Why do great golfers seem to have no trouble with a deep bunker and a high lip, while it strikes fear into so many others? The answer isn’t talent so much as technique. Once you understand a few key principles, clearing even the most intimidating lip becomes much more manageable.
Here are five keys for getting out of a deep greenside bunker.
1. Trust the club
A lob wedge (60°), sand wedge (56°) or gap wedge (50°) has enough loft to clear all but the most extreme lips. These clubs are designed with plenty of loft and bounce — the rounded sole that allows the club to glide through the sand rather than dig into it. Trust that the loft is doing its job; your motion simply needs to let it work.
2. Don’t try to lift
Because these wedges are designed to launch the ball, resist the instinct to help it into the air. Don’t let the lip intimidate you into pulling back and away from the target. Keep moving toward the target and finish on your lead foot. This allows the club to move through the sand and gives the loft a chance to send the sand — and the ball — up and onto the green.
3. Hit the sand
The ability to strike the sand and throw it all the way to the green is essential for escaping any bunker, especially a deep pot bunker. A great way to train this is to take practice swings without a ball, focusing on splashing sand out of the bunker and onto the green.
I improved my own bunker game dramatically by practicing this way at PGA National with Mike Adams, hitting the sand — and even the small shells in it. This teaches you the proper motion for throwing sand rather than reacting to the ball.
4. Use some speed
Once you can consistently throw sand out of the bunker, you’ll likely need a full swing and plenty of speed to get the ball up and out. That can feel counterintuitive when the ball only needs to travel a short distance, but the sand acts as a buffer between the clubface and the ball, so speed is essential.
Depending on your strength and swing speed, a full swing at full speed is often what gives the ball enough energy to generate the height and distance needed to clear the bunker wall.
5. Open the face
If the lip is truly severe, the lob wedge may be your only option. Just remember that you still need enough distance to clear the lip — getting the ball airborne isn’t enough.
Players with high clubhead speed may also benefit from opening the face to add even more loft. It’s a balancing act: You need enough height to clear the lip, but enough distance to actually get out of the bunker.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: golf.com
