When you're down and out, don't lift up your head....

Even in golf there are times when discretion is the better part of valor, and this predicament is one of them. That's me in the sand trap, standing about 50 feet below the plateaued green. I am not even thinking about making my par; indeed, I will be pleased with a bogey. What I don't want to do is play my next shot from the same trap. In such a spot, forget about the position of the pin on the green. Simply try to put your trap shot any place on the plateau. Here is how you must set up for this shot. Take a wide-open stance, line up the ball off the toe of your left foot, and open the club face. Move your hands to the right of where they normally would be. (These adjustments will provide more loft to the shot.) As you hit through the ball, work the club on an outside-to-inside trajectory. Force your right hand under the left—hitting hard with the right at impact—but do not take as much sand as usual. Remember to keep your head down and execute a high follow-through. If the ball gets up out of the sand and onto the plateau, you should be more than satisfied.

ILLUSTRATION

FRANCIS GOLDEN

When you're in a trap as deep as a well, open your stance, open the blade of your sand wedge and be satisfied with any shot that gets you out.