Now, things are coming together and my misses are putting me in a lot more green-side and fairway bunkers.

I used to be a fairly decent sand player, but I noticed as I began to hit from more sand this year, that I had lost my way.  Suddenly, I was facing routine bunker shots that I was blasting way over the green because I was catching them almost cleanly.  I’d “adjust” and hit another one for practice and would skull it over the green.

Something was very wrong.

I like to use Dave Pelz’s recommended bunker shot technique from his Short Game Bible.  I’ve had a lot of success with that over the years and discussed it at length a while back.

It wasn’t until I saw a bunker play tip somewhere recommending a “quiet lower body” that I began to see where I was going wrong.  This year, I’ve been working extensively on weight transfer and have become more active in my hips and legs during the down swing.

Unfortunately, this kind of leg action is a killer for bunker shots.

Consider the setup for a moment: set up with the ball opposite the left heel with the left foot flared open (not perpendicular to the aim line), open the club face, and aim left of the target. We set up with the ball opposite the left heel because we have no intention of actually striking it.  Our object is to splash the sand a couple of inches behind the ball. The ball floats out on a cushion of sand.  Angels rejoice.

The setup should really be what dictates the outcome of the shot.  Why?  Think what happens when you drive your legs with an aggressive hip turn.  One of two things probably happens.

You will either:

1. Allow your upper-body to shift to the left before impact, meaning the bottom of your swing arc moves left, as well.  Instead of hitting two inches behind the ball, you’ll hit much closer, and possibly even make flush contact with the ball – exactly the thing you don’t want to do. Or,
2. Tilt more to the right, as you might with a driver, where you’re trying to keep your head behind the ball and hit it with a slightly ascending blow.  This has the effect of moving your sternum to the right a little, and thus the low point of your swing moves right, as well.  From there, you can either hit it really fat, possibly not even getting it out of the bunker, or strike it on the upswing, skulling it across the green.

Those outcomes are really unacceptable for consistent bunker play.

Once I realized I was driving to the left and was letting my upper body move left (and then doing the opposite when I tried to avoid that), it was a simple matter to fix.  I did nothing more than to take the drive out of my legs and make them more quiet.  “Passive” might be a description that’s easier to understand.

I want the feeling of my legs being more passive during the swing, like my upper body is doing most of the work, especially my arms.  I like to feel like my lower body is acting more like it does during a putt or chip than what it does for, say, a driver.  Of course, my legs will be a little more active than during a putt where they are still, but it’s the imagery I go with to make it clear in my mind that I want to keep the low point of my swing in the same spot during shots from the sand and not drive my legs to the left.

The problem, really, is not that I was trying to add power to my sand swing by driving my legs.  It was a mental compensation resulting from playing the ball opposite my left heel with a sand wedge in my hands.  Try that from the turf and you had better drive your weight left or you’re going to skull or top the ball every time because it will be well left of the low point of the swing.

The key is to realize that we’re striving to hit a couple of inches behind the ball and to trust that will happen with the proper set up without subconsciously driving the lower body through the ball.

Part of the equation is consistent setup and key to that is consistent ball position.  Once you get the feeling of keeping your lower body passive and stable in the sand, learn where your natural point of entry into the sand is, and play the ball a couple of inches forward of that.

I’ll be adding more sand work to my normal practice routine to make sure I groove these things.  Keep your lower body passive and groove a consistent setup and I know you’ll improve your ability to play from the sand just like I did.

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Keeping a Quiet Lower Body in the Sand

Don’t worry! Some simple adjustments and you’ll be up on the green and trying to make the next putt.

Good Lie

With a good lie, you want to try and get the angle of your shoulders to match the angle of the slope. This allows you to swing through the ball and make your normal basic sand swing. You also want to make sure you aim a little more left of the target than you might for a standard sand shot.

With an uphill lie, play the ball off the left heel. With a downhill lie, play the ball several inches further back, around the middle of your stance.

Also make sure you give yourself a stable base. You’ll want to keep your lower body quiet during the swing to help you maintain your balance.

Setting up with the shoulders parallel to the slope and the ball positioned forward for an uphill shot and back for a downhill shot will help you make sure that your swing arc is correct for the shot. You want the club to come down a couple of inches behind the ball and scoot through the sand and pop the ball out. If you stand too upright, then on an uphill shot, your club will dig into the side of the bunker. On a downhill shot, you’ll probably hit the ball first and skull it.

Make sure you alter your club selection to meet the challenge, especially on more severe slopes.

On a severe downhill lie, use the most lofted club you have and open the club face up as much as possible. Plan for the shot to come out with a relatively low trajectory and to run a good deal after hitting the green.

On a severe uphill lie, take a longer club to account for the fact that the ball will come out in a much higher trajectory and roll much less than normal. Don’t be afraid to use short and mid irons from severe up slopes if you have a fairly long carry.

Bad Lie

If your ball is plugged, then things change a little (this almost always occurs on an upslope). Your normal plan to scoot under the ball won’t work. In that case, the better plan is to go with the shot that Dave Pelz refers to in his Short Game Bible as the “dig and push”.

At address, the ball should be a couple of inches ahead of the center of your stance and you should be aimed directly at the target. Start with the club face square and dig right into the sand at impact. When the slope is too severe to keep your shoulders parallel to the sand, then Pelz recommends that you stand more vertically and hit down right near the back of the ball. You won’t be able to muster much of a follow through, but really accelerate on the downswing to give the ball a chance to get out of the bunker.

In both cases, the ball will come out relatively low and have a good deal of roll after landing.

As with any shot, it’s good to try these a few times in practice before taking them out to the course for the first time. That will allow you to refine your club selection and to know how much carry and roll to expect.

Remember these keys when you’re faced with uphill and downhill lies from the sand and you’ll get the ball up and down more often.

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Further Reading:

The Basic Sand Shot (Life in the Rough)
In Sand, the Point of Entry is Key (Life in the Rough)
The Buried Lie: A Sandy Grave (Life in the Rough)
Fairway Bunker Shots (Life in the Rough)

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

Uphill and Downhill Lies in Sand Bunkers

This time we’re going to back away from the greens and try and figure out what to do when those pesky fairway bunkers jump up and swallow your drives.

The technique for hitting out of fairway bunkers is quite different than the technique used in green side bunkers. Luckily, the adjustments are not very difficult.

From green side bunkers, the object is really to splash the ball out on a cushion of sand. The club never actually makes contact with the ball. That’s definitely not the objective from a fairway bunker. Making contact with the ball before the sand is critical.

Before worrying about the swing itself, the first thing to be concerned with is the situation. If the lie is poor, then you might want to just think about taking your medicine and advancing the ball up the fairway. If the lie is good, you need to consider where you want to hit your shot, what club you need to get there, and whether that club will be lofted enough to get over the lip of the bunker. If not, then you’re back to taking your medicine again.

Assuming your lie is good and the lip of the bunker isn’t an issue, then you’re ready to go. Typically, I like to go with a club or two more than what a fairway lie of the same distance would call for. Then, I take my stance. I don’t like to dig my feet, like with the green side bunker shot. Maybe a little for stability, but not much. I like to play the ball a little back in my stance. Maybe center or slightly behind center. Also, it’s not a bad idea to get a little more weight on your front foot at address. That will help promote a descending blow, allowing for contact with the ball first, much the same as with a chip shot.

The swing should be very controlled. You’re not looking for power here. The lower body should be very stable and relatively quiet. No big coil, and no driving with the legs. I like to take an abbreviated back swing to ensure that I stay stable and don’t go sliding or shifting. Gripping down a bit isn’t a bad idea, either. You need to avoid hitting it fat at all costs. Hitting it a little thin is perfectly fine. You’ll lose a little distance, but you’ll get the ball out without flubbing it 10 yards in front of you.

Be sure to accelerate through the ball. No stabbing at it, trying to blow it out of the bunker. Think of a nice smooth rhythm, accelerating through the ball to a full finish.

With these minor adjustments, I think you’ll be more consistent from the fairway bunkers. Have fun!

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Further Reading:

The Basic Sand Shot (Life in the Rough)
In Sand, the Point of Entry is Key (Life in the Rough)
The Buried Lie: A Sandy Grave (Life in the Rough)
Uphill and Downhill Lies in Bunkers (Life in the Rough)

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

The Fairway Bunker Shot

The good news is, the changes you need to make to play a buried lie are small and pretty simple. The bad news is, the more the ball is buried, the less you should be concerned with getting up and down and the more you should be concerned with just getting on the green.

If you haven’t been following along this week, I suggest familiarizing yourself with the basic sand shot from yesterday. Once you have that down, the changes required to handle buried lies are simple. As usual, I turn to Dave Pelz’s Short Game Bible for guidance in this area. He has created a helpful matrix of adjustments for handling buried lies on page 287. I’ll summarize for you.

Basically, the basic set up with a good lie consists of aiming about 17 degrees left of the target, opening the club face 45 degrees, playing the ball off the left heel, and taking a shallow divot, allowing the club face to scoot under the ball.

As the lie gets worse, you simply vary the things I mentioned above. You’ll aim closer to the target, open the club face less, play the ball further back, and take a deeper divot. These factors vary more and more to the point where the ball is completely buried so that your stance is square to or slightly closed to the target, the club face is square to slightly closed, the ball is played in the center of the stance, and the club face digs into the sand.

For a half-buried lie, you’d be closer to the normal perfect-lie shot (not halfway between good lie and completely buried): face halfway open, aim about 12 degrees left, play the ball a couple of inches behind your left heel, and dig into the sand a bit.

The fried egg lie (ball sitting in the middle of a little crater) is played more like the completely buried lie: club face only slightly open, aim only about 7 degrees left, play the ball a little forward of center, and dig in a little more than with the half-buried lie.

After making the adjustments, just take your normal basic sand shot swing (or, your 9 o’clock finesse swing, for those who followed my advice and bought the book). Be sure to get to get to a full finish for more consistency. As the ball gets more buried, the lie plus the adjustments you’ll make will cause the ball to come out with a lower trajectory and will run further after landing so prepare for that as well.

There you have it. Not much different from a good lie in the sand. Next time you practice from the sand, mix in some buried and fried egg lies and make these adjustments and see how you do. You might not have a great chance of getting up and down often from these poor lies, but leaving the ball in the bunker or skulling it across the green will spell disaster. Preparing for these types of situations will make sure you’re not compounding the damage.

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Further Reading:

The Basic Sand Shot (Life in the Rough)
In Sand, the Point of Entry is Key (Life in the Rough)
Uphill and Downhill Bunker Shots (Life in the Rough)
Fairway Bunker Shots (Life in the Rough)

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

The Buried Lie: A Sandy Grave

Today, I figure it’s time to cover basic bunker technique. As with most of the short game, I take my cues from Dave Pelz. Specifically, I use the technique outlined in his Short Game Bible.

Before I cover that, I want to say something important: in my observation, basic sand play is fairly straightforward and simple, but many people can’t get over their mental anguish about it. This leads to poor bunker play and fear that seems almost paralyzing as they prepare to get their golf ball out of jail. At that stage, they’re just looking to gouge it out and are happy if the ball ends up out of the bunker, are elated if the ball ends up on the green, and are tickled to death if they’re in two-putt range.

Well, I’m here to tell you that there’s nothing to fear. With proper technique and a little occasional practice, you can banish the irrational bunker fear and start to hit quality shots from bunkers.

That leaves us only to talk about the technical details.

Dave Pelz provides a three step plan to properly adjust to a shot from the sand trap:

1. Set up your aim, body, and swing lines a little left of the target (for a right hander), about 17 degrees. That means that your shoulders, hips, knees, feet, eyes all should be aligned together a little left.
2. Set up with the club face extremely open, perhaps as much as 45 degrees. The lines on the club face should point a little in front of your left toe.
3. Position the golf ball just inside your left heel.

From there, you’ll have a solid setup and will be ready to hit the shot. All that remains is to take a normal 9 o’clock finesse swing that follows your body lines. The swing arc should not be directed at the target and the club should not be manipulated toward the target in any way. You swing as if you’re hitting at a target 17 degrees left of your real target.

I should mention something about the 9 o’clock finesse swing: that’s a core fundamental of the Pelz short game system. I can’t do it justice in a blog post, so really think about picking up the book. But the important things to remember are:

• The stance should be about shoulder width, with the left foot flared out about 20-30 degrees.
• Use the “dead hands” grip. Only grip lightly enough to hold on to the club and cock the wrists. The grip should be neutral to weak. A strong (or “hook”) grip is not optimal.
• The 9 o’clock swing refers to an imaginary clock face with the left shoulder at the center of the dial. On the back swing, the left arm gets parallel with the ground, or to a 9 o’clock position, relative to the imaginary dial.
• The finesse swing incorporates a synchronized turn, where the upper and lower bodies turn together in a synchronized fashion. There is no power-generating coil, like in a full swing.
• Swing at a nice, smooth tempo that matches your everyday body tempo. For instance, if you’re a fast walker you might have a fast swing tempo, and if you kind of lumber along like me, you might have a slower tempo. Never thought about the golf swing that way, did you?
• Achieve a full finish with almost all your weight on your left foot.

Intuitively, you might think that you should vary the length of the back swing to vary the length of the shot. However, Pelz differs with that. He has found the 9 o’clock swing length to be the easiest for players to reproduce consistently. He recommends carrying four different wedges for the short game: a pitching wedge, a sand wedge, a lob wedge, and an extra lofted wedge. For varying distance in a sand trap, just vary the loft of your club. He makes the point that there’s no rule that says you have to hit a club with an “S” on it out of the bunker. This assumes that your wedges have the proper bounce angle and depth (the width of the sole) to be appropriate in the sand. (Edit: I forgot to mention that gripping down on each wedge is another way to create a shorter shot without varying swing length).

Just like with anything else, practice makes perfect. Like we talked about Monday, you want to try and make contact with the sand about two inches behind the ball. But with the set up and basic finesse swing I described above, that should be automatic. It’s not something you should have to consciously try to do. Let your setup, finesse swing, and the bounce of the club do it’s thing, and bask in the glory of a perfectly executed sand shot.

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Further Reading:

Uphill and Downhill Lies in Bunkers (Life in the Rough)
In Sand, the Point of Entry is Key (Life in the Rough)
The Buried Lie: A Sandy Grave (Life in the Rough)
Fairway Bunker Shots (Life in the Rough)

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

The Basic Sand Shot

Photo: Robert1407/Flickr

When you end up in a bunker, the last thing you want to try to do is pick it clean as you try to get it out. A properly played bunker shot results in the ball being thrown out on a cushion of sand. Typically, you want your club head to contact the sand about two inches behind the ball.

I found a helpful drill from Marty Fleckman over at About.com, called the “Point of Entry Drill“. I’ve done it myself in the past (same principle, different implementation) with positive results. It really helps to condition you to make contact with the sand in the proper area.

The drill is simple. From your setup position, draw a line in the sand perpendicular to your target about six feet long. Using your club, make a series of indentations in the sand about two inches in front of the line and several inches apart from each other, following an imaginary line parallel to the one you drew. These dimples will represent imaginary golf balls. Click on over to the drill using the link above for a photo of the setup.

At that point, assume your setup at each imaginary ball location starting at the leftmost one (or rightmost if you’re a left hander). Make your swing, trying to get your club to enter the sand two inches behind each indentation, starting at the line you drew. Move down the line to each successive indentation and keep trying to start your divot two inches behind the indentation. When you get to the end, rake the area and start again.

It won’t be long before you get a good idea of the feeling of getting the club into the sand at the right point. Remember to not let the club dig in. You want it to enter the sand and scoot under the ball.

After you get good with the imaginary balls, set up and use the real thing. I think you’ll see some good improvement in your sand play.

There are two things I want to note.

First, in the sand, proper set up is important. I’ll cover basic sand setup a little later in the week.

The second thing is that sand play is considered one of the easiest skills to pick up, mainly because the margin of error is larger. While contacting the sand two inches behind the ball may be considered optimal, missing that by a bit either way isn’t necessarily going to lead to a terrible result. For instance, if you contact the sand a little closer than two inches behind the ball, what will normally happen is that the ball will fly further but with more spin and will stop quicker. Conversely, if you hit a little further back, the ball will fly shorter, but will have less spin so it will roll a bit further.

Obviously the margin of error is not infinite. At some point, the shot will become a total failure. But you absolutely have more margin for error than you would have with a shot of the same distance played from the fairway. Next time you’re faced with a 20 yard pitch from the fairway, set up to the shot and make contact with the turf two and a half inches behind the ball and let me know how it works out. Remember that next time you find yourself in the sand. With proper fundamentals and the right frame of mind, sand play will become much easier than you might think.

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Further Reading:

Uphill and Downhill Lies in Bunkers (Life in the Rough)
The Basic Sand Shot (Life in the Rough)
The Buried Lie: A Sandy Grave (Life in the Rough)
Fairway Bunker Shots (Life in the Rough)
Point of Entry Drill (About.com)

© 2007-2011 Life in the Rough. All Rights Reserved.

In The Sand, Point of Entry is Key