Landing in a fairway bunker can be a stressful situation. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be. With the right tools and the right technique you can easily put yourself in a good position to save par or even have a shot at making birdie.
Landing in a fairway bunker can be a stressful situation. The good news is that it doesn’t have to be. With the right tools and the right technique you can easily put yourself in a good position to save par or even have a shot at making birdie. In this quick video tip PGA Golf Pro Bill McKinney will show you a few simple tips that will get you out of those pesky fairway bunkers with ease and confidence.
As you saw in the video your stance is crucial in a fairway bunker, or in any bunker for that matter. Keep in mind building a stance in a bunker is illegal. However digging your feet into the sand to get a stable base is perfectly acceptable.
Like Bill says in the video you’ll want to dig your spikes into the sand a bit. If you don’t do this you will slip around, especially if it’s early in the day and the sand is still wet.
Remember on most fairway bunker shots you are going to be using a full golf swing. This means a full weight shift. If your feet aren’t planted you will slip around. I’m sure you have experienced this before.
So make sure you always take a moment to get your feet fully planted. Even if your front foot only slides an inch forward it can cause some nasty problems in your golf swing (like forcing you to chunk the ball).
The other keys to successfully hitting out of a fairway bunker are: choking up on the club a bit, and aiming at a spot a little higher up on the ball to ensure that you hit the golf ball first not the sand. The last thing you want to do is hit behind the golf ball. Choking up makes you much more likely to hit the ball clean or a little thin (a much better miss-hit when you are in a fairway bunker).
The last thing to consider is what club to use. Hybrid clubs are a great choice for hitting out of fairway bunkers. They don’t dig into sand as easily as irons, so if you do hit the golf ball a little fat it won’t be a huge problem. The other advantage is that the shaft is somewhat shorter than a 3 or 5 wood making them much easier to hit out of a fairway bunker.
Now go out there and have some fun in the sand.
For Better Golf,
Doc O’Leary
Head Golf Nut, OHP Golf
Make sure you have enough loft to clear the lip of the bunker. get good footing and shorten your grip. Sweep the ball out, making contact with the ball first and taking very little divot. The hybrid will give you the cleanest contact for this shot and give you enough distance that you have a good chance for par (or even birdie) on a par five. Don’t get greedy.
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This video was helpful for hitting out of fairway or waist bunkers with hardpan. However I see most faiyway bunkers with much softer sand. Is it possible to do a video on how to hit out of that kind of bunker.
Thanks, Tim
It was helpfully
Thanks
Joe Mata
interesting, I could have never imagined the use of hybrid on fairway bunker. Can you use hybrid on soft sand ??