Fairway Bunker Shots

Fairway Bunker Shots:

I see many players cringe when they see their ball fly into a fairway bunker. This can be one of the most frustrating shots in golf if you don’t know the secrets to hitting this shot.

Here are the secrets to hitting successful fairway bunker shots:

Take a slightly narrowed stance with the ball slightly further back toward the middle of your stance than you would for a standard fairway shot.

Settle feet into sand just enough to establish solid footing with 60% of weight into lead foot.

Move hands down on grip the same amount feet are into the sand.

Make sure you have a club with enough loft to get over the lip of the bunker. If the lip of the bunker is not an issue use more club than you would normally use from this distance.

Most importantly, unlike a green-side bunker shot, aim to hit the ball first and then the sand, as you would a normal fairway shot, so that you pick the ball as cleanly as possible from the surface. If you take any sand first, you will kill the shot and find that the ball travels only a very short distance.

Take a 3/4 ¾ backswing keeping lower body quiet during down swing. Try to focus all your energy on hitting the ball first. Imagine there is a tee under the ball and try to sweep the ball off the tee without hitting the tee to a complete finish position where the body is facing the target and the weight has transferred to the front foot.

Remember to always accelerate through the ball on the forward swing. Any deceleration on the forward swing will ultimately cause you to hit the sand before the ball thus robbing the shot of its potential distance.

The Lesson Tee…….
By Director of Instruction, Andy Scott School of Golf

Until next time………see you on the lesson tee.