What's Your Sand Save Percentage?

[bkuehn1952]

If you track your greenside sand/save percentage, what is your typical save percentage?  Mine bounces around between 20-25% over the course of a year. I feel I have reached a level of competency.  I do not "fear the sand" and expect to get out of almost any lie and on the green, just not always close enough to seal the deal.  

For much of my golf life I was not confident in the sand.  Most of the ranges did not have practice bunkers so I rarely had an opportunity to practice.  Plus the moderate price courses I play often have few sand bunkers.  Lack of experience and/or practice made visits to the sand perilous to my score.

[Club Rat]

I love sand, most times I give myself a chance to save a shot.

 

[mchepp]

I went looking to my Game Golf profile for this information and didn't find it. Or at least didn't easily find it. So my percentage is from previous stats software, but I am decent but not great from the bunker. I notice that I am not very good when facing an uphill bunker shot around the green.

[Dave2512]

That's the one stat that really bounces around due to infrequency. I've been as high as 100% and as low as 0%. Just really tough to gauge for amateurs because most aren't near greens with approach shots enough for it to make sense and most, if they're smart play away from bunkers.

I am a decent from the sand but I fear crummy bunker conditions more than anything. Fairway bunkers I hit often greenside bunkers maybe once every 10 rounds. So if I look at my sand saves it could say 67% meaning I got up and down 2/3 in 30 rounds. Three months later it may be considerably lower for the same reason.

[Golfingdad]

5 hours ago, mchepp said:

I went looking to my Game Golf profile for this information and didn't find it. Or at least didn't easily find it. So my percentage is from previous stats software, but I am decent but not great from the bunker. I notice that I am not very good when facing an uphill bunker shot around the green.

Yeah, I couldn't find it either.  I haven't been logging rounds anymore anyway, so it wouldn't be up to date.  But if I had to guess, I'd say that my percentage is probably no better than 20-25%.

Honestly, I'm still of the mentality that I already lost the stroke when I hit it into the bunker, so now let's just make sure I don't lose another.  I still try to avoid getting too cute coming out of a bunker.  I just make sure to get it on the green.

(Made a birdie after an 80 yard approach from a fairway bunker last week though) 

[Dave2512]

FWIW GG isn't great at tracking sand saves due to the limitations of GPS and iffy mapping. Usually have to move the tag until the mapping picks it up.

[Fourputt]

I picked 5-9.9%.  That's probably a bit generous on the percentage, but I don't typically have any problem getting on the green, and often within the 10 foot range.  It's just that the less likely combination of making a good bunker shot and making a 5-10 foot putt on the same hole drops my save percentage pretty low.  I don't keep stats on it so this is just an estimate.  For all I know, my percentages might be in that range.

[Missouri Swede]

Golfshot tells me exactly: 2.5%

Some statistics are better left unknown 

[MrFlipper]

7 hours ago, bkuehn1952 said:

If you track your greenside sand/save percentage, what is your typical save percentage?  Mine bounces around between 20-25% over the course of a year. I feel I have reached a level of competency.  I do not "fear the sand" and expect to get out of almost any lie and on the green, just not always close enough to seal the deal.  

For much of my golf life I was not confident in the sand.  Most of the ranges did not have practice bunkers so I rarely had an opportunity to practice.  Plus the moderate price courses I play often have few sand bunkers.  Lack of experience and/or practice made visits to the sand perilous to my score.

I'm just over 20%, about 1.5 greenside bunkers per round. Been about this level of conversion for many years, even when my handicap was much lower. 

I'd say for where our handicaps are, we are about where we should be.  And I now play moderately priced courses mostly too, the quality of sand is inconsistent, as well as the amount. Playing out of bunkers with a small amount of sand and hardpan underneath, that you aren't that familiar with, is something that I struggle with, but it doesn't happen often enough to really practice it much. If I can't get it out onto the green first try to within 15-20 feet at worst, I'll start practicing sand shots again.

[Patch]

Mine is probably less 15%. Then again, I am pretty good at avoiding sand traps, so I don't see that shot very often. When I do find myself in the sand, I can get out most of the time. Just don't have much control on where the ball ends up in relation to the pin. 

[saevel25]

Very bad, but I rarely get into a bunker anyways.

[DeadMan]

Mine is 18%, including fairway bunker saves. Greenside save % is probably closer to 15%, I'd guess. 

I'm in a bunker a little over once per round, so it's not much of a priority for me. Fairway bunkers don't really bother me - maybe they cost me a 1/4 of a stroke. Greenside bunkers aren't a strength, but the vast majority of the time I get out of them and have a reasonable par putt. That's fine. If I played courses where I was in greenside bunkers more, I'd definitely work on that skill more.

[14ledo81]

I'm usually happy to get on the green and down in two, if I find myself in the sand.

[dave s]

I get OUT 90+% of the time, but up and down only about 10% of the time.

It's the 90/10 rule, I think. 

 

[David in FL]

I don't track stats, so I'm guessing, but although I'd consider my sand play to be one of the more solid aspects of my game, I'd estimate 20% or so.  This is one stat that I think a lot of people think they're better at than they really are.

[Pete]

I'm pretty much spot on 1 in 3 so only just in the 30 to 44.9 range. My home course bunkers aren't that difficult though (not very deep) so I'm probably not as good out of bunkers generally as this stat would have me believe.

[DeadMan]

50 minutes ago, David in FL said:

I don't track stats, so I'm guessing, but although I'd consider my sand play to be one of the more solid aspects of my game, I'd estimate 20% or so.  This is one stat that I think a lot of people think they're better at than they really are.

I was actually surprised that my sand save percentage was as high as it was. I don't consider myself a good bunker player at all, but 18% is actually better than my normal scrambling percentage.

[Joe from MD]

Myself I'd like to see previous players take more care raking. Where we play you're more than likely to be stymied by foot marks,  rocks and lousy maintenance. I've played on some courses where the sand traps are immaculate and it definitely makes you odds of getting out much better and your stress level  lower.