Bounce - is it always a good thing?

[DelB]

Morning all.

Now, first off - I'm probably not the best bunker player in the world, but bear with me.

Played yesterday and ended up in a bunker, just inside the back edge. I was able to get a clear swing at it, but with the sand being so hard, my club bounced on impact and thinned the ball into the face of the bunker. Walked up to it - and did the same thing again! My playing partner reckoned it wasn't so much my technique, but the fact that the bounce of the club was in fact working against me, as the sand was fairly compact. He reckons his wedges have 'no bounce' at all, but he hasn't had them custom ground. Is there a case for using wedges with less (or no!) bounce in winter conditions, then reverting back to your 'normal' set for summer use?

Just got me thinking, that's all.

 

[harvey4banger]

Close the club face, reduces the bounce

 

[USER1999]

If the sand is compacted, I use my 58 lob wedge, as it has less bounce.

If it is not compacted, I use my 54, as it has more bounce.

 

[Snelly]

I don't know much about bounce.

What I do know though is it isn't as important as the angle of attack that the club hits the sand at. If you hit steeply down on the sand 2 inches behind the ball with an open face, the ball will pop up out of just about any bunker surface.

Focus on this rather than the bounce or loft of the club and you should be okay in my opinion.

 

[chrisd]

I bought a 56 degree with 14 degrees of bounce as I kept digging in too deep


Chris

 

[harvey4banger]

If you look at the back of your wedge, it should tell you what the loft and bounce is. You need to speak to your Pro to find out what the best combination is for the type of soil your course has and the type of sand in the bunkers and your game.

What I didnt explain correctly above, is when your playing a bunker shot, you usually open up the face of the club, which increases the bounce and helps the club get through the sand. When youre faced with a bunker with hard or very little sand, close the club face reducing the bounce and play your bunker shot more like a pitch shot, you would play from around the green.

Think I got it that time

 

[Wildrover]

A wedge with little bounce will work better from a compacted bunker, however, pitch and chip shots off soggy winter turf will be a nightmare as it will dig in badly.

 

[ArnoldArmChewer]

On the course if you take a divot you are probably better off with more bounce, if you sweep the ball you will do better with less bounce. In a bunker as MTM said, in hard sand use less bounce!