Playing from a bunker with packed sand?

[Beezerk]

Had a moment in a bunker yesterday where I took 5 to get out, I'd already blown my chances in the medal so it wasn't such a hard hit to take but still quite annoying if not funny in a way.

We'd had heavy rain during the week and blazing sunshine since and the sand was rock hard, I'm usually not bad from bunkers but I just could not get enough club under the ball the start it high enough. I only got out when it rolled up the lip and shot out up and over my head :clap:

Any tips on how to play from this lie would be appreciated.

 

[Khamelion]

I was going to ask the same question.

Similar problem to Beezerk, rain has washed away a lot of the sand from the bunkers and what is left is barely 1/4 inch deep before you have hard packed sand or clay. My problem is a high bounce SW scuffs off the clay and I end up thinning the ball well over the green, or I use my low bounce LW, but again with little sand in the bunker, like Beezerk, I can barely get enough height in the ball to get it out and when it does come out it never goes very far, more often than not it just scrapes past the lip.

 

[Foxholer]

One of the few times when I use my Lob wedge in a Bunker!

Flop shot from 'sand' if the face is tall. High tariff though.

If the face is low, then a chip - with a PW even - can be very successful - played as if off a bare lie.

 

[duncan mackie]

generally the issue is that this one's slightly counter intuitive!

you want the leading edge of the club to dig not float - the complete opposite to deep soft sand.

close not open the clubface - clearly the higher lofted lower bounced club you have available the easier it will be to get height; 60/6 is ideal!

you really don't need that extreme of conditions for this to be relevant - hard packed sand base with lightly raked surface sand is pretty common in my experience, and can require similar approach.

 

[Fish]

I'd use my 60/5, you want the minimal amount of bounce so it picks and flops the ball up, no different to a hard/flat lie.

 

[Beezerk]

generally the issue is that this one's slightly counter intuitive!

you want the leading edge of the club to dig not float - the complete opposite to deep soft sand.

close not open the clubface - clearly the higher lofted lower bounced club you have available the easier it will be to get height; 60/6 is ideal!

you really don't need that extreme of conditions for this to be relevant - hard packed sand base with lightly raked surface sand is pretty common in my experience, and can require similar approach.

Thanks mate, I did open the face as with a usual bunker shot and used my SW, I have a 58 deg wedge which in hindsight would have been a better option, specially with a closed face. I guess my error then was trying to play it like a regular bunker shot rather than a chip from a bare lie.
Live and learn eh.

 

[duncan mackie]

Thanks mate, I did open the face as with a usual bunker shot and used my SW, I have a 58 deg wedge which in hindsight would have been a better option, specially with a closed face. I guess my error then was trying to play it like a regular bunker shot rather than a chip from a bare lie.
Live and learn eh.

as long as you take the bounce away you still play it like a normal bunker shot - those advocating chipping it are in a completely different place from my comments; and I previously stayed away from them for this reason!

think of it this way - the bounce on the club is to prevent it digging too deep, and well designed it will let you go into the sand behind the ball then supports the club consistently at that depth as it passes through the sand. If you have hard sand, or a layer of hard sand just below the ball, the sole will prevent the club entering the sand, or may bounce it back up from the hard layer just below the surface, and you completely loose the margin for error that the club was intended to provide you ie you have exactly one spot that you can strike the sand at any given angle of attack.

just get rid of the unwanted bounce through a combination of club selection and clubhead presentation and play the bunker shot as you would normally. it's definitely a case of practicing to establish how it works for the surfaces you encounter, but only a few shots from a bunker will enable you to get a feel for what you are trying to achieve.

there are a number of other possible solutions but as they are more 'one offs' I would start with the above.

 

[Foxholer]

as long as you take the bounce away you still play it like a normal bunker shot - those advocating chipping it are in a completely different place from my comments; and I previously stayed away from them for this reason!

Chipping from this sort of sand ONLY works if the face of the bunker is (very) low! The ball flight will possibly actually be a touch lower than normal. as a 'picker' (Sweeper/Slider) I find this shot to be not a lot different to my 'normal' chips from the fairway.

 

[London mike 61]

I think that going for the pin with a high lip on the bunker is very risky, there are times when better course management calls for you to chip out side ways and then on to the green for two putts . It may not be ideal but at least you stand a chance of controlling the outcome.

 

[Foxholer]

I think that going for the pin with a high lip on the bunker is very risky, there are times when better course management calls for you to chip out side ways and then on to the green for two putts . It may not be ideal but at least you stand a chance of controlling the outcome.

Though there have been a couple of times when I have used that option, unless it's a Wentworth/Road Hole/Hell bunker, this is way too negative for me!

You are turning a 3 possibly 2 shot situation into a 4 possibly 3 one. And you still have the problem of getting out of the bunker to a reasonable place too!

 

[woody69]

This is the only time I will take my 60 wedge out, lean more on my left side and try the showy "flop" shot. Usually works.... usually. You need to stop thinking of it as a bunker shot when the sand is so packed down really. Worked for me.

 

[Evesdad]

I've never really struggled from the bunkers and in compacted sand I play it more like I would a normal pitch and nick it off the surface. If it's a really high faced bunker then I'll open the 60 a touch but that's about it.