STIFF THE HIGH LOB
The high lob is a must-know shot out here at Troon North, just as it is on many target-style layouts. Hitting this shot isn’t as hard as many people make it out to be, as long as you do it from the right place. For starters, unless your last name is Mickelson, hitting a high lob off a tightly mown fairway is a real challenge, so don’t even try! But from some fluffy rough, it’s a viable alternative for when you need to get the ball up and down with limited forward roll.
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The first thing you should do is open the clubface. By that, I mean open the clubface before you grip the club. Don’t twist the hands and open the club that way. Instead, let go, turn the face, then regrip it with the face open. At setup, get the hands behind the ball and lean the shaft slightly away from the target. This will add more loft. Play the ball in the front of your stance and be ready to accelerate through the golf ball.
As you swing the club back, allow the hands to engage and hinge, unhinge and rehinge after contact with the golf ball. Don’t worry about your body at this point, since the high lob is a very handsy motion to begin with.
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Get Handsy
That’s right, the high lob is a handsy shot, but what you probably don’t know is, it’s a wristy shot. That is, the right way to hit a high lob is to, again, let the hands hinge, unhinge and hinge again, only without the normal rotation of the wrists. As you can see, the high flop finish still has the gloved hand on top versus the standard finish with the ungloved hand on top.
Doug Hammer, PGA, is the director of instruction at Troon North Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona. For more information, visit troonnorthgolf.com.
