by Anne Cain, Anne Cain Golf Academy

The key to green-side bunker play is to do a shallow, on plane swing that allows the "bounce" of the sand wedge to carry the ball out. The golf club should enter the sand 1-2 inches behind the ball and take a "dollar bill" sized divot in the sand. The depth of the divot is critical: as one of my former instructors used to say, "take a bacon strip out of the sand, not a pork chop!"

To promote this remember to do the following:

- Use a driver stance with a bit more weight posted on your front leg

- Make a full pivot with wrist hinge on the backswing - the length of backswing depends on the distance of the shot, thickness of the sand, etc.

- Don't cast or scoop at the ball in an attempt to lift it out, you will decelerate and hit the sand too far behind the ball resulting in a scull or fat shot

- Use your body and shoulders to accelerate the club late in the swing and splash the sand forward

- Bunker shots require more swing and velocity than standard grass shots.

For advanced players, you can adjust your stance to promote a high, soft shot with maximum backspin by aiming left of the target and addressing the shot with an open clubface.

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LPGA instructor Anne Cain is one of Golf Magazine’s Top 100 Teachers in America.  She was a finalist for LPGA Teacher of the Year in 2002 and 2005 and was named a “Favorite Instructor” in Golf for Women magazine (readers’ survey).  As a player, Cain wond two professional titles and was an All-American selection at the University of Georgia .

Located at the serene Golf Club of Amelia Island within walking distance of Summer Beach Resort and The Ritz-Carlton, Amelia Island , the Anne Cain Golf Academy provides students with a variety of golf lessons. Private, individual training is offered as well as luxurious vacation packages that include accommodations and rounds of golf. The academy's ability to customize a program for an individual golfer or small groups up to 4 people makes the academy unique in the industry.

The Anne Cain Golf Academy is conveniently located less than thirty minutes from the Jacksonville International Airport

Anne's Professional Accomplishments

• GOLF Magazine Top 100 Instructors in America Award winner
• Named by Golf Magazine as one of the Top Instructors by Region for the state of Florida
• Nominated by peers for LPGA Teacher of the Year Award (1999, 2002, 2005)
• Named as a "Favorite Instructor" in Golf for Women
• Contributes golf instruction articles to GOLF Magazine
• Became the first LPGA instructor to become an authorized instructor of Homer Kelley's The Golfing Machine. This book is the leading technical manual on the physics and geometry of golf. Fewer than 100 pros have been authorized worldwide.
• Cain's published article "Einstein's Golf Lesson" is used by Johnson and Johnson in training its pharmaceutical sales managers the importance of coaching and building skills "one at a time".