What are the two most common mistakes you make in the sand? Let me guess. Either you smash it right in the teeth, sending your partners diving for cover, or fear strikes on the downswing and you consequently bulldoze the ball about three feet in front of you. Yes, I thought so.

If you're like most amateurs, you put the ball too far back in your stance and "go deep," taking a massive swipe and digging what looks like a bomb crater–something you hardly ever see the Tour pros do. I like to think of it like this. Hitting a bunker shot is rather like scooping out the old litterbox: If you take too aggressive a scoop, the whole thing falls apart, rendering it necessary to make at least one more attempt.

Even when the pros make a long swing in a bunker, it's slow and even-paced and cuts a long, shallow swath through the sand. That's because they play the ball forward in their stance, opposite the left instep, with the shaft leaning away from the target. It's tough to catch the ball thin when it's up that far in your stance, and even tougher to dump it short when you cut a shallow divot.

I know many of you are terrified of the sand, but it's easier than you think. Go to a practice bunker and make a few swings without a ball.

Pick a spot in the sand and try to make that your point of entry.  You'll notice that you touch down at least a couple of inches behind where you're aiming. This is because your sand wedge has "bounce," caused by the sole's trailing edge being below the leading edge (if it isn't, throw it away). It works like this: The trailing edge contacts the sand first and keeps the clubface sliding forward instead of digging its own grave.

So how do you hit this shot? Open your stance slightly, position the ball off your left instep, and make an even-paced, shallow swing, aiming about two inches behind the ball. Thanks to the bounce factor, you'll hit about four inches behind it and glide right through. With your hands trailing the clubhead at impact, the clubface will have maximum loft and the ball will float right out.

Now I know that merely getting the ball out isn't exactly a lofty goal for a Tour player, but hey, how's your sand game lately?

Plugged in the Bunker

A) The key to success from a plugged bunker lie is aiming the clubface correctly; to do that you have to understand the physics of a bunker shot. If you have no desire to learn a little (very little) about physics, and just want to know where you should aim the damn clubface, skip the next bit and go directly to Part C.

B) In a normal bunker lie, the clubhead enters the sand and compacts it against the ball, forcing it out in a direction determined by both the angle of the clubface and the direction in which it is traveling. Damn, but I'm intelligent!

With the buried lie, the clubhead must approach at a much steeper angle to get down to the ball and will therefore dig deeper into the sand. As a result, the sand compacts not only between the ball and the clubface, but also between the ball and the hosel, which enters the sand as the clubhead sinks deeper. As a result, the ball is forced forward by sand pushed by the clubface and to the right by sand pushed by the hosel.

C) To compensate, turn the clubface counter-clockwise until it points slightly left of the target (now go back and read why, you underachieving dimwit).

D) Position the ball just behind the middle of your stance. Many amateurs play this shot so far back that it becomes impossible to aim the clubface anywhere but straight right and to keep it moving forward through the sand. This does not help. So stop it. Once you're set, make a hearty cut through the sand.

Swing slow to hit the ball low

The wind is blowing into you at 30 mph or you have a pesky, low-hanging tree limb to avoid. Knowing you need to hit a low line drive, you take an extra club, put the ball back in your stance, and jump all over it. Sure enough, the little white sphere starts off low, but then it soars majestically into the stratosphere. It doesn't re-enter Earth's atmosphere until 4:00 p.m. the following Tuesday, somewhere over the North Atlantic.

Why does this happen? As the pros know, the harder you hit the ball, the more backspin you generate, thereby causing the ball to climb. With the breeze against you, the sky's the limit. There is no magic secret here. To keep ball flight low, the pros simply take two or three more clubs, play it back in their stance, and make a slow, relaxed pass at it. The result is a beautiful, penetrating knuckle ball. Nauseating, isn't it?

Don't just take my word for it, get your rear end to the driving range and try it yourself. Hit your 3-iron at half-speed. Bet you don't get it more than eight feet off the ground. You'll notice that even your short irons stay low with a slower swing. Learning to control and predict ball flight is one of the keys to becoming a shotmaker.

Of course, with the wind at their back, the pros do the opposite–they take a lot less club and hit the ball hard, trying to create as much backspin as possible to control the ball in the helping wind. You, on the other hand, make a tentative waft, resulting in an off-center hit that sends the ball running like a toddler's nose into the jungle somewhere. Time to wipe that out of your game.