For Your Swing by Dave Ramsay - February 2012
For Your Swing - by Dave Ramsay, Head Golf Professional
In the Beach, But a long way from the Dance Floor
Green Mountain is not known as a course that beats a player up with a lot of fairway bunkers (they only exist on 8 holes, if my memory is correct). This is good news to those of us that aren't crazy about the sand, but of course the flip side to that is that we don't get nearly as much practice on this shot as a greenside bunker situation. It never hurts to devote a quick read to the standard fairway bunker shot.
Assuming a normal stance, a regular lie (not buried or partially embedded) and not having to worry about the lip of the bunker, this is a relatively easy shot in approach. What is critical is to strike the ball first, before the sand - the opposite of a greenside bunker shot. The sand can drastically slow your clubhead speed down (resulting in a short shot), or send the ball offline by holding the face open or shutting it prematurely, much like long rough. When the sand has a varied mix of grain sizes in it, it can even direct your ball in crazy directions when a larger pebble gets squeezed between the ball and clubface. Many golfers attempt to pick the ball clean off the bunker surface, but this is a difficult technique to be consistent with. Most players find much more success and consistency in treating a fairway bunker shot similiar to a lie sitting slightly down in medium rough. Take one extra club (if practical) and choke down on the grip an inch or so. Setup up with the ball placement 1-2 ball widths closer to your back foot than you normally would for that club. You're standing on sand, so make sure that you've got decent footing. You are going to swing smoothly and not try to kill the ball (you've got an extra club, remember, and a smoother swing will help your chances of making solid contact). Two thoughts to keep in mind when you make your swing: 1) Maintain your height (so that you don't plant the clubhead into the sand early on the donwswing). 2) Make sure that you keep a little more weight toward your front foot than normal (because in the sand it is harder to transfer the weight on the rear foot back over to the front foot, which will increase the chances of an arm-and-shoulders swing, and of heavy contact in the sand).
Devote a little time to practice this basic shot. Once you're gotten it down with some consistency, then you can start to experiment with different situations that are more challenging than this easy setup - heavy lies, lip of the bunker interfering, awkward stances. Let me know if you need a little assistance!
In the Beach, But a long way from the Dance Floor
Green Mountain is not known as a course that beats a player up with a lot of fairway bunkers (they only exist on 8 holes, if my memory is correct). This is good news to those of us that aren't crazy about the sand, but of course the flip side to that is that we don't get nearly as much practice on this shot as a greenside bunker situation. It never hurts to devote a quick read to the standard fairway bunker shot.
Assuming a normal stance, a regular lie (not buried or partially embedded) and not having to worry about the lip of the bunker, this is a relatively easy shot in approach. What is critical is to strike the ball first, before the sand - the opposite of a greenside bunker shot. The sand can drastically slow your clubhead speed down (resulting in a short shot), or send the ball offline by holding the face open or shutting it prematurely, much like long rough. When the sand has a varied mix of grain sizes in it, it can even direct your ball in crazy directions when a larger pebble gets squeezed between the ball and clubface. Many golfers attempt to pick the ball clean off the bunker surface, but this is a difficult technique to be consistent with. Most players find much more success and consistency in treating a fairway bunker shot similiar to a lie sitting slightly down in medium rough. Take one extra club (if practical) and choke down on the grip an inch or so. Setup up with the ball placement 1-2 ball widths closer to your back foot than you normally would for that club. You're standing on sand, so make sure that you've got decent footing. You are going to swing smoothly and not try to kill the ball (you've got an extra club, remember, and a smoother swing will help your chances of making solid contact). Two thoughts to keep in mind when you make your swing: 1) Maintain your height (so that you don't plant the clubhead into the sand early on the donwswing). 2) Make sure that you keep a little more weight toward your front foot than normal (because in the sand it is harder to transfer the weight on the rear foot back over to the front foot, which will increase the chances of an arm-and-shoulders swing, and of heavy contact in the sand).
Devote a little time to practice this basic shot. Once you're gotten it down with some consistency, then you can start to experiment with different situations that are more challenging than this easy setup - heavy lies, lip of the bunker interfering, awkward stances. Let me know if you need a little assistance!
