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 •
When you end up in a bunker, the last thing you want to try to do is pick it clean as you try to get it out. A properly played bunker shot results in the ball being thrown out on a cushion of sand. Typically, you want your club head to contact the sand about two inches behind the ball.
I found a helpful drill from Marty Fleckman over at About.com, called the “Point of Entry Drill“. [...]
posted in Sand Play Tips •