The idea here is to just get away from the tree completely so you’re not worrying about distance or even accuracy for that matter.  All you want to do is get the ball back in the fairway so you can save your score.

Hitting Out of Water

The main rule of thumb when you have a ball in water is to just let it be and not try to hit out of it.  However, if it truly is playable in shallow water, you may want to go ahead and try to hit it out and save yourself a stroke.

The key here is to play this ball like a buried sand lie with a nine iron which will not bounce off the water like a wedge will.  Use a cut shot allowing the blade to slice through the water at an oblique angle and be sure to follow through on your swing. 

In other words, you will want your backswing to be more outside of the normal line and then come back in across your line with the blade of the club open.  Keep your hands still in the swing as you won’t want them to release and rotate.  You may just find yourself back in the water if this happens.

Punch Shot

A punch shot is used when you need to navigate under tree limbs and other low-lying obstacles.  You will use a punch shot when you need to keep the ball low but still get some distance on your swing.  A punch shot is also used to get your ball out of trouble and into the fairway.  So how do you execute a good punch shot?

You can use almost any iron to execute a punch shot, but generally, a lower lofted club will work best.  Begin by choking down on the shaft and place the ball further back in your stance.  Seventy percent of your weight should go mostly on your left foot if you are a right handed golfer – the opposite for you lefties.

Your backswing will be about ¾ of your regular backswing.  Bring the club back making sure you keep your head down throughout almost the entire swing because making good contact in this situation is extremely important.   Take the club back low and then finish low.  What that means is that you won’t have a normal follow-through as if