Slap
your hands together in front of you and you'll instantly see what I mean. You can also choke down on the club in an
effort to gain more control. Aim
the club face down the target line which should be just left of the hole.
You've heard all the hype about opening the club face and such and that's fine
if you hit a lot of bunker shots but most folks don't so aim the club face down
the target line which should be just left of the hole. The target should be
just left of the hole because this method will impart some left to right spin
which will move the ball from left to right once it gets on the ground. Aim
your feet on a 20-30 degree angle to the left of the target line. The greater
the angle you create between your feet and the target line, the higher and
softer the ball will come out of the trap. Practice these shots a bit with
varying angles and you'll see what I mean. Find the angle where you're most
comfortable and which produces the best results and stick with it whatever it
might be. This all works for balls that are lying on top of the sand, but what do you
do if your ball is buried? The technique
is different. When your ball is buried (fried egg) in
the bunker, you do not want to swing super long and follow through. The idea is
to pick your sand wedge up abruptly, swing down steep, stick your club in the
sand, and leave it there. What will happen is your ball will pop out. It won't
have any spin on it because of the lie, but the chance of it getting out of the
sand are much better than if you were to follow through. Why is this so...? You want a very
steep angle of attack and no follow through on this shot because it allows for
the club to get more underneath the ball. With some of the ball resting below
the surface, you need to compensate to get underneath it. That is where a
short, steep, punchy type of swing works best. A typical bunker shot calls for an open
stance, an open clubface, and a nice shallow swing while taking a little bit of
sand. That will not work with a plugged lie, regardless of how hard you swing.
Your club will be approaching from too shallow an angle. You will hit the sand to the RIGHT of the ball, instead of hitting the sand UNDERNEATH the ball. Thus, your club will just bounce, or deflect into the ball. Worse yet, you will plow too much sand into the
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