A Round With Keith Foxton

No. 4: 195 yards

We continue a round of the Nelson Golf Club's course at Tahunanui, with club professional, Keith Foxton. Each month Keith will play a hole on the course and will place himself in the awkward circumstances that all golfers sometimes find themselves in. In this way Keith will be able to explain, per medium of the photographs, how to play a shot or extricate himself from trouble.

The short 4th is a fairly straightforward hole, but care should be taken to aim slightly towards the left of the green where a bank can often give a favourable "kick" to the green. But here we will assume that I have pushed my tee shot to the right, over the trees and into a bunker, leaving me with a long bunker shot to the green. The bunker shot should not be treated as a blast shot, but basically as a pitch shot.

Making sure the feet have a sure purchase of the sand, position the feet as for a normal chip shot, keeping the body weight well forward Almost as soon as the back swing is commenced the wrists should be cocked, and the head MUST remain in front of the ball and must not move. Use a fairly upright back swing (far left), strike firmly down through the ball as in a pitch shot, keeping the clubhead low (left).