Cant get out of the sand nicely anymore??

[kleraudio]

So I bought a new 56* sand wedge with 12* bounce, and now when I try to hit 1-2 inch behind the ball, the club hits the sand and just bounces right into the ball, it doesnt dig, I catch the leading edge and end up hitting it WAAAy past where I want to..

I have an old sand wedge that I was dangerous with, but i cant get out of the sand with this one....

Is 12* too much bounce? Not sure what my old one is as it doesnt say, but I can get right under the ball with that one, no matter what the sand is like...

Any tips, maybe my swing changed, I dunno, I keep it rather steep of a swing when Im in the sand...

Thanks! Hope I made some kind of sense!

Jim

[kennay92]

was the sand fluffy or compact.. if its fluffy and it was doing that, idono try taking maybe a less agressive swing at it and be sure the face is way open and open stance.. if its compact whip out the 60 degree( or 58 if you dont have the 60)

[Dub]

The sand condition makes all the difference in the world.

First hole yesterday I watched my 2 playing partners hit driver to bad spots.

I pulled out a 3 wood and hit the fat part of the fairway....safely...effortlessly. I hit 4 hybrid into the green, carrying a waste hazard...nice high shot....but it landed into a greenside bunker.

Used my SW to get out.....bad mistake. The sand (clay) was wet and packed down. All the SW did was exactly as you described...spanked into the ball and rocketed it accross the green into another bunker. Coast-to-coast on the first freaking hole...a hole that should have been an easy par!

I went back and pulled LW, opened the face and focused on following through the shot. Worked out much better than the first. That was some firmly packed mess on the first hole.

Throughout the round I found a few bunkers. The key for me was to properly evaluate the sand's density and decide on the correct shot prior to stepping in there. A couple of times I didn't make the decision until after addressing the ball and what occured was a half-arse attempt. Things progressed much better after taking a decisive swing.


I think you are doing well with 12 degrees of bounce. I sure wouldn't want any less for a SW. That is one shot that I know I should practice more, but I never seem to do. My "practice" consists of real-time use....that is not the best way, I assure you.

[DaSportsGuy]

I actually prefer to be in the sand over being in the rough a couple feet off the green. When I'm in the sand I don't think about it, I just go in there and take a good cut at the ball. Half the time when I'm in the rough just off the green I either leave it way short or overthink it and try and make sure I don't leave it short and shoot it accross the green no more than two feet off the ground.

For a while I would take a half swing and not even get it out of the sand. Then the guy I play with alot told me to take a full swing at it for once so I tried it and ever since then my shots out of the sand have been absolutely fantastic.

[Dub]

Played 18 holes today and did find myself in 3 bunkers.

One was a fairway bunker placed in a dogleg on a 420yd par 4, our number one hcp hole. I cut the corner a tad close and landed in it.

4 hybrid out of this long, but low lipped bunker. I didn't keep the legs still and wound up misshitting it...but it did come out and advance the ball 75yds.

A 9 iron and two putts for a bogey.


The other two occurences were in greenside bunkers. First was a nice lie in fluffy sand to a pin some 40ft away. Results okay but two putted afterwards for another bogey.

Second occurance was maddening. I hit a low bullet (almost bladed) PW through a green 140yds. Ball barely entered a bunker behind the green. The green sloped back-to-front pretty sharply. I opted to chip out of it. It was't pretty (weakly struck chip)....ball came out and hung up on fringe....leaving a fast putt downhill. Ran it 8ft past....missed the comebacker a couple of balls wide.


My next round will hopefully be on Monday. I desparately need to get a practice session in first. I'm hoping for some bunker work first. Gotta try to watch the Phil Mickelson short game DVD again on Sunday night or early Monday morning!!!!

[Where's the Cart Girl?]

Yea I use my 56.12 on every green-side sand shot. The above posts are right on with judging the sand making a big difference, and with that you might want to adjust your angle of attack.

I feel like in fluffier sand you have to be more aggressive through the shot and shallower with the strike than in compact sand. And I would say that I prefer to play a shallower swing on anything up to like an 8/10 level of compactness. I hardly ever get steep on a sand shot unless I'm in some real ugly stuff.

Practice, practice, practice. I'm sure my RAC wedge reacts/plays different out of sand than your HWT or the next guys Vokey; even if they're all 56.12's. The key is to learn the subtleties of your wedge, and the only way to do that is practice. Once you get the right feel in your hands all thinking will go out the window.

[cody west]

i hit 14 deg. bounce. try not to take so much sand and try to accellerate mre through the ball. just focus or pushing the club through the sand. this is not like a fairway shot where your not neccessarily trying to slam your club into the ground. in the sand your always trying to slam your club into the sand