Instruction – Escaping the Beach
Do you struggle in the sand? Time to get rid of those frustrations! There are three common sand lies you can experience: fluffy sand; hard compact/thin/wet; and buried. Now, you’re probably saying to yourself, “yeah, well how the heck do I have success from those lies?”
Fluffy Sand Lies
(Use a wedge with more bounce; your clubhead will have a small number on the bottom of the club ex: 6,8,9,10,12,14. The higher the number, the better for fluffy sand)
When your ball is sitting up in fluffy sand, there are a few steps to follow to make sure you have success.
Ball position can be slightly forward of the middle of your stance or all the way inside your lead heel at setup. Ways to determine where your ball position should be is how far your clubhead bottoms out behind the ball. If your clubhead is bottoming out more than five inches behind the ball and you notice your ball is not getting out of the sand, your ball position is too far forward and needs to be moved back.
Once you have the correct ball position, squash all the bad thoughts away by digging your feet into the sand. This will also tell you whether the sand is fluffy or thin. When you do, if you notice there is not much sand piled up next to your feet, then you are in thin sand and need to change your setup like I have provided below for thin sand.
Now that we have determined whether the sand is thin or fluffy and have the correct ball position, let’s talk about technique. I call this “SBO.” “S” is for squash and squat, “B” is for bump the hips, and “O” is for open the clubface. We squashed the bad thoughts away in our second step, so now for the second “S,” squat like you are on a toilet. Once you have done this, bump your hips toward your lead side so a little weight is on your lead side. Now for the “O,” open your clubface slightly so that you can use the bounce of the clubface (hit the sand with the back of the clubhead; this is using the bounce).
Aim a couple inches behind the ball and blast the ball out of the sand, trying to get some sand to fly out of the bunker.
Faults and Fixes
If you struggle with skulling or shanking the ball, check to make sure the grip of your club is pointed toward your belly button/belt buckle as I have demonstrated. If your grip points in front of your belt buckle/belly button, it can cause skulls or shanks.
You are not staying on the toilet the entire swing and stand up too early.
You are not keeping the clubface open and pointed to the sky the entire swing.
One last cause for a skull is grip pressure is too tight. The lighter the grip pressure, the better in fluffy sand
Thin Lies
(Use a wedge with less bounce; your clubhead will have a small number on the bottom of the club ex: 6,8,9,10,12,14. The lower the number, the better for thin sand)
You will use this technique for hard compact/thin and wet sand.
Ball position can be in the middle of your stance or inside your trail heel at setup. The further forward the ball position is in these lies, it will cause skulled or fat shots.
Once you have the correct ball position, squash all the bad thoughts away by digging your feet into the sand. This will tell you whether the sand is fluffy or thin.
Make sure your clubface is square at address. If it is open, that can cause you to skull the ball.
Lean toward your lead side, having 80 percent of your weight on your lead side. Make sure your weight stays on your lead side the entire swing.
Lastly, focus on a spot only an inch or two behind the ball. The closer you hit to the ball, the better in thin sand.
Buried Lies
(Use a wedge with less bounce; your clubhead will have a small number on the bottom of the club ex: 6,8,9,10,12,14. The lower the number, the better for thin sand)
Ball position can be in the middle of your stance or inside your trail heel at setup. The further back the ball position is in your stance toward your trail heel, the better the shot will be.
Squash all the bad thoughts away by digging your feet into the sand.
There are two ways to hit this shot. The first is with an open clubface (this is for a more advanced player who wants the ball to stop faster on the green or has a front pin location). The most common way and easiest way is with a closed clubface.
Once you have determined whether you will hit the shot with an open or closed clubface, lean toward your lead side, having 80 percent of your weight on your lead side. Make sure your weight stays on your lead side the entire swing.
From here, you want to hinge your wrist up toward the sky and then back down, throwing your clubhead down into the sand as hard as you can and hitting the sand as close to the ball as you can. (I find it usually helps to picture the face of whomever I’m mad at on the ball to ensure I use enough force to throw the clubhead into the sand and pop the ball out). The more force you use to throw the clubhead down into the sand, the better the result will be on the buried lies.
