This sand shot will save you many strokes and improve your scoring.
BEING able to hit a solid full shot from sand will improve your scores when you do find these hazards and help your ball-striking throughout the bag.
On occasion, you may have to wedge out sideways if faced with a steep lip, but the majority of fairway bunkers are now shallow enough to allow you to have a go at the green.
Mastering the basic fundamentals that you need to make good contact from the sand – a stable base, steady rhythm, maintaining your height and making a precise strike – will also improve the quality and accuracy of your woods, hybrids, irons and wedges from the grass.
In fact, hitting all of these clubs from firm sand is an excellent way to improve your ball-striking technique.
Maintain height
You must establish your head and sternum height at address and maintain this until impact, in order to promote a shallow attack angle which sweeps the ball off the top of the sand.
Don’t bury your feet
Stand “on top” of the sand, because burying your feet below the surface of it also lowers the bottom of your swing arc – and thus you risk hitting sand before the ball.
A sweeping blow
Long bunker shots require a sweeping blow with quiet hands to ensure clean contact. Hit the ball off the sand as if you were clipping it away with a putter, and the club’s loft will do the work.
Choke down
Choking down on the grip slightly and firming the forearms at set-up promotes a slightly shorter swing, less wrist hinge and a shallower angle of attack into the ball.
Shorter swing
A shorter swing is easier to control and makes it easier to maintain your balance throughout, which is vital for making the precise contact required to clip the ball off the top of the sand.
