We All Want to Play Like Sandy Lyle, Don't We? For many golf enthusiasts, and particularly British ones, Sandy Lyle's Fairway Bunker shot on the 18th hole on the final afternoon of the 1988 Augusta Masters was right up there among the best shots of all time. This was not just because of the pressure that the shot was played under, when Sandy needed and made a birdie three to win, but because the Fairway bunker shot is arguably the most difficult shot in golf to execute properly and consistently, at least for club golfers like me.
While it would be difficult for anyone playing off a handicap of 13 to profess that they had mastered this difficult shot, the following tips have meant that my percentage of successful Fairway Bunker shots has improved dramatically...
* Try not to be too greedy with your shot thoughts - so make sure that you have a club with enough loft to get you over the lip of the bunker.
* 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.
* Unlike a green-side bunker shot, don't settle your feet too much into the sand. Keep yourself on the top of the sand as much as possible, but make sure that your right foot is secure so that it doesn't slip backwards during the swing.
* Keep the swing down to a 3/4 swing, so that as far as possible you eliminate any sway in your legs. You have less room for error on a Fairway Bunker shot, so everything must be more precise. Follow through as you would for a normal 3/4 swing shot towards the target.
* 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.
These tips may not bring us up to Sandy Lyle's standards, but they've certainly helped me to be far more successful and consistent with my Fairway bunker shots and cut down on the frustration and the penalizing effect of being in the bunker in the first place, particularly after you thought you'd hit a decent drive!
Victor Bauza is a blogger and Internet Marketer
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