Five golf tips to help get you pull off bad-lie bunker shots

If you have a bad-lie in a bunker, here are five easy golf tips to help get you out of your unexpected trip to the beach:

1) Play the ball to the right of center with your feet about a foot apart.

2) Use a square stance where your feet are pointed toward the flagstick and a slightly closed club face where it points about three feet left of the flagstick.

3) Be in a position where your knees are pointed in towards each other a bit with the weight equally distributed in both feet if you are hitting from a level lie.

4) Break the wrists abruptly and take a full backswing. Chop down one to two inches behind the ball into the sand allowing the sand to throw the ball out of the bunker, then stop your follow-through waist high.

5) The harder the sand, the slower the swing. The softer the sand, the faster the swing. Make sure each swing you take is controlled.

"The USGA definition of a Bunker- A "bunker" is a hazard consisting of a prepared area of ground, often a hollow, from which turf or soil has been removed and replaced with sand or the like. Grass-covered ground bordering or within a bunker is not part of the bunker. The margin of a bunker extends vertically downwards but not upwards. A ball is in a bunker when it lies in or any part of it touches the bunker."

Jamie Olson is a member of the LPGA and is currently the First Assistant Golf Professional and a Teaching Professional at Leisure World Country Club in Mesa, Ariz., a private, 36-hole retirement community. Jamie is also a Teaching Professional for the LPGA Girls Golf Club. In her spare time she participates in many charity tournaments. Jamie teaches all ages, individual or group lessons.