Regardless of where you play, you’ll eventually face a tough pitch off

hardpan. This is a dicey situation, as ultra-tight lies such as hardpan

make it easy for the clubhead to bounce off the turf and into the top

half of the golf ball, skulling it over the green. The key for pitches

off hardpan is to make sure the clubhead does anything but bounce off

the turf. Knowing how to accomplish this will save you strokes

not only in this situation, but in dozens of others that involve tight lies.

To get the clubhead traveling a little faster (a necessary requirement

for hitting longer shots), you need to create a longer backswing with

an increase in the amount of arm swing and body turn. Not only must the

swing be a little longer, but you need to pick up the pace of your

swing to increase clubhead speed as well. The pace of the forwardswing

should be slightly faster than normal.

Set up with your spine perpendicular to the slope and shoulders

parallel to the ground so you can swing up the slope on the backswing

and down the slope on the forwardswing. The arrangement of your body

will favor the creation of an upright swing and make it more difficult

to square the face through the hitting area—that’s why a shot from a

downhill lie tends to curve a little to the right. To help shallow the

plane and encourage a swing that’s a little more around your body, drop

your right foot back to close your stance slightly and match up the

ball position to your stance by putting it about two inches back of

normal.