'Spring cleaning' golf tips to clean up your game!

Often I see amateurs trying to play shots from around the green off of a tight lie with a sand wedge or lob wedge. This shot is difficult even for low handicappers simply because the lie can be off of very short grass or even hard pan.

The length of the club and the angle of attack into the golf ball can make this shot very difficult to pull off. It can be very easy to hit the shot slightly fat, which results in the leading edge of your club digging into the ground and the shot not reaching your intended target.

A club that can be very easy to use in these situations can be your favorite hybrid or fairway wood. I like using my 7 wood. To hit this shot, simply choke down on the club slightly, put your hands slightly in front of the ball and try and hit the shot with no weight transfer or wrist break.

The length of the club will make your angle into the golf ball more shallow, creating a great bump and run chip shot. Once you have hit the shot, take a look at your follow through. The club face should be facing your target the entire time creating a shot that starts and finishes on your target line. If your club face is facing left of your target line, you have used to much wrist break and the shot can be off line or played with too much speed.

I would definitely recommend this shot for mid- to high-handicap players. It can be very effective and a lot of fun to play.

<b>Finish high on bunker shots</b>

For the average player, bunker shots can be very challenging and can often destroy a round of golf when it takes more than one shot to get the ball out of the bunker and on to the putting surface. To be a good bunker player, it takes both a good mental attitude and some key swing fundamentals to produce consistent results.

As most of us know, golf is such a mental game. Many of the players who I see struggle with bunker shots actually psyche themselves out mentally before they ever even step into the bunker to hit the shot.

So first and foremost, you need to have a positive mental attitude when you find your ball in the bunker. You need to understand and believe that with the proper fundamentals — getting the ball out of the bunker and onto the green— are fairly simple. In golf, confidence is everything, and when playing a bunker shot it may be even more important than usual.

To help build your confidence, I recommend that you practice some key fundamentals, which will definitely help produce better shots. As you hit better shots, your confidence will build.

To produce the results you want, I recommend three important factors. First, you need to simplify your swing as much as you can. Too often I see people try to re-create the wheel when it comes to hitting a bunker shot. I see people making swings that they would never make anywhere else on the golf course.

I think it is very important to simplify your swing as much as you can. I try and think that I am just gonna make my normal golf swing and simply hit the sand instead of the ball. Sure, my setup might be different than my normal setup, but swing-wise I try and keep it as simple as I can.

The two major points that I think are important when hitting good bunker shots are: accelerating the club through impact, and making a nice high follow through. To often I see players quit on bunker shots, which will not produce a good shot consistently. There is an old saying in golf: “If you want to hit a low shot, you need to have a low follow through, and if you want to hit a high shot, you need to have a high follow through.”

I think it is very important to finish high on a bunker shot. This will produce enough speed through impact to throw both the sand and the ball out of the bunker and onto the green. Even if you hit a little too far behind the ball, if you accelerate the club through impact and follow through nice and high, you should still get the ball out of the bunker and onto the green.

<b>Practice the 6-footer</b>

Putting is on average 42 percent of your total score during a round of golf, but probably only accounts for 10 percent of your total practice time.

I am sure we can all remember countless 6-foot putts that we have missed … hurting not only our score but our confidence as well. I think it is very important to practice the 6-foot putt religiously. This is your chance to really save some strokes during your round. Let’s face it, the only way you are truly going to shoot lower scores is by making more putts.

What I recommend is going to the putting green and placing a tee in the ground about 6 feet from the hole. Putt with three golf balls and don’t leave until you have holed 50 of these putts. Now, I am not saying that you have to make 50 in a row, but making 50 of these will have a major impact on your confidence and comfort level the next time you have such a par putt on the first green.

Your thought process over that putt should be that you made 50 of these on the putting green and you will hole more of these putts than before. Remember, practice doesn’t always make perfect, but it does help us become more consistent.



<i>Brian Sackett is the PGA professional at the Roseburg Country Club. He can be reached at golf@RoseburgCountryClub.com or 541-672-4041.</i>