Bounce and the sand shot

[SiberianDVM]

:wow:

That was the way I felt Saturday when I mishit not one, not 2, but 3 short bunker shots in my tourney. Twice the ball went 40 yards over the green! The other time it shot out to the right and missed the green completely. Six strokes pissed away just like that.

And what caused it was too much bounce. And not practising sand shots with this new 60° wedge. :real angry:

I have been used to playing with a 60° wedge with 6° of bounce. This new one supposedly has 10° (looks more like 12+°), and even though I thought I had ground off the excess, looking at the bottom shows way too much remaining.

When I hit the blast shots, entering the sand 1-2" behind the ball, the bounce would push the clubface hard into the ball, and away she went!

I took both the old and new wedges to the practice bunker yesterday, and the low bounce wedge worked great, and the high bounce wedge was skulling most shots.

So until I grind off some more, I'm back to my old wedges. The stainless steel used is hard as heck, and grinding takes forever.

 

[IrishGolfer]

I guess the answer to this depends on the sand you play in regularly. Hard compacted course sand works well with a low(er) bounce wedge. Sounds like your hi-bounce wedge was simply skidding off the sand causing a skull.

Light fluffy fine sand is the opposite, high bounce is most effective. A low bounce wedge will go right under the ball and you will leave the ball in the bunker or only move it a few feet (unless you play to take less sand with a shallower swing). If you travel a lot and play different courses, then maybe 2 wedges? Or varying your technique according to the sand.

Or, just missed the GD bunkers in the first place!!!

 

[ualtim]

I am with you, Doc, I do not like the higher bounced wedges. I have a fairly shallow angle of attack and need lower bounced wedges even in the soft sand. Both of my current wedges are running about 8* of bounce and work really well for me. On my i10's that I ordered, I had Ping do a custom TS Grind on all four wedges to get rid of some bounce, the back edge, and heel. I am looking forward to giving those wedges a shot, hopefully within a week.

 

[SiberianDVM]

This was a tournament. Of course the ball is going into the sand! Several times.

I guess most of the sand around here is the coarse, compacted stuff. Except over at the National, where I hear the sand is light and sugary.

 

[dave.]

I don' think the problem is bounce, its your angle of attack, you sound like you are to steep. Let the club enter on a flatter swing path