arm swing

[dayll]

A couple of years ago a severe back injury stopped me from playing but after I semi-healed I rushed back into playing way too soon. I "invented" a swing that keeps my lower back and legs out of it. I use a violent release of the wrists down with irons and through with driver/FW woods. I am doing okay - lots of power but a bit inconsistent but I'm back playing and enjoying it. BUT - I cannot get out of a bunker now! My old "real" golf swing is gone and this back saving pseudo swing is so ingrained in my pea brain now that I cannot swing without firing my wrists. You can imagine the horror in the sand! I'm gonna spend an hour in the practice bunker before I play today - I hope I don't hurt anyone. Any ideas? -Dayll

[gas_can]

A couple of years ago a severe back injury stopped me from playing but after I semi-healed I rushed back into playing way too soon. I "invented" a swing that keeps my lower back and legs out of it. I use a violent release of the wrists down with irons and through with driver/FW woods. I am doing okay - lots of power but a bit inconsistent but I'm back playing and enjoying it. BUT - I cannot get out of a bunker now! My old "real" golf swing is gone and this back saving pseudo swing is so ingrained in my pea brain now that I cannot swing without firing my wrists. You can imagine the horror in the sand! I'm gonna spend an hour in the practice bunker before I play today - I hope I don't hurt anyone. Any ideas? -Dayll

Dayll, You want a bunker swing to feature quiet legs, hips, and torso. What is the problem with your bunker shots currently? Are you hitting them fat, thin, or leaving them in? Take a look at this thread from a few months ago. The Stan Utley method I mentioned there will help keep things quiet from the bottom half down and it has greatly helped me with my bunker play. http://thesandtrap.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2774

[iacas]

To parallel what gas has said, my consistent thoughts in the bunkers are:

1. Swing along my foot line
2. Get my weight about 70/30 on my front foot (probably closer to 60/40 in reality)
3. stare at the spot where I want the club to enter the sand and hit down through that spot
4. accelerate through impact
5. use entirely my upper body

Other things that vary include ball position (usually just inside the front foot, but in a fried egg, back just a little), how open I am, what club I use, etc.

[dayll]

Mr. Can and Iacas: I keep contacting the ball first. Where I play the sand is - half dirt and half sand. I seem to keep bouncing my SW into the ball. Frankly - I have lost confidence in the sand and cannot recall somethings. Should one open the clubface and then regrip or do you take your grip and just lay open the clubface? Also - is it advisable to maintain the open clubface past impact? I wrote down you guys' advice on a 3x5 card and will practice from it. thanks - dayll

[iacas]

Mr. Can and Iacas: I keep contacting the ball first. Where I play the sand is - half dirt and half sand. I seem to keep bouncing my SW into the ball. Frankly - I have lost confidence in the sand and cannot recall somethings. Should one open the clubface and then regrip or do you take your grip and just lay open the clubface? Also - is it advisable to maintain the open clubface past impact? I wrote down you guys' advice on a 3x5 card and will practice from it. thanks - dayll

Well, when you say you're contacting the ball first, you then seem to contradict yourself by saying you bounce it into the sand and then into the ball.

If you open the face of your sand wedge too much, you have a lot of bounce. With such firm sand (half dirt?) you may want to square up the face of your wedge to minimize the bounce. As for how to grip a club open... you open the face, then grip it square. If you just take a normal grip (square clubface) and open it up, it'll want to go back to square during the swing.

[dayll]

iacas: Sorry about the contradiction. It seems or feels that I hit the sand/dirt first and then bounce into the ball. If I bias my weight to the left side and hit down I get under the ball but hit low shots that run across the green. Probably I have screwed up things by now being way too wristy on all shots. I'm going to spend all the time I need today practicing in a bunker. It's no fun playing a round and fearing the sand. I shot 84 yesterday and was lucky enough to avoid any bunker although I was very nervous hitting two shots over huge bunkers to tight pins - I hit both shots clear to the other side of the green to be safe. Is it okay to designate a playing partner to extricate your ball from the sand for you?(I've done that recently and had the nerve to record a sand save on my card! That was good for a few laughs.) thanks again for the advice. -dayll

[dayll]

Thanks people for the imput - I took TP golf's advice and used a almost bounceless old 845 60 degree wedge yesterday and presto - got out high and soft! Out of a dirt-like bunker no less! duh? hey I never said I was smart.
Here's what worked - the above wedge, weight biased to left, quiet lower body, slow takeaway with slightly open face, firm left arm, hit sand/dirt well behind ball and finished high. Today I can't wait to get bunkerized! thanks. -dayll