# Why?



## 65nlovenit (Dec 8, 2006)

Can anyone tell me WHY when you try to lay up to (Hazard, Ditch, Pond), all of a sudden I'm hitting like Tiger Woods. I ended up 170 yards from a green protected by a water filled ditch, so being the coward that I am, I decided to lay up and chip over. So I take out a 7 iron, take a 3/4 swing, and guess what, I'm in the ditch. Now if I had tried to land that 7 iron on the green I'd probably have ended up 20 yards short. The trouble with this is it happens all too often, How Come?


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## 300Yards (Jan 23, 2007)

I guess cause you make better contact at 3/4 swing? Maybe your overswinging the 3/4 a little? Don't feel bad, I do that sometimes too.


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## Fourputt (Nov 18, 2006)

In my experience, it's because most players try to lay up too closely to the hazard they are trying to avoid. I had this problem myself for a long time. I just didn't have a layup mentality, so I was always trying to get as close as possible... and as a result ended up right where I was trying to avoid. So... now I'm older and wiser... I'm a better course manager, and I almost always pick one club less than I think I need for the layup. That means that if I feel I can lay up to PW range by hitting a 6 iron, I pick one less club (7 iron) and aim to lay up to 9 iron instead... much better than hitting a PW on the next shot with a penalty stroke added.


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## xiphos (Sep 27, 2007)

Prob. better contact with the shorter swing and you are not thinking as much.


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## chiefmasterjedi (Sep 21, 2007)

What i like to do in this situation is try and leave my favorite distance, which is 100 yards with my 52 degree gap wedge. So if i had 170 to the pin and needed to lay up i would have got my 56 degree wedge out and try to hit it 70 yards. The good thing about this kind of shot is even if you top it your still only looking at a short iron to the pin.

One coarse i play on has a hole that usually leaves me 200 yards to the pin and a ditch 5 yards short of the green. 200 yards for me is my 3 iron which i can't hit for love nor money, so i normally hit a double gap wedge.


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## marto97 (Mar 29, 2007)

I think Rick has it right, laying up is supposed to be easy. But if you aren't used to doing it, it can be a hard thing to do. When I lay up I always try to leave myself at a comfortable distance, which is usually around 100 yards for me. I don't like to lay up but sometimes my tee shots don't finish where I want them to (lol) or the hole dictates it, and with good course management you have to do it. :dunno:


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## Fourputt (Nov 18, 2006)

The thing is that you don't always get such an easy decision. Sometimes you have to lay up as the course allows, and 100 yards may well be in the middle of a pond. The 7th hole on my home course has a lake that extends from 100 yards to over 125 yards from the center of the green, with a large tree that blocks the green from the left side of the fairway if you get too close to it. You have to not only decide how long a shot to leave, but how far left you want to hit it too. The farther you hit your tee shot, the farther right it has to be to avoid the tree, and the smaller the target becomes between the lake and the rough. You can hit a really nice tee shot, but if it's just a little bit too long and too far left, you have no shot but a pitch out. The only really safe shot is to be sure that you don't hit closer than 140 yards from the green... from that far out you can clear the tree even from the left side, any closer and it gets to where you can't get over the tree with enough club to clear the lake. It's a really nice little 320 - 350 yard (depending on the tees) par 4 that can eat you up if you get greedy (I've made as high as a 10 on the hole).


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## marto97 (Mar 29, 2007)

Fourputt said:


> The thing is that you don't always get such an easy decision. Sometimes you have to lay up as the course allows, and 100 yards may well be in the middle of a pond. The 7th hole on my home course has a lake that extends from 100 yards to over 125 yards from the center of the green, with a large tree that blocks the green from the left side of the fairway if you get too close to it. You have to not only decide how long a shot to leave, but how far left you want to hit it too. The farther you hit your tee shot, the farther right it has to be to avoid the tree, and the smaller the target becomes between the lake and the rough. You can hit a really nice tee shot, but if it's just a little bit too long and too far left, you have no shot but a pitch out. The only really safe shot is to be sure that you don't hit closer than 140 yards from the green... from that far out you can clear the tree even from the left side, any closer and it gets to where you can't get over the tree with enough club to clear the lake. It's a really nice little 320 - 350 yard (depending on the tees) par 4 that can eat you up if you get greedy (I've made as high as a 10 on the hole).


That is what I meant when I said sometimes the hole dictates that you should lay up.


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## white_tiger_137 (Mar 23, 2006)

I hear ya loud and clear. I once "laid up" a 7 iron 200 yards!  

A couple solutions for ya: 
1. Pretend that you're really going for the green, but just take a couple clubs less. 
2. Pretend that there's a pin right where you're trying to lay up to.

If you can trick your brain for the 2 seconds it takes to swing a club, both of these should give your swing the normal levels of tension and doubt. This should get you out of this relaxed, composed state of mind that you would've had to deal with.


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