Editors' Blog Blogger Bio
Bunker tip: Over and out
ST ANDREWS, Scotland--While walking the course on Tuesday, Golf Digest Top 50 Teacher Martin Hall explained to me the secret to getting out of a pot bunker, should you ever find yourself in the Road Bunker or another one of these deep-faced devils in your future travels abroad.
"You want to hinge the club up real quickly and throw your hands under the ball," he said, sharing the advice he gave star pupil Morgan Pressel. "Open the clubface as much as you can at address, and put a lot of speed on the club since you need to throw it so high."
The thing with pot bunkers is that, unlike in the U.S., when the ball seems to trickle back to the middle of the bunker, it stays close to the face. Hall has the following advice for recreational golfers: If the ball is inside a clublength (mid-iron) of the wall of the bunker, play it out sideways or backwards. "You can't make the ball go straight up [at 90 degrees] and get it to leave the bunker," says Hall.
Pressel had her second consecutive disappointing day on Friday, shooting a 3-over-par 76. The Kraft Nabisco champ will be heading home after shooting 10-over par overall on the Old Course at St Andrews.
On a brighter note, Hall's wife, Lisa Hall, was at even par through 27 holes. The Englishwoman had gotten to 2 under, within four shots of the lead, before making a double bogey on the par-3 8th hole Friday. Hall had only played the Old Course once before prior to this week, as a 12-year old with her mom.
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