Let's Play In The Sand!
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Making Sandies Happen
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None of us spend enough time hitting
bunker shots and nearly every golfer
never practices hitting fairway bunker
shots. The latter is pretty easy to
understand since few if any practice
areas have a place to hit long irons or
even woods from a bunker.
But that's no excuse.
Here are a couple of ideas.
Greenside bunker shots need to be
practiced because the bunker shot is
the least encountered shot during a
round. Add to that the fact that balls
in a bunker can have several different
types of lies, each one of which will
make the ball behave differently. On
your next practice day, in fact every
practice day, spend at least 10 minutes
dropping balls in the sand. Make sure
to practice each of the following:
the regular lie
the plugged lie
the "pin close" shot (open the face
more)
the "pin further" shot (close the face
more)
the uphill lie
Take the time to learn how the ball
behaves with each way you lay the face
on your sand wedge. Distance control is
what you are after. Play games with
yourself to make it fun.
For fairway bunker shots it's a little
more difficult. The best way is to go
out on the course an hour before
sundown when it's not likely other
players are on the course. Find bunkers
that have high lips or no lips so that
you can hit shots that you will
understand how they behave. It's
critical to also focus hitting the ball
first with your feet and legs steady
and calm. Go ahead and try that 5-wood
too. Fairway bunker shots need not be
brillant everytime. You goal is to hit
decent shots that advance the ball as
best as you can away from trouble.
Have fun !!
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