Plan of attack in sand trap starts with the lie

Adam Candee

Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2004 | 11:15 a.m.

Adam Candee

Editors note: The Las Vegas Sun will present occa- sional tips from local club pros on the weekly golf page.

For the average weekend warrior, nothing on the golf course intimidates like that slow descent into a bunker. Forget your Bob Tway miracle shot - we just want out of the sand with the least harm done to our scorecards and our egos.

Chris Eastman, director of instruction at Revere Golf Club, is here to help this week with a quick review of how to set up for different types of plays from the greenside bunker. Covering everything you need to know about bunker play could take quite a while, so were going for some basics this week.

From the greenside trap, you will deal with three types of lies: sitting up, half-buried and the dreaded fried egg. We could spend quite a while on the proper stance and alignment (dig your feet in and slightly open them to the target, for instance), but lets stick to a more focused tip.

It is important to envision a target about two inches behind the ball because you will be trying to hit the sand first and use it to power the ball up toward the green. Line yourself up accordingly.

From there, evaluate how your ball is sitting. If the ball is sitting up, open up your club face. For a half-in lie, play it a bit more square. If youve got yourself some breakfast with an egg buried down deep, close down the club face and try to dig more sand with your swing.

Over-empahsize the follow-through, remembering your strength as you basically try to toss sand onto the green. A good swing should take about a foot-sized divot.

And some basic reminders: Dont ground your club in a hazard and please rake the trap for the next beach bum who hits into it.