In This Session You’ll Discover

Fairway Safety Shots

The emphasis is placed on executing an effective shot. To be effective it should involve hitting very little sand, which means it will normally be struck thin or low on the face. The ball will come out lower and fly shorter than typical range performance.

Hitting a safety shot you risk ‘blading’ or ‘skulling’ the ball. Don’t worry that you won’t hit it solid — as long as you use enough loft, sometimes blading or skulling is effective! It’s where the ball ends up that is important.

Setting your feet farther apart and limiting the movement of the legs in the backswing helps ‘pick’ the ball off the fairway and is also very effective in fairway bunkers. Notice that the backswing and body rotation is shorter than normal, but the legs do release in the finish.

The Safety Shot

The same technique is used for ‘Safety’ straight shots and for fairway sand shots.

This shot is effective when you want to hit it straight, such as a par 5 layup, and are not worried about exact distances.