{"id":2364,"date":"2011-11-22T16:16:38","date_gmt":"2011-11-22T23:16:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jeffwallach.com\/?p=2364"},"modified":"2011-11-23T13:04:41","modified_gmt":"2011-11-23T20:04:41","slug":"talking-stick-pro-tim-mahoney-solves-the-downhill-bunker-shot-puzzle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/partner\/scottsdale-cvb\/2364\/talking-stick-pro-tim-mahoney-solves-the-downhill-bunker-shot-puzzle","title":{"rendered":"Talking Stick Pro Tim Mahoney Solves the Downhill Bunker Shot Puzzle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Not that you would ever watch golf on television, but if you did you\u2019d likely see Tour players executing the occasional shot that might cause you to reflect: \u2018I\u2019d be as likely to grow antlers as make a shot like that.\u2019\u00a0 And I\u2019m not just talking about 300-yard drives or high, perfect five-iron shots that plunge to the green and jump into the hole.\u00a0 I\u2019m talking about shots that seem to defy physics and appear as if they\u2019ve been created by the special effects department.<\/p>\n

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Tim Mahoney Director or Education at Arizona’s Talking Stick Golf Club<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

Here\u2019s an ironic fact: the players who can successfully pull off these shots are also the least likely to need them.\u00a0 Sure, I can bury an approach in the sand, trickle my tee shot into a shallow creek, or spray a long iron into dense shrubbery. \u00a0But once I get there, I\u2019m the guy who might slash at the ball three times before using the Johnny Unitas wedge– which is to say throwing my ball back onto the grass.\u00a0 That\u2019s why I\u2019ve consulted some of the West\u2019s best golf instructors, who offer the following advice on how to hit a few of these seemingly impossible shots.<\/p>\n

The only thing worse than having your mile-high wedge shot fall two feet short of the green and plug in a bunker (the well-known \u201cfried egg\u201d lie) may be to have it sail over the green and plug in the back bunker\u2014on a downslope.\u00a0 For a good visual of a golfer hitting an impossible bunker shot, consider Ernie Els\u2019s nearly mystical escape from a bunker beside the 13th\u00a0green in the final round of the 2002 British Open at Muirfield.<\/p>\n

For guidance on how to hit a plugged, downhill bunker shot I turned to Tim Mahoney, Director of Education for Troon Golf and an instructor at Talking Stick Golf Club<\/a> in Scottsdale, Arizona.\u00a0 Mahoney, who is a GOLF Magazine Top 100 Teacher, offers some general advice before getting to the specifics.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst and foremost, never hit two shots in a row from a bad lie,\u201d he advises.\u00a0 \u201cGet back to the grass.<\/p>\n

\u201cSecond, never attempt a miracle shot after you\u2019ve hit a bad shot.\u00a0 Take your medicine and get back in the game.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo hit this shot you need to understand how a sand wedge works.\u00a0 It\u2019s built like a shovel, and is the only club that has bounce.\u00a0 The worse a lie is the more sand you want to take with your shot.\u00a0 Here, to take a lot of sand, tilt the club up by closing the face at address or leaning the shaft forward, toward your target.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen position your body to swing along the slope by setting your shoulders parallel to the slope.\u00a0 On a downhill lie, lean left and put more weight on your lower foot.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinally, trust your shot.\u00a0 The golf ball will fly in the direction of the slope.\u00a0 And remember that there\u2019s no rule that says you have to fire at the flag.\u00a0 You can always go sideways or backward.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mahoney adds that this is really an easy shot\u2014but that\u2019s why he\u2019s Troon Golf\u2019s Director of Education and I\u2019m the one who buried it downhill in the bunker to begin with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Not that you would ever watch golf on television, but if you did you\u2019d likely see Tour players executing the… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3913,6569,175188],"tags":[882,6107,710,5721,6106],"class_list":["post-2364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-scottsdale-cvb","category-azga","category-grw-scottsdale","tag-golf-tips","tag-downhill-bunker-shot","tag-golf-instruction","tag-tim-mahoney","tag-talking-stick"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2364"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3104,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2364\/revisions\/3104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theaposition.com\/jeffwallach\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}