Killer Stats: How the best can get better

Photo: Darren Carroll

GETTING UP AND DOWN 39.3 PERCENT OF THE TIME. At the tour level, most players who have trouble from the sand have upright swings. Adam Scott is such a player. He hinges the club vertically going back, so he has to re-route it on the downswing onto a shallower plane. When he doesn't do this, he digs deep in the sand and can hit all kinds of poor shots.

Make a shallower approach To learn to swing on the correct plane, practice hitting bunker shots with a 9-iron. This will force you to widen your stance at address, which will lower your hands and set up a shallower swing plane. The longer club will also set up a wider backswing arc, which translates into a shallow approach into the sand and a more consistent splash.