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do you always open the club way up in a bunker? And other Q's

Currently I use my 58 for all shots around the green and in bunkers. I typically open the face and make sure to follow through when playing greenside bunker shots. I'm looking forward to the thoughts of one Mr. Cleveland in a few weeks and may make a change.
 
On greenside bunkers I always use my 56* wedge and not my 58*. I don't like a lot of bounce in my wedges as I use them a lot on tight fairways. I always open the face a bit to increase the bounce on dry sand and then decide how hard to swing and how far behind the ball to make impact by the distance needed. In hard wet sand, I open the club less and try to pick and spin it more.

On a buried lie, I do the opposite and turn the toe way down, swing a little harder and let the club dig the ball out.
 
I always use my SW on green side bunkers. I vary the amount I open the club depending on distance and height of the bunker, this part is more art than science for me. I change my swing tempo depending on sand conditions, someone told me once swing hard on soft sand and soft on hard sand so I try and keep that in mind. When I find myself in the sand, my main goal is to get out of the sand in one shot.
 
I follow the Ernie Els system...I use my 56 deg SW for everything from 80 yards in...chipping, pitching and all bunker play. This way I know exactly how far out the ball will run with this club on each type of shot. The only time I open up my SW in the bunker is if I need to stop it quick (short sided). Hope this helps and glad you bunker game is back.
 
JB said:
Its interesting to me how so many people here are grabbing their highest lofted club without any thought to the bounce. There is a reason that the 56* was labeled a SW and the 60* was labeled a LW years ago. While its not cut and dry depending on the condition of the bunker, more bounce is your friend and typically the 56* (or thereabouts) will have more bounce than the 60 or 58*.
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And this is what I love about my ATV's
 
On shorter shots I use the 60*. On longer bunker shots I use the PRGP super egg AS 50* club. It's almost like cheating.

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58 degrees, 6 degrees of bounce. I play it like a normal pitch but add a few yards to compensate for hitting the sand before the ball. I take the normal stance like a standard pitch. I've had the best success with this method. I only use the open stance-open clubface when I'm stuck against a steep face. I use the standard pitch method even in hard and wet sand. For very fluffy sand, which is a rarity in the courses I play, I deloft the wedge a bit. That's it.
 
JB said:
Its interesting to me how so many people here are grabbing their highest lofted club without any thought to the bounce. There is a reason that the 56* was labeled a SW and the 60* was labeled a LW years ago. While its not cut and dry depending on the condition of the bunker, more bounce is your friend and typically the 56* (or thereabouts) will have more bounce than the 60 or 58*.
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I been thinking about your point lately and have been using the sw only in my last 3 rounds which unfortunately has had me in several bunkers green side. While viewing the situations I am facing there have been times I start to think of which club to use but then what you say pops into my head and I repeat it "there is a reason its called a sw" so I then just grab it and go lol.
I've just been opening and closing it a little more or less for the shot at hand and also swinging easier or harder as well and thus far I been able to control (relatively speaking) my outs for the scenario at hand pretty well where as before I may have used a different club for some of the same shots. I am sure there will bill some circumstances where I may feel the need to change a club but so far its been all sw only and its working out well.
 
I use 62* lob wedge (8* bounce) out of the sand, almost exclusively in one set (although I have a 56/11 SW in the same set).
I use a 60* wedge in my other set. If I need some run out, I will drop to a 54.
 
I always use a 56* and don't open the face at all. It's just not something I've ever done, so I wouldn't be comfortable trying it in the course.
 
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