LAST week I addressed the way to approach up and downhill lies. I hope you made time to go out and hit some shots from different gradients and became more familiar with them.

LAST week I addressed the way to approach up and downhill lies. I hope you made time to go out and hit some shots from different gradients and became more familiar with them.

This week, the trickier side hill lies will be looked at. There are a few different adjustments to make this time, so you'’ll need to pay attention.

When the ball is above your feet, the club will naturally swing more around your body, but one often overlooked point is where the clubface aims.

If you stick the wide end of a tee to the clubface with blue-tac (bottom of picture 1), you'’ll see the face points to the left of where you'’d imagine (for a right-handed golfer). The more lofted the club, the further left the face aims. In this case you’ll probably need to adjust your aim.

You have the luxury of gripping down the handle and making sure you don'’t lose balance by putting more weight on your toes to fight against gravity pulling you backwards down the slope (top of picture 1).

With the tougher ball below the feet lies, you don'’t have any more club length to use. You do however need to put your weight more on your heels to stop yourself being drawn downhill, towards the ball (picture 2). You’ll notice I’ve moved my right foot further away from the target line than my left. This stops the right thigh getting in the way of the hands on the back swing because of the extra knee flex.

Balance is key on both shots as your ball striking can easily become rough around the edges if you lose balance during the swing.

As with last week, get yourself out on the course and try a few of these shots for yourself. Knowing the theory is one thing, but the game isn’t about knowing how to do it, it’s about actually doing it, and doing it well. Your score card is the true judge of a player and there are no theory tests in this game.