The Golfchick

That chick blabbing about anything golf related.

Category: Golf tips (page 2 of 2)

How to hit a fried egg bunker shot

You know the feeling – you hit what you think is a great shot to the green only to watch it come down short in the bunker. As you approach the green and see your golf ball, your entire foursome groans at the sight. They feel your pain. The “fried egg” lie awaits.

Recently (within the month), I read an article on how to hit this shot. With all the golf reading I do, I was surprised I’d never come across this information before. It seemed like an unusual solution, which is probably why the words stuck in my head. I wish I could remember where I read it so I could credit the author/instructor. I searched my latest golf magazines and couldn’t find it so I figure I must have seen it online. I searched online and found TONS of articles on the subject and even some videos. Many of them gave the same tips I read but some gave opposing information.

The situation

Fried egg in a bunkerOn Saturday, I found myself facing this dreaded shot on the 18th hole. My third shot on this par-5 ended up in the greenside bunker in a classic fried-egg position. Its image could be used for the dictionary listing of a fried-egg lie. A real thing of beauty – only it was my shot. In fact, I wish I would have taken a picture of it because I can’t find a good one online to use as an example here. Some images show a crater around the ball but I think of a fried egg as just seeing the top and sides of the ball, with a very small crater around it with some rippled sand a couple inches around it like the white of the egg. Not buried, not completely plugged but there is sand surrounding it.

I remembered the article I read and even though I had never attempted what the article taught, I figured I had a better chance of getting out that way than by using any of my failed methods. After all, most of what I know about how to play golf I learned by reading.

The execution

I used my sand wedge (55 degree loft) and I picked the spot on the green where I wanted the ball to land. Optimistic, I know, but your odds for hitting a target are better if you know where that target is.

I positioned the ball back in my stance and dug my feet in a bit and balanced my weight toward my front foot.

I closed the club face a little. This is the part of the instruction that surprised me, though more seasoned golfers seem to already know this.

I steadied my lower body and brought my club slowly up and down towards the ball (without actually swinging or touching the sand) a couple times until I felt comfortable that my spine angle was correct. This is my normal method for any bunker shot.

I took a little more than a half back swing and came down steeply on the ball, hitting about an inch behind it with a strong swing. My follow through was abbreviated because of the steep angle and the sand stopping my club momentarily.

The ball popped up and out of the bunker, actually hit near my selected target (rather softly!) and ended up about 8 feet from the cup.

Sweet! I wonder if it was a fluke or if I can continue to make this work for me. I don’t get a lot of fried egg lies (and rarely practice in bunkers) so it could be awhile before I get to test it again. But for now, I’m a believer. It was all sunny-side up… until I missed the putt.

Next post.

How to live with the Putting Yips – video

Remember Neil? He is the friend I wrote about in an article for World Golf who has had the putting yips for years.

Neil has learned to live with his affliction and recently improved even more. I loaned him this book, which he says actually helped quite a bit. The biggest difference? He doesn’t care anymore. He always had a good attitude about it and handled some friendly ribbing from his golf buddies with grace. Now he just makes putts and doesn’t care how his stroke looks. Period. He doesn’t care.

He’ll ask his buddies on the putting green, “Do you want me to hook it or cut it?”

In this video, you’ll see his putting stroke in action from before the recent improvement. Keep in mind, this was taken on the practice green, where the putts don’t count. When we got out to the actual golf course and the putts were from within 6 feet, that stroke became more… spastic… for lack of a better term. There was a definite hiccup that appeared from time to time. I wish I would have taken some footage on the course but pace of play was more important at the time. :)
Music credit: Tom Waits, Jockey Full of Bourbon

Neil has some interesting coping methods. The putter he uses is completely flat so he can putt with it either right or left handed. He has learned to putt pretty well left handed and has a pretty normal stroke from that side. The close putts are the ones that really bring out his yips, so that’s when he’ll turn around and putt left handed.

He has tried many “remedies” over the years but what really has him managing his Yips now is his ability to relax. He says his grip on the putter is so light it’s like he’s barely holding it. He no longer cares about his stroke so he just relaxes and lets himself putt. Back and through, feeling nice and smooth. To the onlooker, the stroke doesn’t look as smooth as he says it feels, but that’s not important. And the hiccup almost never appears.

Big thanks to Neil for his open participation and willingness to share.

Next post.

A tip from my favorite caddie

Jamboy logoProbably my favorite golf blog to read is The Reluctant Jam Boy. No filler posts, no reviews, no gratuitous keyword whoring, just good stories from his life as a caddie. Tom’s writing is funny, clever and entertaining and I truly enjoy every single post.

His last two posts are of his experiences caddying for Ian Baker-Finch and the CEO of Ritz-Carlton and then meeting Mr. Baker-Finch at the CBS Tower at Tiger Woods’ tournament at The Congressional. With his new promotion to caddie master and the stellar job he did as IBF’s caddie, it looks like he’s going to be the new caddie master at the new private Jack Nicklaus course where it took place. Congratulations and best of luck, Tom! Just please don’t go getting all professional on us, stop smoking rocks and start taming down your writing.

The first of those two IBF posts was 22 pages long! Of course, it seemed like 4.5 pages because the first page seemed like 1/4 page, then the next five pages started seeming like 1/2 page then they blended into the next 10 pages which seemed like 2 pages then the next page was really on its own so that just seemed like a page and the rest of the 5 pages only seemed like 1.25 pages. You’ll have to read it to understand. It’ll only take a minute. You might even find your “special purpose.”

So what’s the tip?

Anyway, within one of those pages I found a brilliant little nugget I just have to share. He talked about being sure to put bug spray on the brim of his hat! I can’t believe I’m such an imbecile that I never thought of that. Actually, yes I can.

bug smear hat

I couldn’t really get a clear photo of it no matter what lighting/flash combination I used and this is the best I got. For some reason, little bugs like to fly up under the brim of my hat and land there. Then I go to swat them away and inevitably end up with a smear like this I’m stuck staring at for the rest of the round, distracting me from my game.

Bug spray on a hat – duh! Thanks, Jam Boy – I owe you a tip.

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