The beach.

[kid2]

Or to be more descriptive bunkers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Im probably not the on;y one that has a gripe with the condition of their bunkers but one thing thats been getting to me of late....

How the hell do you escape a bunker that has just an inch of semi soft sand on top of what feel like hard pan underneath....

I suppose its an area of the game where a lot neglect in the hope that we may only visit 1 or 2 a round but last weekend i may as well have had a bucket and spade i was in so many....

Is there a general rule of thumb to get out of bunkers outside of "Dont go in 'em in the first place"
Or a specific way to play a standard shot from them...


Most of our bunkers are around our greens and as you can imagine its pretty hard to gauge how softly a ball has to be hit but with enough acceleration to propel it up and out of the bunker but only to a pin that may be under 8 mtrs away...

Does a sand wedge have to be opened up to work properly or is this my problem...
I open my 56 practically flat and try to catch an inch or two of sand just behind the ball stand square to the target and have the weight over the front foot with the ball position off the heel of the front foot.... but more often than not its way to long...

Any pointers...

 

[PhilTheFragger]

Im no expert, but James (Justone UK) showed me this shot, at the Ascot Meet. which I have used to good effect since.

take your sand wedge, or 58 or 60
open your stance, so your feet are pointing 5 yards left of the pin
also open the club right up so it is is pointing to 2 o'clock (normally its at 12 o'clock)

Now make a smooth full swing hitting the sand 2 inches behind the ball.

Hey presto, ball pops out and onto the green

Magic

Fragger

 

[GB72]

I no expert (now that is an understatement) but I use my low bounce lob wedge, ball forward in the stance and a fairly full swing pops the ball out of greenside bunkers

 

[bluetoon]

take your sand wedge, or 58 or 60
open your stance, so your feet are pointing 5 yards left of the pin
also open the club right up so it is is pointing to 2 o'clock (normally its at 12 o'clock)

Now make a smooth full swing hitting the sand 2 inches behind the ball.

Also dont forget to take your normal swing path.
Ie if your stance is left of target(open) then swing along that path and not at the taget. the open club face will send the ball on the target line.

Plenty of vids on youtube

 

[MashieNiblick]

Basic technique as above. Aim left, club face open, swing along the line of your feet.

To control distance you can try to adjust the length or speed of your swing but I find it easier to use a combination of adjusting how open I hold the club face and how much sand I take. More open + more sand = less distance. Less open + less sand = more distance. You need to get a feel for what results you get from what combination in your bunkers.

For shallow sand over a hard base use a low bounce wedge. We have this problem at our place and this year I swapped my 56/12 SW for a 58 degree with 8 degrees bounce.

 

[need_my_wedge]

Tip I got a while back. Test the sand depth with your feet. If as you say, the bunker is pretty bare, very thin sand on a hard base, then a sand wedge won't help much. The bounce on the club will not allow you to get through the sand - largely because there isn't any, especially the more you open the face. The tip was to drop to a regular wedge, or even a 9 iron, and play the ball with a regular shot. This works for me........at times.