subject: Golf: The Green Side Bunker Shot [print this page] Very often the golfer uses the wrong club in his or her desperate attempt to get out of the bunker. The resulting bunker shot is a disaster. The swings get wilder and the sand spreads farther, but the ball does not emerge from the sand pit. If the golfer uses the right club for the task, the sand wedge, life will be easier and the chances of getting the ball back on grass again a lot higher.
The golfer needs to open the club face. The stance needs to be open with the club face facing the ball. The degree of just how open the club face needs to be depends on the type of sand. As a rough rule of thumb, the finer and softer the sand, the more open the club face should be. The golfer should keep the left arm straight throughout the shot and hit the sand about two inches behind the ball for a green side bunker shot.
The idea is to create lift with the ball. The golfer needs to swing a shot that puts most of its power into the lift with enough forwards drive to lift the ball out of the sand surface and propel it towards the grass. The golfer should not be thinking about a hole in one. That's a great shot if he or she can do it, but just concentrating on getting out of the sand is enough.
Practice makes perfect, or at least, a lot better. Try to find the time to practice the shot so that the open club face has the effect of lifting the ball out of its sandy mire, and giving it enough power to fly up and out of the bunker to land on the green. Once you can do that every time, the dreaded sand bunker shot will be just another shot for you, and not the source of deep embarrassment that it is for most people.
