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How to Chip in Golf - ...swinging a golf club, the middle of your center of gravity is where the lowest point typically falls. Because you want to avoid hitting the ground before you strike the ball, you should move the ball just behind center at address. For beginners, use two inches behind your center, then you can adjust as you become more comfortable. Just don't forget to keep this ball location consistent as moving it will change the angle of your club impact and you will find it harder to consistently strike the ball ...

Staying In Sync During the Golf Downswing - ...ready to start your downswing - what should you focus on? Unfortunately this piece of advice will not really be useful for anyone who falls away from the golf ball but in general a lot of golfers tend to focus too much on driving their hips forward as a means to start the downswing. This is what many of the best teachers advise though isn't it? As with many things in golf, a little is good but too much of a good thing can cause problems. By over-emphasizing the leg drive many golfers end-up sliding ahead of the ball rather than...

Sand Trap Magic

You have hit the perfect drive and lay 150 yards from the pin, but you pull your approach shot into a green side bunker. Does panic set in or do you have the confidence to splash a sand shot close to the pin and sink a short putt to salvage your par. Many golfers dread sand shots, but if you look at tour players and listen to commentators, you will hear them say that the pros prefer the sand to the high rough around the green. "How can this be?" you mutter as you leave your chip shot in the bunker or skull the ball over the green and take a double bogey on the hole. A few simple tips will get you out of the sand and into a good position to score.

Let's look at why a shot from the rough is more difficult than the sand shot. A ball sitting in high rough will not take spin and will roll out of control, even if you strike it well. The high grass will grab the hosel of your club and twist it so that a straight shot is not probable. Trying to finesse the ball out of the thick grass also can result in fat hits, double hits and skulled shots if the ball is not hit perfectly. Sand shots have a large margin of error that allows a good result even if the shot is not struck perfectly. We will talk about that later. I will show you how to get out of a bunker with a decent lie, a buried lie and a long bunker shot, as well as a fairway bunker.

If you are in a greenside bunker with most of the ball visible, there are a couple things to do to extricate your ball. First, assess the depth and softness of the sand. Since you are not allowed to ground your club in the bunker, you need to feel how firm and deep the sand is with your feet as you walk into the bunker. If you are in soft sand, you will take a deeper divot than if the sand is shallow or even hard. Opening your club face more provides a shallower divot and more spin on the ball, while a deeper, longer divot provides less carry out of the trap and more roll. If you have a long shot to the flag stick, hitting a lower iron will carry the ball farther, but you must open the club face to expose the club's bounce. You need to practice shots from the sand with your sand wedge, pitching wedge, 9-iron and 8-iron to get a feel for distance with each club. I have found that I can hit one more club in the sand than what I hit from a normal lie. Practice to find how far you hit each iron from the sand.
The actual technique to hit out of a greenside bunker is quite simple. As you set up to your ball, open your stance and your clubface the same amount (open club face should face target). Play the ball off your front heel with most of your weight on your front foot. Swing along your stance line at a steep approach and aim between 2 to 4 inches behind the ball. Hit the sand behind the ball, never touching the ball with your sand wedge. Follow through to a high finish and a cushion of sand will carry your ball onto the putting surface. Here is where your margin of error comes into play. If you hit close to the ball, the ball will carry long and high and stop quickly, whereas a shot hit farther behind the ball will fly out short and roll a good distance. The total distance of each shot will be equal so let your bunker height, amount of green to the pin and other factors determine how close to the ball you want to hit. But, beware! If you club makes contact directly with the ball, you will hit a shot well over the green.

If the sand in the bunker is shallow or hard, you can either chip the ball out like a normal chip shot, or better still, open the club face as above and hit under the ball and float out a soft high shot. This shot like a flop shot, so do not be afraid to swing hard with an open face that cuts beneath the ball. The more open you can play this shot without blading the ball the better.

If your ball is buried where half or less of the ball is visible, you need to close your club and hit steeply down on the sand behind the ball. You must swing hard since you will not be able to complete the follow through on your swing. This shot will be thrown a short distance by the sand and run. Closing your stance and club face on this shot will help get your club into the sand behind the ball.

Fairway bunkers may be the most difficult shot to recover from in golf. If you have a good lie and the lip is not too high, take the longest club you can hit and still clear the lip of the trap. If the ball is not too deep in the sand, try to pick it clean. A hybrid may work well for you on this shot. Advance the ball as far down the fairway as possible, putting yourself in the best position to hit your next shot into the green. If you have a difficult lie, take your medicine and hit the ball out as well as you can. Do not leave the ball in the trap. You can live with a bogey; a double bogey or worse can ruin a round.

If you follow these tips and put a little practice time into bunker play, you may not rejoice at being in a bunker, but you still salvage a good score on the hole. Practice hard and good luck.

Dennis Krall is an avid golfer that is willing to share tips and experiences with others that share his passion. You can find more tips and information at http://hittingthegolfball.com and http://lefthandedgolf.us.

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