There is nothing worse than when you are playing a smooth round of golf and then all of a sudden you find yourself stuck in the sand! Countless times have I been on a winning streak and then held back by one bad turn in the pit. This tip is to help with that situation by playing the sand instead of the ball. Ironically the best way to get out of the sand is by ignoring the ball.

When you’re in a greenside bunker the club should never touch the ball. You want your wedge to toss the sand beneath and behind the ball onto the green. The ball will float out on a wave of sand right onto the green.

You must convince yourself that the ball is an afterthought on these shots. To practice this, stand in the flat of a practice bunker and place two tees opposite your left instep.

YOU DO NOT NEED A BALL! Hinge your wrists quickly on the backswing to create an upright path, then swing down and let your sand wedge hit about two inches behind the tees. Make a full follow-through, finishing with your hands at shoulder height. You’ll see that the tess have flown up and toward the hole along with the sand you sprayed. Repeat this several times and see how high and far you can make the tees fly! Then drop a ball down and repeat the swing. Hopefully this drill will make escaping the bunkers an easy stress free shot.

Next tip is how to use pool cues to improve your Driving!

1.    Brush Your Chip Shots To Hit Them Close To The Pin

Many people have difficulty hitting crisp shots that stop close enough for realistic one-putts! Hopefully this tip and technique can help you. Hitting the ball puts too much grass between it and the clubface however picking it cleanly produces a lower trajectory off the bottom edge of your wedge with little or no backspin.

This is called the ‘brush the grass’ drill and is something you should practice next time you get the chance. Before you hit your first shot, make at least 20 pitch swings without a ball and look at your divot after every one. Make sure your wedge hits the ground on each attempt but doesn’t dig into it. Think about ‘brushing’ the grass and you should be able to feel the club gently bump the bottom of the ground. Your divot should look like the grass has been brushed flat but no dirt has left the ground.  When you have perfected this drill you should be able to see a crisp ball contact on or about, the third or fourth groove up the face of your wedge, a nice amount of backspin and makeable putts!

When you put this into practise on the course think about the image of the brushed grass. Make sure your grip is light and relaxed. If you are having problems with the leading edge of your wedge making dirt divots, open the face a little more. When you’ve successfully ‘brushed’ the grass two consecutive times without a divot, move in and immediately pitch the ball onto the green with the same swing.

Tomorrows tip includes the best way to use your irons!

All lessons until the end of March 2010 are 3 for the price of 2

All Lessons must be used by the end of March

The JYGA offers a wide range of tuition services from a 1 hour individual lesson to running a corporate golf day.  Our facilities are arguably some of the best in the country with the range fully supported by Titleist, and an indoor facility that even the British weather can’t spoil.  Every lesson includes computer and video analysis and you will receive a take home DVD with a “before and after” of your lesson.

Pease contact Matt at the Jonathan Yarwood Golf Academy on 01635 581000, or email mw@golfjy.com, to book an appointment.

Our 8 week Junior Coaching courses are totally unique – developed by Jonathan Yarwood, one of the most successful British Golf Coaches ever, it balances the basics of golf with fun games and challenges to enhance skill development.

Each week will cover a different element of the game and will use a multitude of exercises to improve technique, coordination, motor skills and instinct.

Throughout the 8 weeks each child will have different aspects of the game videoed, computer analysed, and comparisons made to some of the worlds best players. This will be burnt to a take home DVD.

Donnington Grove Golf and Country Club is the ideal setting to learn and have fun in a safe and secure environment and our coaches are CRB checked

The groups will run from Saturday 30th January at 9 am, and Sunday 31st January at 9am and 10-30am. To book a place please contact Matt Woods at JYGA Donnington Grove via email mw@golfjy.com or 01635 581000