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    2 Most Common Causes Of Penalty Strokes

    Aside from knocking your ball into a hazard or out-of-bounds area, the two ways most commonly found to pile up the penalty strokes are from lost balls and unplayable lies.

    When you hit the ball in a wooded area on the side of the fairway, and the location is not considered to be out-of-bounds, you can dig around and try your best to find the ball. In doing so, one of the following three things is bound to happen:

    1. You may find the ball and then attempt to hit it onto the fairway.

    2. The ball might be located in an unplayable lie, which means that there is no chance to make a shot. You're only two options are to pick up the ball and move over by two club lengths or hit the ball again from where you originally took your last shot. Either way, you pick up a one-stroke penalty.

    3. The ball may not be easy enough to find, and can be declared lost. This means that you have to go back to the area where you hit your last shot, shoot over, and take a penalty stroke.

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    How To Become An Expert In The Bunker (5)

    By Foursome

    With only two key shots available to golfers when trying to get the ball out of a sand bunker (the splash or the explosion), the splash shot should be used at all times possible. And because the splash takes skill and practice, most players try to explode the ball without giving the shot a second thought.

    The good news is that there are times when exploding the ball will be necessary, even for those of you who have taken the time to practice and become good at the splash.

    But in order to fully master the sand bunker when you face these shots, it is important to understand the methods behind your options. So let’s talk more about the explosion shot and when it is wise to use it.

    Deep In The Sand

    The explosion shot is a completely different animal than the splash. There is more than one situation where you may want to opt for this shot. The obvious situation is when your ball is buried deep in the sand. You really have no choice here – you have to use the explosion shot.The Fried Egg

    A second scenario is the “fried egg”. As the description suggests, this is when the ball is deep enough in the ground with no sand behind it for the club to enter. Although a highly skilled professional may be able to use the slash here and make it work, it is usually best for you and I to choose the explosion.

    The Front Bunker

    A third situation where the explosion shot should be used is when you are set up in a front bunker at a large and deep green, with the hole in the back of the green. In this scenario, it can be almost impossible to splash the ball flying up at the exact point you need.

    The end result will probably have you over-swinging, hitting up too much sand, and sending the ball over the green. Since the explosion shot runs a bit when it hits the ground, it makes better sense in use it here.

    How Far Will The Ball Roll Once It Hits The Ground?

    Whatever situation you fall into that warrants an explosion shot, how far the ball lands and how far it will roll after exploding out of the sand depends on several factors:

    1) How hard you swung the club.

    2) The type of club used (the sand wedge is not always used in the bunker).

    3) How close to the ball you slam the club into the sand.

    4) And finally, the type of sand that is laying in the bunker.

    Topics: Sand Bunkers, Tips & Practice | No Comments »

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