Do you Leave your Bunker Shots... in the Bunker? Here's Why + the #1 Course in British Columbia

TIPS & DRILLS
Do you leave your bunker shots… in the bunker?
The LPGA’s Southeast Instructor of the Year gives you 3 reasons why

lpga_pros

View more on Instagram

To Recap…

There’s a lot of advice out there about how to escape the sand, but Megan Johnston keeps it simple. She is one of the best instructors you’ll find online, and in this video she talks through the cardinal sins in greenside bunker play. Here’s why you may be leaving it in the bunker:

-REASON #1: You’re dragging the handle of the club through impact with a ton of forward-shaft lean. Unlike a traditional iron shot where you’re trying to compress the ball to get it up in the air, with a greenside bunker shot you need to let the clubhead release and slide under the ball to get it up and out. An easy visual to fix this is to create an “L” shape in the backswing and again on the follow-through
-REASON #2: You’re closing the club face down. When make the “L” on your follow through, you should finish with the club face pointing right back at you. This keeps the club face open, which exposes the bounce (so that the club doesn’t dig in the sand).
-REASON #3: Your weight is falling backwards. To combat this, start with ~2/3 of your weight / pressure on your lead foot and keep it on your lead foot throughout the entirety of the swing.

COURSES
The #1 Course in British Columbia
Our northern neighbors know a thing or two about golf themselves, eh

Tobiano Golf Course
Kamloops, British Columbia

In our previous edition highlighting one of the best courses in Alaska, we mentioned how golfers are a passionate bunch, and if a location can support a golf course in any form or fashion, golfers will find a way to make it happen. Tobiano Golf Course is a prime example of this- it occupies a desolate, mountainous desert location that runs along the Kamloops Lake reservoir, with little rain or natural grass to speak of. Tobiano is in a word, remote. The nearest major metropolitan city is Vancouver 225 miles to the southwest, and the course has been described as “moonscape with turf.” What’s more, the property is HUGE. A typical golf course might cover 150-250 acres, but Tobiano stretches across more than 1,000 acres! And yet, the course is impeccably maintained and one of the most affordable Top 100 Public Courses in the World.

With five par 3’s and five par 5’s, it’s a unique layout that runs out and back along Kamloops Lake (similar to how Kiawah is set-up along the Atlantic Ocean). It largely occupies the highest elevations along the lake, and if you look out across the horizon as you’re playing, it’s hard to tell if you’re in Canada, New Zealand or on a different planet entirely. The course will challenge golfers of all levels, and with many forced carries and greens that fall off on all sides, there’s a local rule that any lost ball can be played as a lateral hazard regardless of how far it drifted into the surrounding desert. This was not a natural place to build a golf course, but after toying with 20 different layouts before settling on the incredible final draft, designer Tom McBroom made it happen.

Tobiano has been open since 2007 and has won all sorts of awards since. World Golf Awards named it “Canada’s Best Public Golf Course” in 2022, Golfweek named in the 8th Best Course in Canada (public or private), and Golf Digest rated it the 90th Best Public Course in the World in 2022. You get it, the course is nice and one you won’t soon forget. For the money, it might be the best visceral experience you’ll find in all of Canada. One reviewer summed up their experience like this: “Great. Great. Great. I love this golf course. I'm like a spokesperson for Tobiano... Having played over 400 different courses, this one remains stuck in my head.”

Rates: $160-$180 during Peak season, $135-$155 during Spring & Fall, but you can often find ~50% off rates on GolfNow!

Check out this overview from @michaelcaan

michaelcaan

View more on Instagram

STATISTICS
Stat of the Day: Greenside Bunker Shots Inside 6 Feet
presented by…

The Stat: A 2 Handicap will only leave 1% of greenside bunker shots in the bunker, but they will get 32% of bunker shots inside 6 feet. Meanwhile, a 26 Handicap will leave 21% of greenside bunker shots in the bunker, and they only get 5% of bunker shots inside 6 feet.

The Takeaway: No surprise here- there’s an inverse correlation. Naturally, getting a sand shot close to the pin is a much more advanced skill than just getting it out of the bunker entirely. But everyone should be able to escape the sand in one try.

Translation: If you’re a High Handicap and leave any percentage of bunker shots in the bunker, play it safe- avoid the highest part of the bunker lip and aim for the fattest part of the green. And if you’re a Low Handicap and don’t measure up to the stats above, you know where to focus your next practice session.

TODAY’S TRIVIA
Answer to Win a Club Glove College Traveler Protective Travel Bag
(1 winner chosen on 10/31/24 across all October trivia entries, 1,000 correct respondents minimum)

LIKE THIS EDITION?
Forward it to a friend! —> —>

SPONSORSHIPS
Feature Your Brand in this Newsletter!

We have a growing audience of 18K+ loyal readers and an additional 17K Facebook + 12K Instagram followers. If you’d like to promote your brand or course to our audience, click the button below!