In this issue we’ll discuss…

Hitting A Long Explosion Shot
Hitting A Flop Shot From Bare Ground
Question of the Week – Hitting A Ball Above Your Feet
Article – Which Shot Hits The Spot?
Article – Swing Keys Help Trim Golf Handicap

Hitting A Long Explosion Shot

A greenside bunker 20 to 30 yards from the pin isn’t where you want to be with an approach shot or a drive. But even the best of us find ourselves there occasionally. The long explosion shot from a distant bunker is one of the hardest shots for weekend golfers to make, if not the hardest.

Below are six tips for hitting a long explosion shot:

1. Close your stance instead of opening
2. Widen your stance a couple of inches
3. Work your feet firmly into the ground
4. Concentrate on just skimming the sand
5. Rotate the clubface open to closed

The keys to this shot are two adjustments in your stance. Since you want to make a long accelerating swing, you need a firm foundation. Widening your stance helps. So does working your feet into the ground. But don’t work them in so much that you can’t move them. In addition, close your stance. Your feet should be parallel. That lengthens your swing and makes it easier to bring the club into the ball from inside the line of play.

Use your sand wedge for this shot and focus on just skimming the sand as you go through the ball. Also, rotate the clubface from open to closed on the downswing, which you can do by turning your right hand over your left through impact. Incorporating these adjustments into your stance helps you hit an accurate shot.

We can’t stop ourselves from landing in a bunker 20 to 30 yards from the green. No one can. But good golfers get out in one. Hitting a long explosion shot will help you do that, keep your scores in check, and trim strokes from your golf handicap.

Hitting A Flop Shot From Bare Ground

Phil Mickelson hits accurate flop shots from difficult lies—including bare ground. Hitting a flop shot from bare ground is a challenge. It’s also risky. If you mis-hit it, it can cost you strokes big time. That’s why golfers stay away from hitting a flop shot from this type of lie. But when you have to do it, a flop shot from bare ground can help turn three strokes into two.

Below are six keys to hitting a flop shop from bare ground:

1. Use a lob wedge with minimal bounce
2. Keep the shaft vertical or leaning away
3. Swing your arms to the left (right for left-handers)
4. Swing longer for higher shots
5. Keep legs quiet throughout the shot
6. Complete your follow-through

The secret to hitting a flop shot from bare ground is the wedge’s sole. Use a lob wedge with a sole that has minimal bounce—especially in the heel. Bounce is the flange on the club’s sole that extends below the leading edge. To hit a good shot, you must use the bounce effectively.

Also, keep the shaft vertical or slightly leaning away from the target, which means your hands will be even with or slightly behind the ball. Keeping the shaft vertical exposes the club’s bounce and enables its leading edge to slide under the ball. You want the trailing edge to go into the ground.

And keep your legs quiet from start to finish. On the follow-through, swing your arms to the left (right for right-handers). This prevents the club from de lofting and bouncing off the ground and into the ball. Remember, the longer your swing the higher the ball goes. But it travels only slightly farther.

This approach to hitting a flop shot works for any lie. Of course, there’s no flop shot approach that’s fail-safe. That’s why you need to be judicious about when you use it. But if you’re going to use it, make sure you commit to the shot before swinging.

Question of the Week – Hitting A Ball Above Your Feet

Q. Dear Jack, My question is, whenever I have a shot where my feet are lower than the ball I tend to take more dirt than I would like to, loosing all power and distance.

Help?
Judy Siblock
Northern Ontario, Canada

A. Thanks for the question, Judy. Hitting a ball above your feet is simply a matter of making a few adjustments.

Three things can happen when you don’t make the right adjustments. First, since the ball automatically moves left to right, you’ll pull the shot out of bounds. Second, on shots above your feet, you can shift your upper body forward during the swing and come into the ball at a lower than normal, hitting the ball fat. Third, you can lose your balance and pop out of you stance, resulting in a weak slice.

To hit a ball above your feet, adjust your stance so you’re aiming right of the flagstick, which compensates for the tendency to pull the ball left. Center your weight above your arches feet, not on the balls of your feet, which helps you swing along the slope and stay in balance throughout the shot. And keep your posture constant so you can maintain the same spine angle you set at address through impact. You can also choking down on the club.

Make these adjustments next time you have this type of lie and you’ll hit the ball solidly.

If you’ve got a golf question you’d like answered, send an email to us at questions@howtobreak80.com and we’ll review it. I can’t guarantee that we’ll use it but if we do, we’ll make sure to include your name and where you’re from.

If you want to truly discover the secrets of shooting like the Pros and creating a more reliable and consistent swing, check out: http://www.HowToBreak80.com

Here are some of my recent articles:

Which Shot Hits The Spot?

Swing Keys Help Trim Golf Handicap

Until next time,

Go Low!

Jack

P.S. Feel free to share this newsletter with family and friends. If you would like to subscribe to this newsletter, go to http://www.howtobreak80.com/newsletter.htm

About the Author

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 and Shoot Like the Pros!“. He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicaps quickly. His free weekly newsletter goes out to thousands of golfers worldwide and provides the latest golf tips, strategies, techniques and instruction on how to improve your golf game.

This entry was posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 4:07 pm and is filed under Golf Articles, Golf Newsletters, Golf Tips. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.