Your strategy for hard pan bunkers?

TLuke

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Just as the title says, what are your strategies for playing hard pan bunkers, esp. green side? We rarely get real sand here in Nebraska. Ours are just plain caca.
 
if there's no give in the sand at all, I play it like a tight lie chip with my 58.
 
if there's no give in the sand at all, I play it like a tight lie chip with my 58.

This. I play it more like a bare dirt chip shot than a bunker shot.
 
I give up and start playing a chip shot also when the conditions get too hard. I've skulled way too many balls into trouble, I'd rather take an iffy chip.
 
First....curse. If it's a fairway bunker....try to find good footing and hit away. greenside.....curse some more. strongly consider the 2 strokes to remove from bunker.
 
if there's no give in the sand at all, I play it like a tight lie chip with my 58.
^ This. We play out of a lot of compacted/hardpan bunkers, and I've had the best success with playing it as a tight lie chip.
 
take a less lofted club and play it like a chip.
 
We get a lot of practice with this in AZ. I had a 4* bounce 58 that was magic but my 8* bounce MD4 works fine as well. Gotta clip it. I have seen some putt out of the hard pan bunkers. The finish on my putter is too delicate for that. :ROFLMAO:
 
Different course or use the bounce.
 
The problem (at least for me) is that it's a difficult shot that you don't get to practice. My home course has a practice bunker next to the putting green, but it's the nicest bunker on the whole course - full of nice, fine sand, and it bears no resemblance to the bunkers out on the course. You can practice there all day, but it won't even remotely resemble the conditions you'll find when you're actually playing. I should be practicing off the cart path leading to the putting green, that would be a more realistic representation. :ROFLMAO:
 
Just as the title says, what are your strategies for playing hard pan bunkers, esp. green side? We rarely get real sand here in Nebraska. Ours are just plain caca.
Um.... Come west. We have sand. (y)

I play them like a lot of others. Tight lie-ish chip shot a lot, but it depends on the surrounding circumstances. I don't play them like a wet, compact/firm bunker, because you said hardpan. So I'd play it like hardpan. Eliminate some bounce and clip the thing.
 
The problem (at least for me) is that it's a difficult shot that you don't get to practice. My home course has a practice bunker next to the putting green, but it's the nicest bunker on the whole course - full of nice, fine sand, and it bears no resemblance to the bunkers out on the course. You can practice there all day, but it won't even remotely resemble the conditions you'll find when you're actually playing. I should be practicing off the cart path leading to the putting green, that would be a more realistic representation. :ROFLMAO:
Here is the thing, I almost prefer the hard pan because in AZ you just get used to it, but the struggles are real when you play a course with "real" sand and you drop into a bunker to take your shot and your like "Why the EFF am I walking in marshmellows"
 
curse the gods...100% hack.
 
Square the face, come in a little steeper, and use a little smoother/softer swing. Just have to make sure the club still starts digging through the sand and you don't make contact with the ball. Using too much bounce is going to prevent the club from digging and you'll just bounce into the ball.
 
Here is the thing, I almost prefer the hard pan because in AZ you just get used to it, but the struggles are real when you play a course with "real" sand and you drop into a bunker to take your shot and your like "Why the EFF am I walking in marshmellows"
Exactly! I get on a course with real sand in the bunkers now and I'm standing there thinking "Okay, how do you do this again???".
 
I take the ball out of the bunker and hit from grass.
 
If it's a fairway bunker, rejoice and hit away as per normal. If greenside then curse the golfing gods and try to nudge it out like a bare lie with a 56 or 60. If that doesn't work, then I can guarantee to skull it over the green and onto the next tee.
 
Play a tight lie chip shot if actual hard pan. Nothing cute, choke down, minimal movement, no wrists, eliminate bounce, shallow, eyes stay laser focused on spot just in front of ball until after the ball is on it's way.
 
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Pfft who knows. Just aim away from water, get really vertical and take a Paul Bunyan chop at it.

This isnt an actual golf shot at this point.
 
If also from Nebraska and I don’t mind hard sand I gotta say. Thin to win? Iron shots you just gotta pic it. Greenside I still open the face wide open.
 
Id play it just like a regular chip shot. Middle of the stance, square face and just let the loft of the club do the work. I personally cant stand hard pan bunkers because it seems like I hit it thin out of them more often than not but when Im in one and have no choice, thats really the only thing that seems to work.
 
Definitely going to play it like a tight lie chip shot which i am better at than regular bunker shots.
 
I got a tip from a top pro years ago and it works for me in AZ where most bunkers are concrete. I never had success with chipping out. I don’t know how you do that and get over a high lip and still stop it.
 
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