’s face as he approached his ball on the 17^th or 18^th hole of the fourth round of the 1998 US Open. Payne was either tied for the lead or one shot off.  He hit a beautiful drive and as he walked up to his ball and saw it in a divot, the reaction on his face said it all– very little chance of getting the ball on the green. Payne went on to lose by one stroke to Lee Janzen.

The ball lying in a divot need not be all that bad. Take a look at the two views of this ball in a divot.

With a fairly lofted club (anything up to and including a 7 iron), I place the ball in the middle of my stance. This helps me to strike a more descending blow allowing me to get the clubface on the ball earlier. My hands are also pushed slightly ahead to help ensure a "ball first" hit.

The real secret of this shot is not to come up. Because of the lie, the golfer’s tendency is to look up in trying  to get it airborne. You MUST HIT DOWN on this shot (that is why you must take a lofted club) Also, you MUST STAY DOWN on this shot slightly longer than normal.

Finish the shot with a FULL FOLLOW THROUGH– don’t quit on the shot.

Use this simple technique and you shouldn’t have any trouble with divots in the future.

P.S. The day after I had written this article, I went out and played Pawleys Plantation. On the 6^th hole my ball landed in the middle of a fairly deep divot just in the rough. Because the divot was in the rough the golfer who made it obviously decided not to fill it with sand. So here I was in a deep divot and Rose said “OK hotshot, lets see you get out of this– you said it was easy!”

I was 160 yards from the green, normally an 8 iron for me. I took a 9 iron, played it back in my stance, hit down hard at the back of the ball and the ball soared straight towards the flag, hit the green and ran off the back edge onto the fringe. Two putts from there for my par. So you see, it can be done!