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 contact with the ball. That’s definitely not the objective from a fairway bunker. Making contact with the ball before the sand is critical. Before worrying about the swing itself, the first thing to be concerned with is the situation. If the lie is poor, then you might want to just think about taking your medicine and advancing the ball up the fairway. If the lie is good, you need to consider where you want to hit your shot, what club you need to get there, and whether that club will be lofted enough to

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“. I’ve done it myself in the past (same principle, different implementation) with positive results. It really helps to condition you to make contact with the sand in the proper area. The drill is simple. From your setup position, draw a line in the sand perpendicular to your target about six feet long. Using your club, make a series of indentations in the sand about two inches in front of the line and several inches apart from each other, following an imaginary line parallel to the one you drew. These dimples will represent imaginary golf balls. Click on over