• Welcome To ShotTalk.com!

    We are one of the oldest and largest Golf forums on the internet with golfers from around the world sharing tips, photos and planning golf outings.

    Registering is free and easy! Hope to see you on the forums soon!

Sand play help

5

5iron

Guest
ok i am pretty shameful with my bunker shots. I line up to do a regular pitch and just aim a couple inches behind the ball, and i usually hit it over the green or to far or something bad usually happens... I think that i will now try hitting a flop shot from the bunker. Does anyone have any bunker play tips ? Thanks guys !
 

mddubya

Hybrid convert
Nov 6, 2007
6,029
2
Open up the club face and your stance more. Hit behind and through the ball.
 
OP
5

5iron

Guest
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #3
Do you mean try to go underneath the ball the whole time ?
 

mddubya

Hybrid convert
Nov 6, 2007
6,029
2
If it's a greenside bunker I hit about 2 inches behind the ball with a full swing, the sand basically pushes the ball up and out of the bunker.
 
OP
5

5iron

Guest
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #5
:) okay then thanks a lot man.
 

ezra76

Well-Known Member
Feb 5, 2006
12,412
16
1) focus on a grain of sand behind your ball
2) the ball will go in the direction of the sand, hit the sand at the hole
3) open the face and stance to hit more of a blast shot
4) shut down the face to hit from a buried lie, remember #2
5) to hit a longer bunker shot, play it further back in your stance and catch it cleaner, trust it will spin like mad.

That's everything I know.
icon10.gif
 
OP
5

5iron

Guest
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #7
Lol everything you know is good. Thanks man !
 

MGP

Clubmaking Ho
Supporting Member
Apr 21, 2007
1,996
24
And probably the biggest mistake most amateurs make -- always accelerate through the ball. If you deccelerate when you hit the ball you will at the very least be short and have no consistency to your bunker shots. At worst, you'll be hitting again from the bunker... :laugh:
 

Pa Jayhawk

Well-Known Member
Nov 15, 2005
7,196
62
Country
United States United States
Depends alot on the sand as well. Read up and do a few searches on, and try and understand the effect of the "bounce" on a club. I get the impression based on your comment about flop shots that you do not currently open the club and thereby bring the bounce into play. Where if you tried hitting flop shots and play in normal or fluffy sand, you are actually headed in the right direction to utilize the bounce.

In short the bounce will keep the club from digging into the sand when you hit behind the ball. Just make sure the club you use has adequate bounce. Just understand that by opening the face will also cause the ball to go more right for a right hander. So opening your stance, as mentioned before will serve another purpose.

If you play out of fluffy sand you likely want something with at least 12* of bounce. I am just assuming you have fluffy sand. If you play out of harder sand or shallow bunkers with little sand as I do, then it is a whole other topic and alot of this advice may be out the door. Bounce becomes alot less important and possibly even a hindrance.

edit 1 - ... to give an idea on where to hit, the idea I hear alot from many instructors is to imagine a dollar bill with the ball in the center. Where you would hit where the bill begins and would likely end taking a divot the size of the bill. You don't want to keep digging and you also want a very stable lower body where most of the work is done with the arms and upper body. If you have the golf channel, they have an entire instructional show with the pros on this that is pretty informative and is an hour long on just dealing with sand.
 

MCDavis

The Plaid Duffer
Staff member
Moderator
Oct 19, 2006
13,633
5,195
Sanford, NC
Country
United States United States
Do what I do sometimes....aim away from the traps at all times! :D
 

Pa Jayhawk

Well-Known Member
Nov 15, 2005
7,196
62
Country
United States United States
Do what I do sometimes....aim away from the traps at all times! :D
I am pretty good out of fluffy sand, at our home course it is shallow, nasty, hardpan type sand with alot of rocks and I avoid it at all costs. My only complaint about our course, and it is all a matter of money to get more sand.

It is actually a rule on most of the mountain courses up here that you are permitted to remove rocks. It gets so bad sometimes that I think they ought to allow you to lift and rake to check for rocks to preserve clubs. I've hit into sheets of slate at times and practically snapped the head off a wedge. I think this year it is the consensus of most of the member to use a rake to check. You would likely in no way be able to improve your lie by doing so. You hit it in the sand and you are screwed. As shallow as the sand is, I have actually reverted to my own creation of a swing and just taking a normal swing and hitting about a foot behind the ball to both bottom out the club on the bottom of the bunker and collect as much sand as possible on the face along the way. Works well on many of the holes.
 
OP
5

5iron

Guest
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #12
okay so i should accelerate the whole time okay that makes sense to me thankyou. And i shouldcheck up on the bounce of my wedge. Well i watched a video yesterday from Golf.com that told me about the wedge being two parted. You slide with the back side and you dig with the other i think. I dont know how to figure out the bounce on my wedge but if i buy a good new one ill hopefully check that out. thanks guys,( and avoiding the traps helps too, lol)
 

Pa Jayhawk

Well-Known Member
Nov 15, 2005
7,196
62
Country
United States United States
Well i watched a video yesterday from Golf.com that told me about the wedge being two parted. You slide with the back side and you dig with the other i think. I dont know how to figure out the bounce on my wedge but if i buy a good new one ill hopefully check that out. thanks guys,( and avoiding the traps helps too, lol)
The "back side" is the bounce. You can likely find this out from the clubmakers website. If you have problems finding out, list the exact wedge and someone should be able to help you out.
 
OP
5

5iron

Guest
  • Thread Starter
  • Thread starter
  • #15
Hey guys thanks( I know its really late response to a done thread) but thanks for helpin me out with my sand game. Its been improving !
 

🔥 Latest posts

Top