Make sure you have enough loft on the club

Make sure you have enough loft on the club to get it over the lip of the bunker. The worst thing is to hit a good shot only to watch it hit the lip of the bunker and roll back in the sand.

GRASS
The type of grass you play affects your game. Although every locale you visit is different, there are grasses that can be used on almost on any course. There are also grasses that can be used only in specific areas of the United States, like the South. In addition, there are specialized varieties of grass developed specifically for putting greens.

Bentgrass is a hardy, resilient type of grass brought to America from Europe. This perennial is used on courses in the North, Northeast, and Midwest because it withstands cool temperatures. Creeping bentgrass is ideal for greens. Colonial bentgrass is better suited for fairways than greens because it’s not well adapted to lower mowing heights.

Bentgrass has very thin blades, which grow densely, which is great for adding spin to the ball. It can be mowed very closely, resulting in a felt-like smoothness to the putting surface. Hot, humid climates take a toll on bentgrass greens, so putting quality declines as temperatures rise.

Bentgrass in the South is limited to putting greens and even then requires a certain climate, extensive management and high input costs. However, New England States and the Pacific Northwest have ideal climatic conditions for bentgrass. In Europe and parts of Asia, the grass is native and commonly found in most turf.

Bermuda grass is a textured, fast repairing grass. Native to Southern Europe, it’s used on courses in the South because it withstands heat. It adapts well to low mowing heights and is wearable. Bermuda grass is also used for tees.

In the cooler part of the season, Bermuda grass is over-seeded with perennial ryegrass, known for its rapid reestablishment, until the Bermuda grass recovers from the winter. Hybrid Bermuda grass is used for putting greens, in warm, humid regions. It tolerates heat well under low mowing heights.

Other types of golf course grass are Kentucky bluegrass, Zoysia, a warm season grass, and Bahia grass, a low maintenance grass used in roughs. St. Augustine grass, native to the Wet Indies, can’t be used as far North as Bermuda grass.

Poa Annua, a bluegrass that thrives in cool and damp conditions such as northern California, does well in hot and humid conditions but not in cold and freezing temperatures. Pebble Beach, for example, has Poa Anna greens. But in the South, Poa Annua is considered a major weed on golf course putting greens and fairways.

In northern and cooler climates, Poa Annua greens are considered the norm and can provide good putting surfaces. It is often mixed with bentgrass and some rye grasses. There are many different sub-species of Poa Annua with as many as twenty different types.

At Oakmont and Torrey Pines, Poa Annua mixed with bentgrass can provide a championship caliber putting surface.

You can put more spin on shots hit from Zoysia grass than Bermuda grass because the ball sits up better. Some turf grasses are developed specifically for greens to make them fast, especially if the greens are well kept.

The key with any grass is determining the grain — the direction the blades are growing thanks to factors like, the direction of the setting sun, prevailing winds, and water drainage on the greens. You can find the grain’s direction by locating the brown, sunburned side of the hole showing exposed roots. That’s generally the direction the grass is growing.

The grain can affect your putting. Putts traveling down-grain will go at a much faster pace than putts hit into the grain, and breaking putts will either be magnified or reduced by the grain.