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FEATURE ARTICLE - Tips!

Get out of the Bunker when your ball is buried:

Unlike a normal bunker shot, you need to close the club face.When you address the ball, make sure it's back in your stance. Make sure your hands are forward. This shot needs to be hit with a descending blow. Remember, to get the ball up and out, you need to hit down on it.

Practice

Around the practice green, don't hit a whole bucket; just hit five to 10 balls to a specific target.

Putt out all those balls like it counts.

To make sure it does count, keep track. See how many you can get up and down.
On the practice tee, pick out a specific target on the range and hit to it. Again, keep count.

Bottom line: If you want to improve your game, it's not enough to go out and mindlessly hit a bucket of balls. Make each shot mean something --just like when you're playing a round.

Help, I am under a tree!

1. Put the ball back in your stance with your weight forward (left foot for right-handers) and both hands forward of the ball.
2. On the takeaway, cock your wrists early.
3. Finish your swing low.
Also, make sure you use a club with enough loft. Remember, with your hands forward of the ball on your setup, you'll de-loft the club, so choose a club or two (or three) less. And, of course, be the ball.

Fairway Bunkers

1. Always take at least one club less. The first priority is to make sure you clear the lip of the bunker.
2. When you take your stance, don't dig in with your feet too much. As much as you do dig in, grip down on the club the same amount.
3. Position the ball more in the back of your stance and hit the shot the same way you would hit a regular fairway shot.
Note: One good way to practice this shot on the range is to find the thinnest lie possible.

Alignment

1. Put a club on the ground and aim it directly at your target.
2. Put a second club on the ground parallel to the first club.
3. Take your stance by putting your feet parallel to the second club (not the first club, which is your target line).
Remember with this setup, your feet and shoulders do not point to the target line; they aim just to the left of it.

Tip of The Week

Have fun. Remember, It's just a game.

A golfer asked his caddie for advice on a difficult putt. Caddie said, "Keep it low"