Most golfers hate landing in a bunker—greenside or otherwise. But there are few exacting shots when it comes to greenside bunkers. The worst is probably the “fried egg,” where the ball is buried deeply in the sand. The others are not as demanding. Yet week-end golfers often have huge problems escaping greenside bunkers, adding strokes to their golf handicaps. For many students taking our golf lessons, escaping a greenside bunker is the weakest part of their games. Part of this is confidence. Since weekend golfers don’t practice this shot often, they lack the confidence needed to hit the shot well.
The other part is that they fail to make the right adjustments in their stances and swings. That can cost you strokes. Many weekend golfers, for instance, try to dig the ball out of the sand with a sand wedge. This leads to fat shots that don’t leave the sand. The basics of the sand shot are relatively straightforward. Once you’ve mastered them, you’ll have few problems hitting from a greenside bunker. If you’re serious about knocking strokes off your golf handicap, you must master the basics of sand play. Below are some golf tips that will help you do that.
The most common mistake weekend golfers make in bunker play is positioning the ball too far back in their stance. We see it all the time with players who take our golf lessons. They position the ball in the middle of their stances or sometimes even a little farther back. That’s too far back when you have a good lie in the bunker. A good lie in a bunker is one that has the ball sitting nicely on top of the sand without much of a depression. Playing the ball too far back creates a steep angle of attack and often leads to far shots.
With a good lie you should position the ball off your left heel and open the clubface slightly. This eliminates the need to purposely try and hit behind the ball. Also, open your stance a bit, but not too much. And don’t try altering your backswing by taking the club up too steeply. Instead, take a normal but slightly open stance and focus on a good amount of speed as the club approaches and passes through impact. You want to accele-rate through the ball on this shot. Deceleration kills the shot.
Another common mistake we see in our golf instruction sessions is hanging back behind the ball. Doing so forces the club to bottom out too soon, leading to fat and thin shots. Instead try for a more shallow swing plane and “slap” the ground. If your ball comes to rest in a bunker with fluffy sand, open the clubface a bit more. But don’t open it too much. It can confuse your aiming point and promote shanking.
A bad lie in a greenside bunker is a lie where the ball is buried deep in the sand. This is among the most dreaded shots in golf. That’s because most weekend golfers fail to make the right adjustments. Students in our golf lessons tend to open the clubface too much when making this shot. Instead, shift your weight more forward a little more, creating a steeper angle of attack, and hit down on the ball a bit more. In addition, close the clubface so it digs more into the sand. You never want to make contact with the ball in a greenside bunker. You want the ball to ride the sand out.
Some players in our golf lessons find the club bottoming out too soon with this approach, causing them to shank. If you find yourself doing this, shift your weight back a bit. You want to have about 60 percent of your weight on your back foot. Shots hit from a buried lie don’t spin as much as shots from a good lie. Plan for some release once your ball hits the ground. As with good lies, take a full swing through impact.
Hitting from a greenside bunker is easier than you think. But you must develop confi-dence in the shot and you must make the right adjustments in your stance and swing. These depend on whether you have a good lie or a bad lie. You also have to accelerate through the shot. Deceleration kills the shot. Needless to say, players who want to cut their golf handicaps down to single digits must master bunker play. It will save dozens of shots over the course of a season.
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