How to hit the lob shot

A shot we all face on the golf course periodically is one where your ball is close to the green but you must go over a large bunker right in front of the green and land your ball soft enough so it doesn't roll over the green.

This shot calls for a lob shot. The lob is a very high shot with minimum spin on it. Here's how to hit this very precise and difficult shot:

-- Check your lie to see if it is good enough to hit a lob shot. If the lie is good, go ahead and make your decision to attempt the lob shot.

-- Use your sand wedge or your lob wedge.

-- Place the ball up in your stance if your lie is good.

-- Put your hands even with the ball or slightly behind the ball at address, never ahead of the ball.

-- You might want to open your stance and shoulders a little bit in order to get a more vertical swing.

-- Your weight should be distributed 50/50.

-- You might even want to open the face a little bit at address to add more loft to your wedge. This creates more height and will allow the ball to land softer.

-- The backswing is long and slow. A big backswing and a complete finish are important.

-- The downswing is quite different than all of the other short game shots in the sense that the hands are not ahead of the clubhead at the point of contact. Actually this shot is, if anything, a very right-sided shot in which you are trying to throw the clubhead under the ball at contact. This adds loft to the 60 degree sand wedge, and the ball shoots straight up in the air.

-- It is important to feel like the clubface is never going to close through impact. In fact, I often tell people that the face must point up to the sky as the club comes through.

-- There is no rushing the downswing. As long as the body turn is leading the downswing, the sensation is that you are throwing the clubhead under the ball. Actually, when executing this shot, it is even OK to hit some of the grass behind the ball. The flange on the bottom of the sand or lob wedge should help you get the clubhead under the ball.

-- Try to finish with the hands high as the body faces the target.

The lob shot is a great shot to have in your arsenal. It is a right-sided shot much like the bunker shot.

Jack Nicklaus used to say that you couldn't use your right side early enough from the top of your swing as long as the body is gently turning through the shot. The result is a very high shot with very little spin on the ball. The ball will land like a butterfly with sore feet.

(Dr. Jim Suttie, the 2000 PGA Teacher of the Year, is director of instruction at The Club at TwinEagles in North Naples, Fla. and at Cog Hill Golf Club in Lemont, Ill. He also is a Golf Magazine Top 100 Teacher and rated No. 15 by Golf Digest. Suttie coaches the Florida Gulf Coast University men's golf team. E-mail him at jmsuttie@aol.com.)

(GolfWorld is a feature of the Naples Daily News in Florida at naplesdailynews.com.)