HOW DO YOU HIT A GREENSIDE BUNKER SHOT ON AN UPHILL LIE? 

No golfer would choose to hit out of a greenside bunker, especially on an uphill lie. But if you play enough golf, you will inevitably be faced with this challenging shot from time to time.  Conventional teaching says to match the angle of your shoulders to the uphill slope and swing along this same line. This tends to result in a very high shot that is tough to control distance. Josh Zander is the Class A PGA teaching professional at Stanford University golf course and Presidio in San Francisco. He's been voted Top 100 Teachers in America by Golf Magazine. Josh shares a different approach for hitting a bunker shot on an uphill lie. Contrary to the conventional instruction of positioning your spine to being perpendicular to the slope, Josh suggests keeping your shoulders level and also taking a less lofted club. He also describes some additional modifications in your address and swing to have the ball coming out lower and with some chase to it.

PROPER SETUP FOR A GREENSIDE BUNKER SHOT ON AN UPHILL LIE

The greenside bunker shot on an uphill lie all begins with proper setup. The setup for this uphill lie bunker shot includes five very important elements at address - 1) Shoulders will more level to the flat ground and will NOT match the slope 2) Play the ball slightly forward in your stance 3) Hands will be more forward 4) You will use a less lofted club (like a 52 degree gap wedge) 5) You will hit a few inches behind the ball and into the slope so you won't use much follow through.

Trust Your Club

Now it will take some trust that with this 52-degree wedge I can still get it over the lip.  But you have to realize is that the slope of the hill is adding loft to my club. So my 52 degree gap wedge is actually much more like a 60 degree at this point.

So hit a couple inches behind the golf ball and get your shoulders into the slope with not much fall through and that ball will easily clear the lip and even have some chase to it where I can hit it to a far pin off of an uphill lie. That's pretty cool.