A Fresh Mental Approach is All You Need to Get Your Sand Game
On Track (Part 6, Conclusion)

Continued from blog entry – “A LINE IN THE SAND (Part 5)”

.

.

A LITTLE PRACTICE GOES A LONG WAY:

I’m always surprised how many golfers who complain about “yipping” their sand shots never practice them.
If you haven’t hit a sand shot in a month and then you face one on the 18th hole of your match with a $5 nassau riding on it, the combined anxiety and unfamiliarity might be enough to cause you to “yip” the shot. Don’t put yourself in that position.

Most facilities nowadays include a practice bunker. Make it a habit to hit five bunker shots as part of every pre-round warmup-that degree of familiarity alone will make you more comfortable with the shot on the course. Of course, I’d like you to do more than that. Work on sand shots just as you do your putting, chipping and the full swing. If your practice facility doesn’t have a practice bunker, go out on the course in the evening when it’s not busy and hit a few bunker shots on each hole. Once you remind yourself that the margin for error on greenside sand shots is ample, and you reinforce this understanding with practice repetitions, the “sand yips” will become a distant memory.