INSTRUCTION
The Flop Shot
By Natalie Gulbis

For the pros it’s really one of the easier shots to pull off. There are two main reasons why the pros can hit this shot with ease relative to our amateur counterparts.

1. We know the proper set-up and technique.
2. We practice it!

The flop shot should be your option when you have to get the ball up in the air quickly and/or you have little green to work with. You’ll see the flop shot most often on tour when a player has short-sided herself and she needs to get the ball up over a bunker and stop the ball quickly. Before we set-up it’s important to make sure you have the right equipment in your bag to execute the shot. Most pros carry a 60-degree wedge to execute this shot. I use a TaylorMade rac lob wedge with six degrees of bounce. The setup has two important components, open stance and open blade.

I like to keep it simple. First, you’ll need to open your stance; align yourself to the left of your target. To make sure the shot goes toward the target and to make the shot gets up quickly, open the blade. The leading edge will actually point a little right of the target and the face will almost look like it’s pointing straight up in the air.

Put the ball in the middle of your stance and swing aggressively along your body line. Trust it! You’ll need to swing quite a bit harder than you think to get the distance required because the blade is so far open.

The last piece of the puzzle is practice! I love to practice this shot and it shows when I have to hit the shot in competition. You’ll need to practice the shot for two reasons. You’ll need to get comfortable with the technique; most amateurs don’t open up the blade enough and tend to swing toward the target. Secondly, you’ll need to get comfortable (and have the guts!) to swing that hard to hit the ball that short a distance.

One last thing to consider before playing the shot is to make sure the lie is not too tight. Hitting a flop shot from a tight lie is very difficult and best left to the professionals. You’ll blade the ball more often than pulling it off. Have fun and good luck!