Art of the lay-up

Here's what I see amateurs do: They get out to their drives on a par 5 or long par 4, and see they can't reach the green. Then they grab the 3-wood and whale away. The problem is, the 3-wood is not an easy club to hit, and if you do catch it flush, you wind up with a half-wedge to the green. That's an even harder shot.

Laying up might seem mindless, but you need a plan. You can make both your second and third shots easier with one decision: Lay up with a hybrid or middle iron. Either club is easier to hit than a 3-wood and will leave a fuller shot for your third. Most golfers are better with a full wedge than from 30 to 50 yards.

One exception is when you can get a 3-wood close to the green, where you have a simple chip or pitch. But keep in mind, that means hitting a perfect 3-wood, which is no easy task.

Sit back on sidehill lies

Typical situation here: You've hit your tee shot to the right, onto a sidehill lie with the ball below your feet. Most golfers approach this shot like any other -- then lose their balance and miss the green right.

First off, understand that gravity wants to pull you down the hill. As a result, your swing can get too vertical and prevent the clubface from rotating back to square at impact. To adjust, get into a stable position at address and maintain it as you swing.

Start by putting more weight on your heels. Really squat down in your knees, lowering your rear end. You want to sit into the slope. Spread your feet a little wider, too, but use your normal ball position. The shot will tend to curve to the right, so aim left.

During the swing, make sure you stay in your posture, not letting your weight move onto your toes. If you focus on keeping your knees flexed you'll be less likely to fall forward. On severe slopes, take an extra club and make a three-quarter swing.

How to tame your 3-wood

I see golfers in our schools play these perfect 5- and 7-wood shots, but give them a 3-wood and they can't hit it.

First, they play the ball up in their stance, like a driver, and try to help it in the air. As a result, they top it or skim it along the ground.

Second, they swing too hard. The green is usually out of reach, so they think, The longer I hit this, the better. But those hard swings rarely end well.

For better 3-woods, position the ball a few inches inside your front heel. And then don't be afraid to hit down on it. Ben Hogan used to take a little divot with every fairway wood he hit, and so does Tiger.

When it comes to tempo, think of your 3-wood as any other club: It has a distance maximum, whether yours is 250 yards or 150. Use the same tempo you would for an iron shot don't try to squeeze out that extra 10 yards.

Make sure your 3-wood has enough loft, 15 or 16 degrees. A lot of golfers are carrying 13-degree models, which just scream for you to help them get the ball up. When you hit range balls with your 3-wood, tee it up sometimes. You need to get used to the idea that you can hit down on the ball and get plenty of height on the shot. You need to learn to trust the club's loft.

How To Hit Any Wedge Shot

Hitting wedges the right distance is one of the toughest things for average players. They tend to make a full backswing, no matter how long the shot, and then try to apply the right amount of hit at impact. When you manipulate the swing like that, you'll mis-hit shots and struggle to control distance.

For starters, make sure the lofts on your wedges are evenly spaced, like 48, 52 and 56 degrees. If you have a pitching wedge at 48 and a sand wedge at 58, that gap is too big. You'd have to learn too many partial shots with the pitching wedge.

Once you get your wedge set right, work on three swing lengths: full, three-quarter and half. And that goes for the follow-through, too, not just the backswing. Match your swing on both sides, so your finish is a mirror image of your backswing. This will allow you to swing with an even tempo and produce different distances without any guesswork on the downswing.

Practice this system to learn your distances. Use the yardage markers on the range. With a little work, you'll start wedging it tight.

No More Chunks Out of the Rough

Hitting it fat out of the rough is a product of the backswing. If you make your normal swing, keeping the club low to the ground going back, you'll come down too shallow and catch the grass behind the ball.

To avoid this, make a steeper takeaway, hinging your wrists quicker from the start (below). This sets up a sharp descent back to the ball for clean contact.

It's also a good idea to play a fade from thick grass, because the normal release, with the clubface closing, might cause grass to grab the hosel and shut the face. So open the face slightly at address, aim left, and hold your wrists firm through impact. You'll catch it flush and hit a little fade.

Take The Fear Out Of Pitching

I see a lot of average players trying to pitch the ball way up in the air. Then I watch pros at tour events, and they keep the ball down, so they can better control how far it goes. Sure, sometimes you need a high shot, but your standard pitch should be a lower one that releases and rolls.

In these photos, you can see the differences between the low pitch and what a lot of amateurs do. The pros play the ball in the middle to slightly back in their stance and keep the shaft angled forward through impact by shifting left on the downswing. Amateurs play the ball too far forward, then hang back on their right foot and try to scoop the ball. With this much hand action, they often wind up hitting it fat or thin which they live in fear of doing.

Think of it this way: The pros set the loft when they sole the club at address and maintain it throughout the swing. Amateurs try to add loft at impact, which isn't necessary and leads to poor contact. So play the ball back, and keep that shaft forward. Your pitching will improve, and your fear will disappear.

Why You Miss Right

Golfers see their tee shots go right and automatically curse the slice.

Sometimes those are blocked shots caused by swinging too much from the inside. The slice comes from an out-to-in swing, so trying to fix a slice when you're hitting a block is the worst thing you can do.

Solution: To quiet your legs and hips, practice hitting drives from a narrow stance. You'll slide less and turn more.

Here's how to tell the difference: A slice starts left and curves right, and a block flies straight right. Blocks occur when you slide too hard with your lower body on the downswing (above). The club drops behind you and swings too much from the inside. You have too much lateral motion and not enough turn through the shot.

The best drill to promote turn is to take a narrow stance, about a foot wide, and hit drives at 75 percent. With a narrow base, you won't be able to slide much without falling over. You'll make a better turn, and the club will swing straighter down the line, with your arms turning over to square the clubface. You'll beat the block.