Weekly Golf Tip as seen in The Winnipeg Sun --

June 19th, 2007

Be A Sand Master

What an advantage it is to be a great sand player! PGA Tour Players and top amateurs will often refer to greenside sand traps as "prepared scoring opportunities." With a good sand wedge with 10 to 14 degrees of bounce and the correct technique -- you to will be on your way to being a sand master!

Notice from the side view how the ball position is forward in the stance, basically off the front foot for a left handed golfer. You will also notice the hands are even with or slightly behind the club head.

This set up will allow you to enter the sand and have the club bounce, skid or slide along the sand -- not dig deeply. Also, notice I have drawn a line in the sand about two to three inches behind the ball indicating where you should enter the sand.

Now notice from the behind view, the feet, hips and shoulders are aimed slightly left of the flag but the clubface is aimed directly at the flag. I have also dug my feet into the sand for stability and to feel how thick and deep the sand is.

With this set up, take a full, smooth, rhythmical swing and enter the sand two to three inches behind the ball and gently accelerate into a full finish. Tightening up your upper body is the enemy on this shot so focus on maintaining a light grip.

How do you hit short and long sand shots consistently? Always take the same amount of sand but determine the distance the shot travels by either increasing the speed in your swing for longer sand shots or decreasing the speed in your swing for short sand shots. You can also use your 60 degree lob wedge for short sand shots and a pitching wedge for longer sand shots -- applying the same technique as above.

Practise this technique and you will soon call sand traps "prepared scoring opportunities" as well and getting it up and down much more frequently.

Derek Ingram is the Head Teaching Professional at the Elmhurst Golf & Country Club in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. He is a past winner of the Canadian PGA's Teacher of the Year and one of the top High Performance Golf Coaches in the World.

- Derek Ingram