Sand shot on uphill lie, loose sand...help

[chilly]

The other day I had a pretty simple sand shot, good lie on an upslope. I'm not a great sand player by any means, but competent. I proceeded to leave the shot in the bunker, then barely get it out from this lie. Nobody pushing me so I worked on it and kept having the same issue, the club would dig and I'd barely get the ball out of the bunker even though I was taking a pretty big cut at it.

I thought that I had too much weight forward and was "digging" into the upslope so I tried to make my shoulders parallel with the slope, but that didn't really help.

What am I missing, figured a ball on the upslope would make this an easy shot.

[Tifosinumerouno]

How open did you have the clubface and what club were you using? For a sand shot on good sand like that, you need to really open up the face and your stance. I've seen it said you need to open up 45 degrees to the target, then open the face of the club to where the sole is lining up to the toe of your front foot. This activates the bounce which should push the club up through the sand (similar to skipping a rock on a pond) and forces a wave of sand up and out of the bunker with your ball along for the ride. You have to use a club with a good sole on it (like a sand wedge or lob wedge) however, or it will dig into the sand more (like a 9 iron). Also, having a square face will make the club dig down into the sand,naming you "chunk" the shot.

[chilly]

Should have mentioned, 56* w/12* bounce. I open it about 30* open to target I'd guess...basically should have been plenty to get it through the sand. Not sure if I had my stance open enough, the uphill lie made it feel awkward, I'm usually ~45* open stanced in sand, pretty "normal" setup I guess. I should also say, due to it being so hot and dry down here, the sand was very loose...like fine beach sand. As I said, seemed no matter what I did the club would dig and I'd get nothing on the ball...I hit 1-2" behind the ball.

[double_j]

I would have recommended making sure that your shoulders were aligned with the slope but it sounds like you already did that. It sounds like you're still swinging at too much of an angle relative to the lie despite correcting your shoulders.

Make sure that you're matching your swing to the slope as well. I don't mean to hit 'up' on the ball - I mean to make sure that you're delivering the clubhead parallel to the ground just as you would on a flat lie. Try to 'thunk' the back of the club into the sand.

For flat sand lies, my main swing thought is 'quick wrists'. For uphill sand shots, it's 'shallow hands', and for downhill it's 'don't hit this sucker thin!'.

[zeg]

It can be hard to judge the entry point in the sand when you're on a slope, and it can be hard to maintain shoulder angle even if you set up correctly. I have a tendency to pull my left shoulder down a bit, and that causes a fat shot and driving INTO the bank rather than along it. Otherwise, I find the uphill lie the easiest since you get plenty of help getting the ball up, and usually it means you're near the edge of the bunker so a long carry is not necessary.

I personally don't like having a wide open stance/clubface for a sand shot. Perhaps a touch open, but IMO lining up the super-wide-open stance consistently is tricky. Have a look for Stan Utley's method and you'll find what I think is a simpler, more repeatable approach. It's certainly not the traditional bunker splash, but I think it's easier, and it is closer to what I had found worked for me on my own.

[boogielicious]

Saw some great tips from Lee Trevino on sand. Even thought the lie is uphill and you align your shoulders to the slope, you need to keep your weight on the left leg. This quiets the stance and allows you to hit exactly where you want to. If the weight transfers back during your backswing, you'll take too much sand and be short. Lee also recommends keeping the club face open past contact and not turning the face over. Lee said he learned from Gary Player, who would have him practice sand shots on his left leg only.

I've worked on this and improved my sand shots alot. It is very similar to Stan Utley as well.

[Zeph]

Ball forward in stance, a ball or two inside the left foot. Body parallell to the ground.

Also, try aiming straight, not opening the stance and club. When you do this, you add a lot of loft on the club, making it easier to glide the club right under the ball.

[Kieran123]

I would go with what Zeph said



That may not be as uphill as yours, but I remember in the Arnol Palmer Invitational Ernie had an uphill sand shot, and he was relatively closed in his stance with a closed clubface

[chilly]

Practiced this shot in my club's practice bunker last night. Basically, made sure to keep it forward in my stance, and also making sure the club was very open. If I kept it square, the leading edge seemed to dig harder going into the upslope and would just kill momentum. Club open let the sole glide through the sand a little better.

[muggs]

man...Ernie is YOUNG in that vid...

I'm actually pretty decent out of bunkers for my handicap (a lot of my approach shots find them). I was going to say, keep your weight on your left side, and really try to "thump" the club into the sand behind the ball. Really use the sole to play the shot. When you hit a bunker shot right, you'll hear it.

[SpringBokVol]

"it's a piece of cake. It's not all that hard."