Our golfer Glenn is caught in a sandstorm

The clock is ticking on preparations by Bermuda Sun’s Glenn Jones’ ahead of his head-to-head battle with reggae star Collie Buddz on March 19.

For Glenn’s second lesson, I took him to the bunker.

The key to greenside bunker play is to hit a high, soft shot. The problem for Glenn was that the extremely steep angle of attack caused the divot to be very deep rather than long and shallow.

But even more importantly, when this occurs the bounce on the club is minimized and as a result the club digs rather than skids.

It is not that you cannot hit a good shot like this, but that it is much less likely. If you dig you must hit the sand exactly two inches before the ball or the club will dig and the ball will stay in the bunker.

If you skid you can hit the sand two-to-eight inches before the  ball and still hit a good shot. Meaning, results that are more consistent.

Here are some things to consider at address to help create an environment that allows for enough loft and bounce which promotes the bigger arm swing and acceleration.

1. Put the clubface open with the shaft neutral to leaning slightly back.

Look at adding loft not only through the clubface but also by not leaning the club shaft towards the target.

Although there are situations that call for this, most greenside bunker shots call for the hands to be more in-line with the club head to leaning slightly back in relationship to the target to create the loft needed for the shot.

2. Ball position forward, in stance with the butt of the club pointing at belt buckle.

With the shaft more neutral to leaning slightly back, it is important to position the body so the butt of the club is pointing at the belt buckle. This will help secure a forward ball position, leading to a higher launch.

Two more points that we worked on are keeping the ball position more to the left, giving a more shallow angle of attack, which was one of Glenn’s problems.

Finally, most importantly to guarantee results — ALWAYS have a full follow-through as seen in the picture, but do not swing harder to achieve this just continue the swing naturally.