A Fresh Mental Approach is All You Need to Get Your Sand Game
On Track (Part 1)
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Golfers talk about the “yips” on the greens, a nervous affiiction that disrupts the basic execution of the stroke. Well, I’ve seen many golfers flinch on greenside bunker shots just as on a three-foot putt. Result: they either hit much farther behind the ball than intended, leaving it in the bunker, or worse, belly the ball and send it screaming over the green. And the more often it happens, the more fearful you become. If you’re suffering from a case of the “sand yips,” read on.

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SAND SHOTS ARE LIKE PITCH SHOTS

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Go to a practice bunker and drop a few practice balls. As you probably already know, for a greenside bunker shot you’ll want the flange of your wedge to contact the sand about two inches behind the ball. Draw a line in the sand two inches behind the ball, then play the shot. If you’ve got the sand “yips,” you’ll probably be surprised to see just how far “off” you’re contacting the sand. Next, drop a few balls in the grass be­hind the bunker, in a position where you’d need to pitch the ball over the bunker to the flag. Can you pitch the ball from here onto the green consistently? Try a few. Most amateurs think this is duck soup compared to the bunker shot. If you can play a short pitch over a bunker successfully, you should be even better out of bunkers, because your margin for error is much larger on a sand shot.