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Sand Shot Suggestions

First suggestion—stay out of the sand, unless that’s the only way to stop your ball from going into a worse hazard. Of course, you knew that. The question is, “how”? Surest way is to use a club you know can’t reach the sand, so your ball will stop before it gets there. Then all you have to do in the case of a greenside bunker is to pitch the ball over the sand onto the green, preferably into the hole.

Next suggestion in case you manage to send your ball into a greenside bunker, anyway, is to simplify the exit from the sand trap. If the lip is low, and the sand is hard, you can putt it out; or take a highly lofted club, choke down on it, and slap the ball out.

However, if the sand is soft, you will need to do otherwise. If the lip is especially high, the green especially fast, or the hole is especially close to the bunker, you might need to do what the books and magazine authors recommend: Aim left of your target; open your club face; open your stance; swing along your foot line, instead of the target line; hit the sand several inches behind the ball, and slide the club face under the ball, finishing with your hands beyond your body or over your shoulder.

Conditions on courses where beginners usually play are usually not so extreme, so you already know an easier way to exit. Simply align to the target, hit the sand an inch or two behind the ball, using the pitch shot that flies the ball high and lands with little roll by hinging your wrists fully on each end of the swing.

Whichever method you use, you should stand with your feet wider than for other shots, have the ball well forward in your stance, and accelerate at least three times more than you would if you were not in the sand. Make that five times more, if the ball is splashes sand out on arrival, making a crater, and creating the classic “fried egg” look. In that case, hit the sand at the edge of the crater, and dig the ball out.

In all sand shots, don’t even look at the ball; look at the spot in the sand where you want to the club to hit, and send the sand toward the target; the ball will come out with the sand.

Final suggestion—practice often enough that you are no longer intimidated by sand. However, don’t try the impossible shot; if your ball has a particularly horrid lie, you can declare it “unplayable,” take a one stroke penalty, and drop the ball within two club lengths, no closer to the hole; however, you must drop it inside the bunker.