{"id":1439,"date":"2013-09-18T20:57:37","date_gmt":"2013-09-18T20:57:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/positivementalimagery.com\/blog\/?p=1439"},"modified":"2013-09-18T20:57:37","modified_gmt":"2013-09-18T20:57:37","slug":"are-you-afraid-of-pitching-over-a-bunker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/positivementalimagery.com\/blog\/are-you-afraid-of-pitching-over-a-bunker\/","title":{"rendered":"Are you afraid of pitching over a bunker?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Is there a shot that normally makes you nervous?<\/p>\n<p>One of the most intimating shots for golfers is pitching over greenside bunkers from a tight lie. Even the maestro of pitch shots, Phil Michelson chunked his shot into the bunker at the 4<sup>th<\/sup> hole of the 2012 Masters and made a triple bogey.<\/p>\n<p>It can be a scary shot because most golfers keep looking at the sand and that is where they hit the ball. Also, many golfers try to lift the ball instead of hitting down on it and wind up sculling it into the bunker.<\/p>\n<p>This shot requires loft of the ball which means allowing the clubface to hit the ball high and land softly on the green. To overcome the fear factor, here are some mental thoughts to use:<\/p>\n<ol start=\"1\">\n<li><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Focus on the green<\/span><\/b>. Pick a\u00a0place on the green where you want to land the ball.<\/li>\n<li><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Use your\u00a0imagination<\/span><\/b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">.<\/span> Instead of looking at the sand, imagine there is\u00a0only fairway between you and the flagstick.<\/li>\n<li><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Use enough club to\u00a0 clear the bunkers<\/span><\/b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">.<\/span> Most of the trouble around the greens is in the front.<\/li>\n<li><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Breathe to relax\u00a0your mind and body<\/span><\/b>. Take deep breaths until you feel calm. Slowing down your mind will help you to focus easier.<\/li>\n<li><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Take practice\u00a0swings.<\/span><\/b> Make practice swings watching the club clip the\u00a0grass where the ball will be until you are confident of your stroke.<\/li>\n<li><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Hit your regular\u00a0pitch shot<\/span><\/b>. Don\u2019t try to \u201chelp\u201d the ball over the bunkers. Play the ball forward in your stance and let the club create the loft.<\/li>\n<li><b><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Smile and enjoy creating\u00a0 this easy shot<\/span><\/b>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><em>Improve your golf game now by listening to Positive Mental Imagery self-hypnosis CDs in the privacy of your own home. Order today at <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.pmi4.com\/cart\">http:\/\/www.pmi4.com\/cart<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is there a shot that normally makes you nervous? One of the most intimating shots for golfers is pitching over greenside bunkers from a tight lie. Even the maestro of pitch shots, Phil Michelson chunked his shot into the bunker &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/positivementalimagery.com\/blog\/are-you-afraid-of-pitching-over-a-bunker\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"pjgm-metanav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/positivementalimagery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/positivementalimagery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/positivementalimagery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/positivementalimagery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/positivementalimagery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1439"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/positivementalimagery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1440,"href":"https:\/\/positivementalimagery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1439\/revisions\/1440"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/positivementalimagery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/positivementalimagery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/positivementalimagery.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}