Sunken bunker shots

In my recent game, i've encountered the above captioned situation. it was a 135m par-3 at Ponderosa.

I teed off with an 8 iron and the ball launched high. However, i pulled the shot and it landed right in the middle of a soft sand bunker.

When i saw the ball, it was like sitting in the middle of a crater and i had no idea how to hit it out. i ended up hitting as hard as possible trying to burst the ball out but i couldn't hit it out. I had to hit a second bunker shot to get it to the green and ended up with a double bogey.

Anyone has any idea how to approach this kind of shots in the future? appreciate all incoming advise.

CoRN wrote:

In my recent game, i've encountered the above captioned situation. it was a 135m par-3 at Ponderosa.

I teed off with an 8 iron and the ball launched high. However, i pulled the shot and it landed right in the middle of a soft sand bunker.

When i saw the ball, it was like sitting in the middle of a crater and i had no idea how to hit it out. i ended up hitting as hard as possible trying to burst the ball out but i couldn't hit it out. I had to hit a second bunker shot to get it to the green and ended up with a double bogey.

Anyone has any idea how to approach this kind of shots in the future? appreciate all incoming advise.

This also happened on the same day as the one he missed his eagle putt.

The ball landed in the bunker..sunny side up.

its called a buried lie corn. half ball or tip of ball showing?

i usually close the club face. hit down and through the sand catching the ball.
remember not to hook it since the face is closed maybe by 30 Deg anti-clockwise.

other method is to square the face so that you can get under the ball without too much bounce stopping your club. must be coming in steep.

if the sand is soft and you have a low bounce club, by all means do what the pros do.. though i never get it out myself.

mizzy wrote:

its called a buried lie corn. half ball or tip of ball showing?

i usually close the club face. hit down and through the sand catching the ball.
remember not to hook it since the face is closed maybe by 30 Deg anti-clockwise.

other method is to square the face so that you can get under the ball without too much bounce stopping your club. must be coming in steep.

if the sand is soft and you have a low bounce club, by all means do what the pros do.. though i never get it out myself.

It's half ball buried. from the look at it, i can't even swing steep enough to dig under the ball as i will have impact on the lip of the crater first, thus carry a lot of sand before hitting the ball. Anyway, that's what i did as i have no idea at all.

yes carry all the sand. there will be more sand than ball flying..
the ball will come out soft and slow.

u mean i was doing the correct thing? or is there a technique you know for these kinda shots...

Hi matey

For a buried bunker shot, you should 1: grip it tighter( so the face angle doesn't change when u hit the sand) 2. Have a square rather than open face at set up 3.Pick the club up steeper( instead of creating width with your arms and body, swing back in such a manner that the butt of the club points straight down to the ground for a 90 degree angle with your left forearm)4.Impact the sand at about 3 inches behind the ball in a steep manner( imagine burying the heel of wedge in the sand with minimal follow through)

I have an article on bunkers in one of last year's editions of the golf tabloid( free mag u can pick up at any club or range) I'll try and find it in my archives and post it on when I get home. For now these tips should be simple enough to put into practice.

Good luck

Does it means that you're hammering the club down into the sand before the ball so that the sand will explode the ball out?

Yup that's right

CoRN wrote:

u mean i was doing the correct thing? or is there a technique you know for these kinda shots...

i think it was bird who told me how we play sand shots and how pros play sand shots are totally different. i could be mistaken

anyway, you have to finish the swing hard. power right through. I always lose power when the hard sand catches my club.

taking more loft into a buried lie may not help as the club may just get under the ball and the ball just fly up but not far enough.

jhan18 wrote:

Yup that's right

Us there a specific club to use or a sand wedge will do?

Sorry I failed to mention earlier but yes a sand wedge would be the club of choice unless you are trying to hit a long buried bunker shot. Even then it would also depend on how bad the lie is.

Oh... Thanks for the tip! Greatly appreciated.

No problem buddy

Wonder what I should do if it is sunny side up 3/4 up a steep slope like the bunkers on the 1st hole of dendro by the green side?

Sorry corn for hijacking your thread here.

mizzy wrote:

CoRN wrote:

u mean i was doing the correct thing? or is there a technique you know for these kinda shots...

i think it was bird who told me how we play sand shots and how pros play sand shots are totally different. i could be mistaken

anyway, you have to finish the swing hard. power right through. I always lose power when the hard sand catches my club.

taking more loft into a buried lie may not help as the club may just get under the ball and the ball just fly up but not far enough.

MIzzy, This is what some people referred it to as "sunny side up" lie. Like Justin just mentioned, in this type of lie, you don't have to do follow through or rather follow through is the least of the must do. I have read and hit what Justin mentioned exactly. It will popped right up in quite a verticle manner if executed correctly.

Yeah, like jhan said, just jab the clubface into the sand and leave it there, like chopping wood. Imagine you want to make the biggest sand splash possible. The splash will pop the ball out.

blee2007 wrote:

Wonder what I should do if it is sunny side up 3/4 up a steep slope like the bunkers on the 1st hole of dendro by the green side?

Sorry corn for hijacking your thread here.

open club face and dig it in hard?

dmateo wrote:

blee2007 wrote:

Wonder what I should do if it is sunny side up 3/4 up a steep slope like the bunkers on the 1st hole of dendro by the green side?

Sorry corn for hijacking your thread here.

open club face and dig it in hard?

I think if you open the clubface for a fried egg lie, the splash may not be sufficiently deep to get the ball out. So, you might get better result either keeping the face square, or even hooding the club face a little. The deeper the lie, the more you need to close the face, if I'm not mistaken. Tends to work for me so far.

Lee36328 wrote:

dmateo wrote:

blee2007 wrote:

Wonder what I should do if it is sunny side up 3/4 up a steep slope like the bunkers on the 1st hole of dendro by the green side?

Sorry corn for hijacking your thread here.

open club face and dig it in hard?

I think if you open the clubface for a fried egg lie, the splash may not be sufficiently deep to get the ball out. So, you might get better result either keeping the face square, or even hooding the club face a little. The deeper the lie, the more you need to close the face, if I'm not mistaken. Tends to work for me so far.

I had the honor to be present for a demo on this from one of GR's most idolised players. He used the toe of the wedge, with a steep plane to get the ball out.

Lee36328 wrote:

dmateo wrote:

blee2007 wrote:

Wonder what I should do if it is sunny side up 3/4 up a steep slope like the bunkers on the 1st hole of dendro by the green side?

Sorry corn for hijacking your thread here.

open club face and dig it in hard?

I think if you open the clubface for a fried egg lie, the splash may not be sufficiently deep to get the ball out. So, you might get better result either keeping the face square, or even hooding the club face a little. The deeper the lie, the more you need to close the face, if I'm not mistaken. Tends to work for me so far.

even on a slope?

on a slope i usually just punch it out gently assuming the slope is on the near end of the hole. this way the ball will jump out. if its the other side that is trouble. havent manage to get it on so far i will just lay up.

dmateo wrote:

on a slope i usually just punch it out gently assuming the slope is on the near end of the hole. this way the ball will jump out. if its the other side that is trouble. havent manage to get it on so far i will just lay up.

That is intereesting. I will try. There are a few bunkers in the course where I played and it is quite steep. With a Aisa PGA tournament coming, they have changed the sand and it is very soft. There are a few bunkers that are quite steep and I have seen a number of times, it get sunny side upped on the slope (me had it too) and was just trying to find a way to get out of it).

blee2007 wrote:

Lee36328 wrote:

dmateo wrote:

blee2007 wrote:

Wonder what I should do if it is sunny side up 3/4 up a steep slope like the bunkers on the 1st hole of dendro by the green side?

Sorry corn for hijacking your thread here.

open club face and dig it in hard?

I think if you open the clubface for a fried egg lie, the splash may not be sufficiently deep to get the ball out. So, you might get better result either keeping the face square, or even hooding the club face a little. The deeper the lie, the more you need to close the face, if I'm not mistaken. Tends to work for me so far.

even on a slope?

I understand the disconnect. It took me a while to wrap my mind around it.

We are trained to hit through the sand with an open face. This shot seems to call for everything totally opposite.

I had to understand the way bounce works in the sand before I could understand and trust this shot.

Bounce is like a rudder, it broadens the blunt part of the bottom of the wedge, resisting the sand from pulling the club head into it. The more we open the club face, the more blunt (the rounder) we make the bottom of the wedge as it enters the sand, make it harder to dig.

But in this shot, we actually want to dig. So we do the opposite. We square or even close the club face. For deeper lie in heavy wet sand (which is rare, but somehow happens to me with my luck) or muddy sand, I even close it until I am hitting the sand with the toe, like a hammer.

For an upslope, we might have to adjust our hips and shoulders a bit to avoid digging into the sand too steeply. On the other hand, the slope will assist in getting the ball up because of the angle.

When I first pulled off this shot, I was amazed how softly the ball came out - it jus popped out gently and did not go far - totally opposite to the amount of energy that went into the splash. Takes some practice to get the brain to accept it and trust the shot.

Go ahead and try it next time. Experiment with how much to close the club face and how steeply to stab the sand, and watch how it affects how high the ball comes out and which direction. It's a fun shot.

Ok Thanks Lee.. Will try it. Next up, like Golfool says, how to increase the driving distance for me..