Callaway Golf Clubs

Bunker play is a necessary and often frightening aspect of a round of golf.
On your usual golf course what are the bunkers like?

There are those with good fluffy sand that is quite deep and there are those with not so fluffy sand but still sand and those with almost hard pan just deep to a find sprinkling of sand.

On this last bunker type, the sand iron has a tendency to bounce off the hard surface and cause you to duff your shot.
As already stated in a recent article, the object is to get out of the bunker and onto the green taking only one shot.
One can not carry several sand irons to play each type of bunker, so the answer is to compromise.

The thing that makes a sand iron bounce to a greater or lesser degree when it makes contact with the sand is the width and the depth of the flange.

A sand iron with a wide and deep flange will bounce on contact with the sand. The ideal type for that deep fluffy sand because it will stay shallow and not knife under the ball as much.

Conversely, a narrow and shallow flange will not bounce as much and will dig into the sand and tend to stop. Certainly not what you want in fluffy sand but ideal for the hard pan type of bunker.

So, what do you do?

Firstly, you have to know what type of base most of the bunkers have on your home course. If the sand is all fluffy and deep, lucky you.

On my course, there are a lot of hard pan type bunkers.

Then, you go to your professional and ask him to order a sand iron with a medium depth and width of flange.
This will be useful in all types of bunkers.

Don’t forget that the lob wedge is pretty useful out of a bunker.
Practice is needed though to see how it will perform with various swings and ball positions.

Particularly useful for the buried or poached egg lie.

The drill is to hit down onto the edge of the poached egg (the sand ridge around the ball) and do not follow through.
The ball should fly up in the air and out of the bunker. It will not be a very long shot however.

You may like the lob wedge for this, or your pitching wedge. The sand wedge may do too, but the flange could get in the way.
As usual, practice and trial and error is the only way to tell.

However, the shot is played in the way described above.

Bill Maitland is a thinking, inventive golf guru.
He thought out and developed simple techniques and tips which enabled him to lower his handicap from 25 to 18, then from 18 to 15, and finally from 15 to 12.
He is a passionate golfer, and delights in helping others with their game should they want his help.
Author of GOLF TIPS.
An e-Book that takes you step by step to being the best golfer that you can possibly be.
To learn about his tips and simple techniques
And see his book
visit
Online Golfers Handbook.

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Are you hitting accurate pitches and chips to the green?

Anyone can get to within striking distance of the green, but it is what we do from there on that is important don’t you think?

Firstly, you must never quit on the shot. This means decelerate the club head speed as it gets near the ball.

It is essential that you hit your chips and pitches with the same club head speed every time.

Shorter shots need a shorter back swing, but the club head speed remains the same for every shot that you pitch or chip towards the pin. T becomes obvious that the longer the back swing, the more club speed is generated as the club head travels further before it hits the ball. However, the swing speed is constant. For example to emphasise my point, if you take your club back only 1 foot, the ball will not go very far, will it? A back swing to 9-0-clock will send the ball much further. The swing speed for both distances remains constant.

If you do not like to stop your club head at 9-0-clock on the back swing, then by all means take a full swing, and hit softer. However, I repeat, the club head speed has to be constant. The same principle as when you are putting. The putter blade speed is constant, isn’t it? To hit a longer put you take the putter back a few inches more. Your judgement of distance is great when you have mastered this, isn’t it? The same with your pitch shots.

When you have mastered this very important principle, you will be delighted with the feel you will develop around the greens.

The only other must is that you must WATCH the ball. Keep your head down until the ball is well on its way. What ever you do, see the divot before looking up.

Bill Maitland is a thinking, inventive golf guru.
He thought out and developed simple techniques and tips which enabled him to lower his handicap from 25 to 18, then from 18 to 15, and finally from 15 to 12.
He is a passionate golfer, and delights in helping others with their game should they want his help.
To learn about his tips and simple techniques, visit =>Online Golfers Handbook at http://www.onlinegolfershandbook.com

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Professionals advocate an open stance for the short golf shots. From 100 yards in to the pin. I have messed around with this over the years, not being able to make up my mind which is more successful for me.
You will either like or not like what I am about to say.

An open stance is when your feet and hips are set up along a line to the left of the target, while the club blade is directed directly towards the target.

When making such shots, you want your body movement reduced to a minimum. With most of your weight on your left foot for the duration of the shot.

Standing with an open stance will help you achieve this.

Also, an open stance will help you to hit from in to out with little thought about this aspect of the swing.
Your back swing will be more upright and you will have a steeper down swing resulting in a sharply descending blow which is just what is needed to pitch the ball in the way you want.

Have a look at this and experiment. However, there are no rules about how you should hit hour shots. If you are having better results with a square stance then please do not change.

All you want is to hit the ball in the air, have it land near the pin and stop.

If you are achieving this on a consistent basis, there is certainly no need to change anything.

Bill Maitland is a thinking, inventive golf guru.
He thought out and developed simple techniques and tips which enabled him to lower his handicap from 25 to 18, then from 18 to 15, and finally from 15 to 12.
He is a passionate golfer, and delights in helping others with their game should they want his help.
To learn about his tips and simple techniques visit Online Golfers Handbook

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