Sexy Friday – 20240105

TGIF! One week down in ’24. The year is just flying by!

Survival – Personal Edition

The PGA off season has officially ended this week. That means it’s time to start thinking about your upcoming golf season. Of course, not being a pro, you may find yourself playing from less than ideal lies frequently. Let’s go over one: playing from a water trap.

• First let’s assess the situation and determine if you can play from the trap or not. Look for any signs or notes on the scorecard that reference course rules that may prohibit playing from the water. Then check the depth. If there’s more than an inch of water above the ball, just take the penalty or else you’ll be playing your next shot from the water too. Lastly, check what’s under the ball. If it’s sand you’re good to go. If it’s rock, you’ll want to be very careful. Striking a hard surface can easily cause significant damage to your hands, fingers, and wrists. (And your club, but that won’t matter since your broken wrist won’t allow you to play anymore anyway)
• Now adjust your expectations. The deeper the ball, the less accurate you’re going to be, and the less likely you’ll execute a shot well enough to get it out of the water. Sometimes it’s fine to take the penalty and play from a much nicer lie.
• Figure out your stance. Ideally you’ll be able to stand on the bank and play it from there. Find good footing and a comfortable stance on the bank that allows you to make a good swing. Otherwise, remove those socks and shoes, roll up your pants, and setup your stance in the water directly. Also, if you have rain gear you can put that on to avoid getting drenched in water and mud.
• For the actual swing, you’ll want a tighter grip on the on the club. All that loose hands teachings are correct, but in this situation you’re swinging through water, not air. The water will try to grab the club face and cause it to twist on impact which is very bad for your accuracy.
• Also in that vein, open the club head slightly. When the club face hits the water it will naturally close despite your super strong firm grip.
• Next, aim your swing. You’ll want to strike the water about one ball length behind the ball. And yes, you in the back, that’s correct. That’s exactly like a green side bunker shot. And the reasoning is exactly the same: Your club is going to hit the water, and the water is going to push the ball out, just like a sand shot you hit the sand and the sand pushes the ball out.
• Finally, swing. You want to be swinging downward and hard at the water right behind the ball.

Now you’re out and ready to totally not mess up the rest of the hole. Towel yourself off, get those socks and shoes back on, and hurry up. You’ve already held up the group behind you enough.

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Survival – Species Edition

Time to put the sexy in Friday!

Enjoy the weekend, folks! Alright, now let’s get to the comments!