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Sand Trap Tips

By Lee MacRae

Many golfers have a tremendous fear of sand traps and bunkers on the golf course. Let's take a look at some handy tips to improve your play from the bunkers.

Ask any professional golfer the toughest shot in golf and he'll say the 60 yard sand shot. Even the top players have trouble deciding whether this calls for an explosion shot or a normal wedge shot. Fortunately, we average players don't have to make that decision. The 60 yard explosion just isn't in our bags. So we'll make do with the normal wedge shot. Stand squarely, with the ball in the middle of your stance. As with the long bunker shot, you should make contact with the ball first, to remain as steady as possible for as long as possible. As this requires you to swing with only your hands and arms, you'll want to take a club or two more than usual [but bear in mind that playing the ball farther back than normal will deloft the clubface slightly]. For anything up to 75 yards, the average players to use a pitching wedge hit with a three quarters swing.

A good way to gauge distance on a sand shot is to think of hitting the ball twice as far. Let's say you have a sand shot of 25 feet. Hit it with the same power that you would use for a fairway shot of 50 feet. A word of warning; this system works well on medium to long sand shots. On the short touch shots you're better off practicing to get a feel for finesse. After all, you may well have a 6 foot long sand shot, but how many 12 foot long fairway shots do you ever have?

The worst thing about hitting an uphill sand shot is that your ball probably is plugged in the sand. Balls that aren't plugged usually roll back down to a flat area. Here's how to play the shot: anchor your body by planting your right foot solidly in the sand, and slant your shoulders so that they are parallel with the slope. The swing for the shot isn't pretty. Just pick up the club sharply, keeping your legs still, and whack the sand behind the ball. Don't try to follow through. Remember that in such a perilous position any recovery is a good recovery.

Knowing the basic techniques of bunker sand play and understanding the subtleties of the various problems you can encounter will actually lead you to even enjoy the play from a sand bunker. I'm sure these tips will help you to enjoy your next round of golf.

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When you want to get some extra distance out of your drives, it�s natural to think that your right or dominant hand (for right-handed golfers) should supply the power. In reality, however, maximum power is a result of a left-hand lead.
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Heel shots, scoobies, go rights, or the dreaded "S" word are caused by one thing -- "coming over the top." Coming over the top or swinging across your downward swingpath is perhaps the most common swing fault in golf. The path or arc of the golf swing should be circular (about 45 degrees) on the backswing and a little less circular (about 43 degrees) on the downswing. That variance in plane is called swinging inside. A great cure for coming over the top is to let your right shoulder (for R/H players) come UNDERNEATH your chin on your downswing. You may also feel that you are hitting the ball (in baseball terms) to right field. Dropping your right shoulder will free up the club to extend out toward your target and eliminate the possibility of Mr. Scoobie!
...US Golf Association

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