Short Game · Strategy

Run a 9-iron into the bank off a downhill lie

If you lack confidence hitting a lofted wedge off a downslope, the instructor offers a safer alternative: take something like a 9-iron and run it into the bank. You apply the same principles with a slightly wider stance, ball back and hands forward, accepting it will launch low and give you some vagaries with the bounce. Play it with a short finish and a release one; the bank takes speed out but the ball runs hotter, finishing maybe 15-20 feet past the hole, which he frames as the safe play.