Beat The Uphill Lie With Graeme McDowell

New US Open champion Graeme McDowell was the only man to match par after all four rounds at Pebble Beach on his way to victory. The historic course sees a number of changes in elevation and he managed to master shots off a multitude of lies. Here he tells you how to play a shot from a downhill lie with the utmost confidence:

The Uphill Lie

One of the reasons golf is such a fascinating sport is all the different lies you encounter in any one round. It would be a very one-dimensional game if every time you addressed your ball it was on a perfectly level patch of ground.

When you play links golf, especially, you never know whether you will be hitting an uphill or downhill shot, or whether the ball will be above or below your feet. Each time the ball is in a different position, there is a slightly different technique required.
Success depends so much on balance, and being able to keep that balance right through the shot.

The ground is trying to push your weight in one direction, which adds to the difficulty. It’s also important to understand how different lies will affect the direction your ball will go.

This time your shoulders should tilt the other way, so your left shoulder should be above your right, once again following the shape of the hill. Again, it’s vital you maintain this through your whole swing so that at impact you really feel like you are in the same position you were at address.

Like all these shots, balance is so important. The ground is trying to push me onto my right side. I tend to keep my legs a little quieter to combat this.

Off an uphill lie, your ball is going to fly a little bit higher and have a little bit more right-to-left flight on it. My natural shape of shot is right to left anyway, so I need to realise that this is going to be accentuated.