Butch Harmon on Hitting from a Sanded Divot

Butch Harmon is doing some new videos for Golf Digest. In this video Butch demonstrates how to hit from a divot full of sand.

Watch this on The Scene.

It sounds simple enough, doesn't it? Three steps:

1. Place the ball in the middle of your stance.
2. Keep your hands a bit forward of the ball (lean the shaft forward).
3. Make a steep downswing so you can hit down on the ball.

Bear in mind that this is one of the few times you really want to hit down on the ball. Hitting down on the ball makes it squirt out of the divot. (Under normal circumstances you want to come into the ball fairly shallow and catch the ball near the bottom of your swing arc. That gives you the most distance and height.)

Note also that Butch says the clubface will be a bit open. You don't have to change your grip to get that. It happens because you move the ball back in your stance and lean the shaft forward, which means you hit the ball before your club has time to square up completely. You might want to allow a little for that when you address the ball, but don't open your stance much. That's something you'll learn with experience.

And remember, this creates a lower squirting shot, so you probably don't want to try carrying hazards -- at least, not until you've hit this shot a few times and know what to expect.