It's a Gimmie – Dealing with hardpan lies

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As we approach the end of summer, you may begin to notice bare spots in some areas of the rough or even in the fairway itself. These bare spots, called “hardpan,” tend to appear throughout the winter months and are very common during dry spells during the summer.

Your main goal from this lie is to advance the ball as much as possible while getting it back into playable grass.

In some cases, the hardpan will be marked off as ground under repair, which would afford you a free drop (no closer the hole). Also, you may be allowed to get relief from hardpan by moving your ball the distance allotted by local “winter rules.” Eventually, you’ll run into a situation where you’ll have to play off hardpan, so I thought I would offer a few quick pointers on how to deal with this nasty situation. The last thing you want to have happen is to “skull” the shot by allowing the club head to bounce off the hardpan and hit the center of the ball. Your main goal from this lie is to advance the ball as much as possible while getting it back into playable grass.For chip shots from hardpan, you’ll need to move close enough to the ball so the club head is standing on its toe with the shaft as vertical as possible. This will cut down any angle in your left wrist and will ensure that your club head won’t drop any lower through impact than it was at address.Ball position should be adjusted according to how lofted of a shot you want to play. Play the ball forward for a high lofted shot, in the center for a standard pitch and back for a low, running pitch.Also, set your feet according to the length of the shot you intend to play: wide and square for a longer shot, and more open and narrow the shorter you want to hit the shot. To decrease the length of the shot, open your stance by moving your left foot back from the target line and open your club face a bit so it is facing just right of the target. Finally, use your normal pitching swing and focus on making solid contact with the ball.For longer shots, I suggest you take one more club than you normally would, choke down on the grip slightly and play the ball farther back in your stance. Make a controlled three-quarter swing with a controlled three-quarter follow-through. Be sure to keep your head down to avoid a topped shot. This setup and swing should produce a low running shot that hopefully will give you some appreciable distance out of a dismal lie.From time to time, when you’re on the practice range, find a hardpan spot and experiment with a number of different length shots from this type of lie. Also, work on chipping to the green from hardpan to develop a feel for how the ball will react and how far it will roll. As with any new shot, it’s a good idea to practice it and feel comfortable with it before you try it out on the course!