Bunker play

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FanofHogan

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Now that Brady has successfully turned my long game around. How about some tips on bunker play? How do you guys suggest a horrible bunker player get better? Setup, swing path, procedure, technique?
 
Redgoat

Redgoat

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FOH,

You need to learn how to hit the sand with the bouce(flange)of the club. Once you can do that, you will conquer the sand. Stance open, face laid back, feet wide, weight forward, ball forward, bounce the flange.

Redgoat
 
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hue

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I know Brian suggests taking the same grip and "rolling" the arms right to open the club for bunker play. This keeps the club in balance . This differs from the open the club face then grip it idea .

Here is a post on how Stan Utley plays bunker shots .

Stan, like mostly all shots, played from a very square alignment position. Stan attacked on a very shallow angle of attack which was primarily setup by the width of his stance and low hand address position. His weight distribution was approximately 60 percent of his weight on his left. Stan used his Ping Eye 2 - 58 deg sand wedge. This particular SW has 13 degrees of bounce and a tour grind with heel and toe relief.

Stan did not loft the clubface like advocated today. The ball position was neutral to forward. To get a feel of how began his backswing, address a ball. Now hinge the club so that the clubshaft is vertical directly in front of you..do not let the arms swing back. Now, allow the pivot to provide the rotational motion. The feeling is that your hands are "staying at home" while the club is getting vertical by virtue of the hinging wrists. When Stan performs the shot there is a definite "thud" of the bounce being properly utilized. Like all shots, he maintains a planal relationship.

As for controlling distance, Stan did not have a scientific approach. His experience dictated the proper length of the swing for the appropriate distance.

This was taken from this post

http://69.56.133.122/invboard_release/upload/index.php?showtopic=23458&st=0
 
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ragman

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Seve and Greg Norman both had their knees leaning towards the target (more through impact). This guards against hitting too far behind the ball.

Knees, shoulders, and wrists. Chest opens quickly. Not an explosive core movement.

Balance an hourglass on the clubface through the ball, knuckles up.
 
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FanofHogan

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Thanks guys. I think my big problem has been that I am to steep in my angle of attack through the shot. No matter how hard I try to keep the club accelerating throught the sand, it invariably gets stuck in the bunker leaving the ball short. Since it is so windy here in Texas most of the time, we tend to have a real heavy packed sand in our bunkers. Brady, I have always heard that with most of the great bunker players you always hear the club slap the sand, I assume that is what you mean by hitting with the flange of the wedge.
 
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hue

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I find it better to set up more square and less open when playing from firm wet compacted sand and play the shot as a chunked pitch with a LW. Lob wedges tend to have less bounce than sand wedges so you have a better chance of not getting the the bounced thin shot.
 
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southpaw

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I agree with EdZ and Redgoat about sand play- you want to learn to use the flange to take a long, shallow divot. The best way to practice this is to simply make 2 lines in the sand, about 8-10 inches apart, and make long divots without a ball that start after the first line, and go through the second one. Then, once you start making consistent divots, in terms of shape and placement, add a ball. You will be happy with the results.
 
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