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Sand Question

Golf Chick

Golf Chick

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If your ball is buried in the sand trap, I'm talking about buried where its worse than a fried egg, how do you play the shot? Are you still using a SW or something with more loft? How is your setup and stance?

Also, what if its on the side wall/the angled part and its a steep one?
 
This is difficult to describe but turn the SW round until the toe points down and drive the club into the back of the ball and it will pop up out of the sand, Practice it before you try it on the course. An old teaching pro showed me the shot.
 
bata mor said:
This is difficult to describe but turn the SW round until the toe points down and drive the club into the back of the ball and it will pop up out of the sand, Practice it before you try it on the course. An old teaching pro showed me the shot.
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This is definately one way to play it. It took me a while to learn that shot. Depending on the sand I also deloft the SW a little, try to hit half an inch behind the ball with all my might! When its burried like that, anything on the green is a good shot.
 
Well, tried to post once, and for some reason did not. Heres my second attempt.

This is how I understand it. Basically, for the swing, there are two parts. The first part is to get that clubhead gliding through the sand, instead of digging into it. You do that by (1) opening the clubface up, and (2) cocking the club back/up as far as you possibly can without swinging your arms/shoulders. Then "slap" the club down 3-4 inches behind the ball. The club should end up using it's "bouce" to skip through the sand. This will give the ball the loft it needs to get out of the sand. Second part is controlling distance. To control distance, simply lengthen or shorten your backswing accordingly.

For a full buried lie like you describe, you will probably be using a full, very aggressive swing into the sand. Ball is usually forward of center in your stance. For a downhill lie, like being against the lip opposite of the hole, you really want to open that face up to get as much loft as possible, and make a hard swing. For an uphill lie, dont need to open the face as much, and make a smoother swing.

Remember, the goal is to "slap" the sand behind the ball. Dont hit the ball. Hit the sand.

Thats how I understand it. If anyone knows better, please enlighten us. GC, I can show you more when we eventually get together! :clapp:
 
sacul1573 said:
Well, tried to post once, and for some reason did not. Heres my second attempt.

This is how I understand it. Basically, for the swing, there are two parts. The first part is to get that clubhead gliding through the sand, instead of digging into it. You do that by (1) opening the clubface up, and (2) cocking the club back/up as far as you possibly can without swinging your arms/shoulders. Then "slap" the club down 3-4 inches behind the ball. The club should end up using it's "bouce" to skip through the sand. This will give the ball the loft it needs to get out of the sand. Second part is controlling distance. To control distance, simply lengthen or shorten your backswing accordingly.

For a full buried lie like you describe, you will probably be using a full, very aggressive swing into the sand. Ball is usually forward of center in your stance. For a downhill lie, like being against the lip opposite of the hole, you really want to open that face up to get as much loft as possible, and make a hard swing. For an uphill lie, dont need to open the face as much, and make a smoother swing.

Remember, the goal is to "slap" the sand behind the ball. Dont hit the ball. Hit the sand.

Thats how I understand it. If anyone knows better, please enlighten us. GC, I can show you more when we eventually get together! :clapp:
Click to expand...


Looking forward to it!!
 
I learned it the same way.

Close the toe (opposite of normal sand shot) 10 degrees, take very little sand and swing down hard.

It's ok to leave the club in the sand, you're basically trying to just "move" the ball. It comes out low with no spin, so adjust for lip and roll.
 
Play the clubface square or slightly closed, make sure that you hit it fat, at least an inch behind the ball. This is one time where you really, really don't want to hit the ball first because if you do you will skull it across the green and into who knows what. Lastly, swing hard and follow through. If you quit on it, the ball will go about 2 feet. When it lands on the green, it will seem to roll forever, but that is what you have to expect from such a lie. Like someone said above, anything on the green is a good shot. Even the pros struggle with this shot, so just getting out of the bunker safely should be your first concern.

cmoors said:
I learned it the same way.

Close the toe (opposite of normal sand shot) 10 degrees, take very little sand and swing down hard.

It's ok to leave the club in the sand, you're basically trying to just "move" the ball. It comes out low with no spin, so adjust for lip and roll.
Click to expand...

I disagree. Like any bunker shot, this one requires a good follow through. If you stub the club in the sand, you'll never get the ball out of the bunker. And with this shot you take more sand than usual (at least I certainly do). Trying to pick the ball out of the crater will only lead to hitting it thin. She can worry about being more creative when she's a 10 handicap like you. Right now her focus should be to simply minimize the damage.
 
cmoors said:
I learned it the same way.

Close the toe (opposite of normal sand shot) 10 degrees, take very little sand and swing down hard.
Click to expand...

Good to know, I'll have to try this next time I'm at the range.
 
But Fourputt, if the ball is really and truly buried, most people are not going to get the club through the sand to complete a full follow through. Close the face, middle of the stance, swing down steeply into the sand an inch or so behind the ball. As hard as you possible can. If a ball is almost completely buried, you need to get the club head down at least two inches into the sand. Last week, I hit one that was buried like that in wet sand the consistency of Play Doh. It didn't smell as good as Play Doh, though. Neither did the rest of my round. It smelled, but not good. Like Play Doh.

Kevin
 
I play this one as described by most people (square alignment, hands ahead, swing hard and try to move a lot of sand), but you may want to try a pitching wedge or gap wedge with less bounce than your sand wedge; with less bounce it's easier to really dig into the sand. Swing like you really mean it.
 
Esox said:
But Fourputt, if the ball is really and truly buried, most people are not going to get the club through the sand to complete a full follow through. Close the face, middle of the stance, swing down steeply into the sand an inch or so behind the ball. As hard as you possible can. If a ball is almost completely buried, you need to get the club head down at least two inches into the sand. Last week, I hit one that was buried like that in wet sand the consistency of Play Doh. It didn't smell as good as Play Doh, though. Neither did the rest of my round. It smelled, but not good. Like Play Doh.

Kevin
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It depends a lot of the sand itself. I've played in stuff that was like talcum powder, and other that was the consistency of table salt. My home course has very coarse sand which rarely allows the ball to get one of those fried egg lies, let alone be completely buried. But unless it's a severely uphill lie I'm going for the follow through. If the sand is loose enough to allow the ball to bury that deeply, then you should also be able to get the clubhead through it. I will at the very least make the follow through part of my swing thought, whether it actually happens or not. If your swing plan is to stop the club in the sand, then 90% of the time you will decelerate and leave the ball in the bunker. You absolutely have to be thinking "Swing through the ball".

I'm going to make the same upright swing as I normally do in a bunker, with a square clubface (I might even use my 52° for this as it has less bounce than my SW), and just hit the sand hard a bit farther behind the ball than usual. That should launch a larger than normal slice of sand with the ball somewhere in the middle of it. It gets the ball out of the bunker, and that's all I'm looking for with that lie.
 
Fourputt said:
It depends a lot of the sand itself. I've played in stuff that was like talcum powder, and other that was the consistency of table salt. My home course has very coarse sand which rarely allows the ball to get one of those fried egg lies, let alone be completely buried. But unless it's a severely uphill lie I'm going for the follow through. If the sand is loose enough to allow the ball to bury that deeply, then you should also be able to get the clubhead through it. I will at the very least make the follow through part of my swing thought, whether it actually happens or not. If your swing plan is to stop the club in the sand, then 90% of the time you will decelerate and leave the ball in the bunker. You absolutely have to be thinking "Swing through the ball".

I'm going to make the same upright swing as I normally do in a bunker, with a square clubface (I might even use my 52° for this as it has less bounce than my SW), and just hit the sand hard a bit farther behind the ball than usual. That should launch a larger than normal slice of sand with the ball somewhere in the middle of it. It gets the ball out of the bunker, and that's all I'm looking for with that lie.
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Good point on the soft sand. Then the club can go through. I don't see much soft sand. The gap wedge or pitching wedge as mentioned by by you and previously is also a good idea. One thing we totally agree on, if it gets out and on the green you done good.

Kevin
 
I use the closed face technique as well. Instead of setting up with my normal open stance and playing the ball off my lead toe, I play it centered in my stance, make my stance neutral, close the club face around 5 degrees and hit an inch behind the ball. I don't worry to much about my follow through because when all I can see is the top of the ball, I want to make sure I blast a lot of sand into the back of the ball and pop it out of the bunker. 4Putt is right that in a perfect world with good sand, you should make a full follow through, but out here in the desert where our sand is half mud (and usually wet) getting enough head speed to push the club all the way through would require steel wrists. The other thing I make sure of is that I keep my wrist angle so the club takes a very aggressive line into the sand about an inch or so behind the ball. If you do it this way, you just simply cannot overswing. You may hit it hard enough to get it out of the bunker, but you probably are not going to fly it over the green.
 
Fourputt said:
Play the clubface square or slightly closed, make sure that you hit it fat, at least an inch behind the ball. This is one time where you really, really don't want to hit the ball first because if you do you will skull it across the green and into who knows what. Lastly, swing hard and follow through. If you quit on it, the ball will go about 2 feet. When it lands on the green, it will seem to roll forever, but that is what you have to expect from such a lie. Like someone said above, anything on the green is a good shot. Even the pros struggle with this shot, so just getting out of the bunker safely should be your first concern.



I disagree. Like any bunker shot, this one requires a good follow through. If you stub the club in the sand, you'll never get the ball out of the bunker. And with this shot you take more sand than usual (at least I certainly do). Trying to pick the ball out of the crater will only lead to hitting it thin. She can worry about being more creative when she's a 10 handicap like you. Right now her focus should be to simply minimize the damage.
Click to expand...

Actually I saw Lee Trevino give this exact tip on TGC last year. He said this is how he taught his wife Claudia to get it out of a buried lie. He feels this is the easiest way for a beginner to get it out of the sand. Of course if you have a high lip on the bunker this is not going to work and it is going to run quite a bit if you do get it out.
 
I like to take my most lofted club (58*- if you have a 60 I would use that). Hit behind the ball, and hit hard, with plent of follow through. I would rather end up on the far side of the green than stay in the bunker. The follow through is the key.
 
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