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Hitting off of Hardpan

Hitting Off Of Hardpan Lies

It’s difficult hitting off of hardpan and it can go wrong in a hurry if you don’t know what you’re doing.

Hardpan is usually a flat, hard, dried out area with little or no turf. It’s typically found in low irrigation areas or places where golf carts are often used. Most daily fee courses are prone to hard pan due to excessive foot traffic in many areas.

Hitting from hardpan requires a certain type of shot. Since the ground is much harder, the club is likely to bounce into the ball if the club head hits behind the ball, even by a little. This creates a blade or thin struck shot.

One way to help this is to use a lower lofted iron because of the lower amount of bounce on the club.  Another option is to use the original club, but lean the shaft forward a little to minimize the bounce on the club. The idea is to make ball-first contact and not ground-first contact. At The Ultimate Golf School, we like to say :”Lean Left” at set up, “Stay-Left” on the back swing, and “Move-Lefter” into the finish. Get good with this to hit perfect hard pan shots every time!

Go thru your pre-shot routine, and you need to commit to this shot. Be positive and visualize the shot doing exactly what you want it to. Keep your grip pressure gentle so you have zero tension in your hands and fore arms. Light grip pressure leads to great swing tempo which will produce more consistent results. This shot does not need to be perfect. It just needs to be good enough to set you up for an easier “next shot”. Don’t be surprised if you get a little extra ball-stopping back spin when you execute this shot nicely!

hitting off of hard pan lie