How To Escape Fairway Sand

By Jack Lumpkin

With Pete McDaniel

Photos By Chris Stanford

March 2009

Fairway bunkers come in all shapes, sizes and depths, and almost all of them are mean. Try your best to avoid them -- that's what tour players do. They fly over them, play short or choose their most faithful club and squeeze between them. But the pros are equipped with the fundamentals to handle fairway sand when they find it. Those same fundamentals work for every golfer. The difference between you and the pros is strategy, targets and club selection. Try these tips.

Breaking 100: Find and play the easiest shot out

Make sure your target is forgiving: You don't want to get in more trouble if you catch it a little fat or thin. For instance, if the price for a fat shot is another bunker, your target is too demanding.

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Breaking 90: Don't get greedy from bad spots

Strategy is very important for the player trying to break 90. You've probably hit enough decent fairway-bunker shots that you think you can go for the green every time. Two things should stop you: a high lip or a bad lie.

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Breaking 80: How to beat the odds and the architect

Course architects usually agree that fairway bunkers are about a one-shot penalty for the average golfer and maybe a half-shot for the skilled player. If you're gunning for the 70s, going for the green is almost a given, assuming you have a good lie. Your goal is to beat the architect by knocking it safely on the green, so aim for the fat part.

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Jack Lumpkin is senior director of instruction at Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Ga. His student here is Brandon Youmans, who played golf at Georgia College & State University.