How Do I play This?

1.Vertical greenside bunker shot

There are 4 steps for a good shot from this sort of position.

Step 1:Berfore u swing, good preparation is vital for a good bunker shot. So get to your ball and Asses your balls lie.

Step 2: Dig your feet into the sand to form a good foundation for your swing, Dig your right foot in more (right handed golfer) to make your body more or less parallel to the slope. This also helps maintain the loft of the club, which will
give the ball a good flight. This promotes the upswing through the ball.

Step 3: Keep your body still. You must sharply pick up the club, cocking your wrists early. Keep your body and head
still, because otherwise your will become unbalanced and fall down the slope.

Step 4: Downswing and follow-through have a full backswing like a normal bunker shot and the ball should hop up
over the lip and trickle onto the green.

2. Green-side chip Shots

When you are in the position were you are just of the green, you should do one of two things: one being acess if the pin (hole) is far away from your ball or close. If your ball is close to the pin always try and use your putter
to attack the hole, but if the hole is far away from your ball you should always try and use a mid to high iron such
as a 7, 8 or 9 iron.

To play such a shot, you must stand open to the hole, keep your hands and wrists in front of the club head at all
times and have a short backswing and accelarate though the ball. This should result in a nice dink up over the
rest of the semi rough/frindge and role to the hole.

3. "I have a difficult time getting the ball up in the air with my fairway woods, what can I do ?"
Golfers have trouble with fairway woods because they incorrectly judge the shot. Some treat the shot the same way as they would their driver - it's a wood right ? so swing it the same way ? - No

And some try to lift the ball off the ground, either collapsing their left arm (for right handed golfers) or straightening up in an effort to get the ball airborne. Both efforts result in either a topped shot, or hitting a low ball without much height off the bottom of the club.

3. Fairway woods

1. Ball position - This is usually the main culprit of poor fairway wood shots. Most golfers err in positioning the ball the same as their driver - off the instep of the front foot. I am in the address position with a fairway wood. The ball position is directly opposite my left heel. With a normal golf swing this represents the bottom of my arc which is exactly where I want to make contact with the ball.

2. Go ahead and swing, making sure you get the feeling of driving the ball forward and not up. This is accomplished by keeping the clubhead low and long through the hitting area

3.Make an agressive swing through the ball, and try not to "steer" the ball down the fairway. Let the follow through go right over your left shoulder !

4. BALL BACK, WEIGHT FORWARD, HANDS FORWARD

To produce a stroke that you can repeat over and over again, adjust your set-up as follows. Firstly, take a narrow, open stance (i.e., align your body left of the target), position the ball back toward your right foot, and place a good percentage of your weight on your left side (1 , 2). Now push your hands ahead of the ball and feel that your chest-bone is leaning to the left of the ball: if you like, feel that you assimilate your impact position at address. At first, you'll probably feel as if you're off balance. But persevere.

What this set-up will enable you to do is swing the club up a little on the backswing and then take a shallow divot as you return the clubhead to the ball on a downward angle. So it promotes a slightly descending angle of attack through impact - ideal for 'pinching' the ball off the turf (especially if you have a tight lie).

This exercise will help you check if you have achieved your set-up goal. Lay a shaft on the ground just outside your right foot (so that it forms a right angle with your ball-to-target line), and then make your chipping stroke (3). If you have set up correctly, the clubhead should pass over the shaft both on the way back and on the way down, creating consistent ball-turf contact. Upon landing, your shots will now roll in a consistent manner each time, so making the club selection much easier.

Rob Jamieson 05/03/03

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