Do you dread seeing your ball roll into the greenside bunker? If you answered yes then the chances are that you’re probably not exactly a guru out of the sand, but you could be.
Hitting out of sand isn’t nearly as difficult as you might be making it out to be. In fact, many good players would much rather be in the sand next to the green than in the rough. Try some of the tips below and watch as your bunker play improves overnight.
Play the Ball Forward in Your Stance – The biggest mistake many amateur golfers make when it comes to hitting out of the sand is ball placement. When you take your stance, play the ball well forward in your stance (some good players even play the ball just off the inside of their front heel). This will make your angle of attack a little bit shallower so that those dreaded chunks don’t occur.
Open the Face of Your Club – You don’t have to lay your club wide open but if you’ve got a pretty standard lie in the sand, you should open it a little bit. This will help use the bounce of the wedge. You can’t get that nice thumping sound if your face is square to the target line.
Make your Frontswing and Your Backswing the same length – Deceleration is never a good thing, especially in the sand. After you’ve decided how hard you need to hit the ball, take a nice agressive swing and follow through. Don’t chop down with a short abbreviated motion. If you take the club back waist high, finish waist high. If you do, it will be almost impossible to decelerate and you’ll hit a lot more good shots.
Focus on Getting Out – If you’re not that comfortable in the bunker then don’t get too cute with your shot. Take your stance, dig in and take a swing that you know is going to get you out of the sand and on to the green. Don’t worry if your ball runs 10 feet past the hole, you can make the putt. The last thing you want to do is leave your ball back in the bunker.