Distance Control From Greenside Bunkers

When I ask the average golfer how they control their distances hitting shots out of greenside bunkers, the standard responses are: Vary where the club hits behind the ball, swing harder or softer, grip up or down on the club, or just pray!  Only one of those answers is correct, gripping up or down on the club.  Praying may help, but we have yet to prove that theory.  Gripping up or down on the club can help vary your distance control, but that’s not the whole story. Throughout my amateur and professional playing career I never really had a good understanding of proper distance control in the bunker.  For shorter shots I would try to hit four, five, even six inches behind the ball and for longer shots about one or two inches behind the ball.  But I never really became very good at the guessing game, nor did I become a very good bunker player.  I now understand why.  I didn’t have the correct knowledge that would allow me to hit the shots properly.  Most amateurs also lack that knowledge. When watching golf on television one rarely hears any mention of what club is being used out of greenside bunkers.  In the past year or so I have heard announcers mention during different broadcasts that Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson use clubs other than just a sand wedge out of bunkers. Phil was hitting pitching wedge for a twenty yard bunker shot and Tiger hit an eight iron for a thirty yard shot, which also happens to be the clubs I use for those same shots.  I believe that many golfers assume that because the club has “sand” written on it, that it is the club to use for all greenside bunker shots.  But the name of the club doesn’t have anything to do with its performance in the sand or anywhere else. When asking how to control the distance of your shots, here is how NOT to do it: 1.       Don’t change the rhythm of your swing.  Keep it constant. 2.       Don’t change how close you hit behind the ball.  Usually between two and five inches behind the ball will work nicely.  Just let it happen.  Don’t force it. 3.       Don’t change how hard you swing through the sand.  Your natural swing speed will do. The easiest way to vary the distance of your sand shots is to use clubs of different lengths and lofts, while keeping your backswing the same.  The backswing length should be at 9:00 o’clock, where your leading arm is parallel to the ground at the top of the backswing.  Your wrists should be cocked fully so there is a 90 degree angle between your lead arm and your club. I recommend using four wedges, 49 degree pitching wedge, 56 sand, 60 lob and the ultimate scoring club, the 64 degree extra lob wedge.  The 64 and 60 degree wedges have more loft than the standard 56 degree sand wedge, and work incredibly well on shorter bunker shots.  Try them, you won’t believe what happens.  The pitching wedge through the six iron are also clubs of choice.  All eight clubs will work with pleasantly surprising results, providing you play the ball forward in your stance, off of your forward instep, open the clubface 45 degrees so the leading edge doesn’t dig in the sand (the bottom and back of the club should bounce and scoot through the sand) and finally, make a great follow-through! Go to the practice area and calibrate your 64 degree through 6 iron distances.  These distances should cover any distance situation from just around the green to 50 or 60 yards away.  With practice you will blast your way to shots closer to the hole and you will lower your scores.