Negotiate fairway bunkers with ease
1First of all, you have a decision to make: what club will get you over the lip? You can have the best set-up – as shown opposite – and it will all go to waste if you don’t take enough loft. By picking the ball off cleanly, which is the aim, there will be less compression and therefore less backspin. This will mean the ball will come out even lower. Only through experience, and practising these shots, will you get to know how you launch the ball with each club.
2Now, the set-up. Avoid shuffling your feet into the sand, as you would with a greenside bunker shot, because you don’t want to lower your divot depth – you’re aiming to just clip the ball off. Stabilise yourself, yes – and by that I mean just create a little wedge of sand with your insteps, both ways. This knocks the knees in slightly and secures you nicely in place. Put the ball a fraction further back in your stance, which should encourage you to get to it early. In other words, ball-first contact, then sand. 3
I like to grip down the club a touch, too, which helps me to catch the ball cleanly. Then it’s all about making a nice rhythmical swing. You don’t need to try and muscle the ball out, or tilt back for fear of not being able to clear the lip. Do that and your legs are likely to slip, and you’ll end up undoing all that good work with the set-up.