Sand play has been one of those things I haven’t been working on much this season because honestly, despite my struggles earlier, I just don’t hit in the sand that much. It seems counter-intuitive until you realize that I was hitting the ball so poorly that I wasn’t even close enough to the greens to get in green-side bunkers.
Now, things are coming together and my misses are putting me in a lot more green-side and fairway bunkers.
I used to be [...]
posted in Sand Play Tips •
You went and did it. You tried to carry a green side bunker from a long way out but hit it fat and your ball dribbled over the lip and stopped rolling on a down slope. Or you almost carried it but the ball hit the sand on the up slope and sat there. Now what?
Don’t worry! Some simple adjustments and you’ll be up on the green and trying to make the next putt.
Good Lie
With [...]
posted in Sand Play Tips •
Beach week continues…
This time we’re going to back away from the greens and try and figure out what to do when those pesky fairway bunkers jump up and swallow your drives.
The technique for hitting out of fairway bunkers is quite different than the technique used in green side bunkers. Luckily, the adjustments are not very difficult.
From green side bunkers, the object is really to splash the ball out on a cushion of sand. The club never actually makes [...]
posted in Sand Play Tips •
Well, it’s not really that bad. But, I thought I should cover buried lies if I’m going to stick with the beach week theme.
The good news is, the changes you need to make to play a buried lie are small and pretty simple. The bad news is, the more the ball is buried, the less you should be concerned with getting up and down and the more you should be concerned with just getting on the green.
If you [...]
posted in Sand Play Tips •
Since I’ve been talking about sand play (and golf equipment) all week, I’m declaring this beach week. All sand, all the time.
Today, I figure it’s time to cover basic bunker technique. As with most of the short game, I take my cues from Dave Pelz. Specifically, I use the technique outlined in his Short Game Bible.
Before I cover that, I want to say something important: in my observation, basic sand play is fairly straightforward and simple, [...]
posted in Sand Play Tips •