Hitting out of the sand trap takes a lot of practice to master and there is a proper way to do this. There is something you might have heard of called the five dollar drill. If not I will explain in this article. I will also discuss how stances, posture and weight distribution is different. Also how the hands may play a different role, as well.
When we learn about swinging a golf club, we get taught about balance and proper posture. When playing a sand shot these basics early teachings change. In balance means to have our weight evenly distributed between both feet and when we swing the club, we load our weight on our back foot (hip) to generate our power.
When we play a sand shot this fundamentally changes and we stack are weight on the front foot. By this I mean we lean forward shifting our whole body and weight ahead of the ball. This will allow us to really come down on the ball to grab the sand and make a good shot. It is the sand that will force the ball out of the trap, not the club face. The less sand we take the more distance the ball will travel, in turn, the more sand we take, the shorter the distance is. But you need to understand it is the sand not the club face that does the job.
For fairway traps it is a little different, we want to take our normal stance and swing. The trick here is to choke up on the club and take as little sand as possible. Pick the ball clean is the saying in golf.
Around the green is where we want the sand to make our shot and this is where we think of the five dollar bill drill. Take a five dollar bill or a piece of paper cut to similar length and place it in the sand. The size of the bill is the size of the impression we leave in the trap after we swing.
Now, how much sand we take to go the different distances required around the green is a trial and error drill. Go to a practice facility with a sand trap and just experiment. This is one shot in golf (like putting) you need to get a feel for through practice. The basic set-up is all one can give you and some guide lines. Just remember to take a little wider stance and set your feet. Then shift your knees forward getting your weight up front, make sure your hands are ahead of the ball as well.
This is the tricky part, don't quit on your swing. Take a full swing, commit to it and learn to trust the sand to do its job. I'm sure we all have had rocket balls out of the sand,that is why we must practice.
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