Pro Golfer Shares Tips to Finally Master Those Darn Fairway Bunkers
While playing golf for the first time in six(!) months the other day, I bombed my tee shot on the 13th hole down the left side of the fairway, but, unfortunately, watched it roll into a fairway bunker that was about 185 yards from the green.
Given my lie in the sand, I first thought that being aggressive was the way to go. So I confidently grabbed my 5-iron, took a whack at it, and... well, I ended up chunking it out of the sand for a 20-yard mishit.
Brutal.
Unfortunately, this is a common occurrence from fairway bunkers for lots of amateur and beginner golfers, since many of us lack the fundamentals, skills, or decision-making to pull of the "hero shot" we often see from pro players.
How to Approach Tricky Fairway Bunkers
Instead of wasting a shot by just barely getting out of a fairway bunker, I should've thought about my golf lesson with mini pro golfer Will McFadden, who previously gave me the recipe for success from these tricky sand traps.
"I've got 71 yards here, so I'm going to play it a little further back in my stance to try and get ball-first contact... making sure I get good footing in this sand," he explains.
But unlike greenside bunker shots, a fairway bunker shot requires hitting the ball first and then the sand. That's key when trying to be aggressive like McFadden is.
"I'm going to have a pretty square clubface, since all I'm worried about is hitting the ball first," he says. "Then I just want to keep turning and making sure I hit the ball solid."
As McFadden analyzes his bunker shot, he looks at the lie, the lip of the trap, and then weighs his options when it comes to club selection and shot type.
"If I can hit this anywhere on the green to just short of the green, it'll give me a great look at [par], and if I pull it off perfectly, maybe even a good look at [birdie]," McFadden says. "I definitely want to take [bogey] out of play by getting it as close to the front edge of the green as I can."
After successfully making ball-first contact and executing the fairway bunker shot to perfection - leaving it just on the front edge for a chance at par - I ask McFadden about what mistakes he often seen average golfers make in this situation.
Avoid These Mistakes When Hitting Fairway Bunker Shots
Unlike McFadden - who's a pro golfer! - many of us average players can't consistently pull off the shot he did in the video. Here's the thing: That's OK, as long as you know that before it's too late.
"I think a lot of people get upset when they hit it into a fairway bunker, but you need to shift your thinking and remember that you don't need to make up all your strokes back right here," McFadden says.
He then goes on to explain how to best manage expectations to avoid a blowup hole that can wreck an entire round.
"For any handicapper, just get out of here with [bogey] being the absolute highest score we can make," he adds. "So that means not taking on too much risk, and just getting into position where we have a look at par, but definitely won't make more than a [bogey]."
McFadden then briefly talks about his view on course management, and how amateur and beginner golfers need to apply it to their own game.
"A lot of this course management stuff is just about managing expectations and not trying to pull off a hero shot [from this fairway bunker]," McFadden shares. "Like, we can all hit this shot up there to pretty close, but the odds of doing it aren't really high."
So the next time you find yourself in a fairway bunker - regardless of how tempting it is to "go for it" by being aggressive - think back to McFadden's golf tips from the video. They should help you manage expectations and feel confident about limiting damage by refocusing on just simply making bogey.
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This story was originally published April 22, 2026 at 10:18 AM.