Golf and Golf Courses

A golfer’s worst nightmare is not just getting in to the bunker, but it’s not being able to get out once you do. Many amateurs will look more like they’re digging at the beach than getting their ball out of the sand trap which can quickly frustrate the player and cause their focus to slip.

With golf a good portion of your performance will be down to your mental conditioning so knowing how to deal with the occasional sand shot is important so you keep your flow and your cool to recover and hopefully get on the green sooner rather than later.

First of all knowing your position in the bunker is important. Most bunkers have a shallow front approach with a high back wall, intended to roll your ball back down if you hit it but there are times your ball can stop on the back wall demanding a more difficult escape shot from the bunker. The closer you are to the back wall the more loft you will need to achieve in order to clear the bunker and land back on the fairway or on to the putting surface.

You’re typically going to be using the sand wedge as this club gives you the greatest loft, although if you feel that you don’t have to knock the ball as high but want the ball to travel some distance from a fairway bunker you can use other clubs such as the pitching wedge. Players who struggle to achieve loft on their shots should stick with the sand wedge though, remember to open the club face to get more loft and less distance when on the green surrounding bunkers.

Knowing where to strike the ball is one of the most important aspects to a successful bunker recovery; hit the ball in the wrong place and you could end up right where you started. The best sand shots are the ones that cause the sand to splash up and carry the ball like a wave does to a surf board. You want to get under the ball to get the height to your shot but also need to strike behind the ball correctly too.

The correct place to strike is actually the inch before the ball. You need to hit with a controlled amount of power much like a pitch shot. You need to have enough power to push through the sand and lift the ball up and forward, flicking up a lot of sand if you do it right. If you hit the ball with no sand going up then there’s a chance your ball will stick in the sand and roll a few inches at best.

The bunker shot is one of the toughest in golf and so it is well worth practicing or getting tuition to get a fuller understanding of what constitutes a great hazard recovery from the sand.

Be careful with your clubs when in the sand, consider golf club insurance or golf holiday insurance if you play a lot of golf, considering how expensive it could be to lose or damage your clubs it makes sense to take precautions

Tags: golf clubs, golf courses, golf insurance, golf tips