Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Zach Johnson's Amazing Golf Shot

...in case you haven't seen it yet.

This is one of the most difficult shots in the game of golf - the fairway bunker shot.

Here's the reason it's so tough: Over time, most golfers become fairly capable of getting out of a green-side sand trap, in which you hit behind the ball with the face open, and slide under the ball, allowing the sand to "blast" the ball out. You never touch the ball. But the fairway bunker shot requires you to hit the ball as if it were a regular fairway shot, but you must make perfectly clean contact, taking no divot. You have to "pick it clean".

I always tell people to put the ball a little back in their stance, use one club longer than you might think, close the face a tiny bit, aim about 10 yards right of where you normally would, and swing at a steeper angle, so that you pick it clean, and then get out - without risking any type of divot. Hit this type of shot a little fat, and it's gonna go about 30 yards. Hit it a little thin, and if it doesn't re-bury itself, it might go 10 feet.

So this is already one of the toughest shots there is. Magnify it by the fact that this is during a tournament.. a PGA Tour event.. on Sunday.. in a sudden death playoff for the title:


Via / Source

The shot won him the tournament. Well done, Zach!

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