This is my first post about the World Golf Tour. If you don’t already know, the World Golf Tour (wgt.com) is an incredibly addicting online golf game.
One of my only complaints about the game is how they treat fairway bunkers.
They key to playing fairway bunkers is accepting that you have to hit a recovery shot. In all of my experience, I have never had a better than 30% lie in the bunker. It doesn’t matter how softly your ball rolls into the bunker, you simply will not get a clean lie.
This can be frustrating and confusing because in real life you frequently can take a full swing from the fairway bunker.
So here are some simple rules of thumb to survive the World Golf Tour fairway bunkers:
Club selection
With a decent lie in real life you can often get any iron or hybrid easily on the ball… not so in World Golf Tour. So don’t try to be a hero.
If your lie is 40-50%, you need to use a pitching wedge.
If your lie is 30-40%, you might be able to get away with a 7 or 8 iron, but don’t try anything longer than that.
Using a long iron or hybrid can be a huge mistake and the result will be a shot that travels literally 2 or 3 feet, and often stays in the bunker.
Make sure your recovery lands in the fairway
You are going to lose a lot of distance… approximately 50%. But when you go to the overhead view, your default ball target reflects the club’s full distance.
Here I using a pitching wedge, but because of the lie it might only carry 40 yards. A lot of times from the fairway bunker you have to carry a lot of bunker/rough just to get back to the fairway.
I find it more useful to aim based on the small hole layout that is on the right side of your main screen.
The blue triangle (circled) is your full distance target and from the overhead view you get a good sense of what your ball needs to carry to get there.
If you are hitting over rough/bunkers, be sure you will carry.
Don’t be afraid to set the blue triangle in the far rough, because you know your ball won’t travel the full distance.
I cannot stress enough, your #1 priority has to be to get back into the fairway and set up your next shot!
So there you have it! The fairway bunker can be a frustrating and confusing part of the World Golf Tour. But if you remember that you have to hit a recovery shot and focus on getting your ball back into the fairway with a short iron or wedge, you will be in much better shape.
Good luck!