How to hit out of vary hard bunkers (little sand)...

[cavemeister]

Always been a good bunker player, love to open up the wedge. But here in Maui at the muni the bunkers are hard and the wedge bounces and skulls the ball. What to do? Play a sort of chip shot?

Edited February 14, 2021 by cavemeister

[getitdaily]

Open club face less. Get steeper. Maintain speed through the sand. 

[jsn]

Square clubface usually works for me. I play one place that often has clay underneath a millimeter of sand.. that stuff I try to just chip it.

[Short Bucket]

The feeling of a little forward shaft lean and more speed at the bottom. You want to keep the leading edge from bouncing into  the ball.

[ColoradoMike]

I play ball first in bunkers like that, chip it. 

[toc]

I have the secret and I’m not going to help you. You, sir, can suffer at your Maui muni in February. 

[MonteScheinblum]

Square to closed face.....less speed.

 

Get an old wedge and hit a few off the cart path.  Less speed is key.

[golfsticks]

Less sand, less speed, squarer face.

Edited February 14, 2021 by golfsticks

[xmanhockey7]

Square face. Hit an inch behind it. Feel like a flip at it. 

[ThinkingPlus]

I will echo what others have mentioned.  Use lowest bounce wedge, face slightly open to square, hands ahead, and swing with less pace.  The club should feel like you are grating a hard cheese scraping a thin layer of sand starting just behind the ball and follow thru.

[Pepperturbo]

I play in Maui every year 2-3wks, just made our reservations for later this year.  I've played every public and private course on the island too. 

 

My wedges are set up to play all sorts of sand conditions.  My Vokey "M", 58' has only 8* of bounce.  Soft sand I open the face up flat.  Firm or hard sand bunkers I typically only open 58* just a little and play it similarly to chip/pitch shot.  If I have to throw the ball further, I vary the face angle of "F", 52*  with 8*, and for really long sand shots, even vary the face open of 47* PW with 8* of bounce.

Edited February 14, 2021 by Pepperturbo

[tthomasgolfer605]

 

[tthomasgolfer605]

A square face requires too much precision whether the sand his hard or soft. Like Lee Trevino said in the above video, you have to create sand.

[MikeW2]

2 hours ago, tthomasgolfer605 said:

 

I watched this years ago and I couldn’t state enough how much this helped me! 

[naval2006]

Best tip ever on how to play average muni bunkers. Lee is the ultimate man in the bunker.  

Edited February 15, 2021 by naval2006

[Obee]

5 hours ago, MonteScheinblum said:

Square to closed face.....less speed.

 

Get an old wedge and hit a few off the cart path.  Less speed is key.

 

Yeah, Monte, I would say less speed than you think you need, because the ball "goes" out of tight-packed and/or very firm sand with much less effort.

 

You still what whatever speed you apply to be applied in the right way (down and left on a bunker shot)m just less of it, right?

[Old Tom Morris]

During the early 2000s I used to play several courses with hardpan type lies in the bottom of bunkers.  I had a 58* wedge that I ground the bounce off completely, and replaced the weight with lead tape.      Worked for me but the club could not be used for full shots from good lies.

[Conner Golf]

Open club face, fairly steep, good speed, leading edge first a inch or two behind the ball then use the bounce to glide under the ball.

[cavemeister]

5 hours ago, tthomasgolfer605 said:

A square face requires too much precision whether the sand his hard or soft. Like Lee Trevino said in the above video, you have to create sand.

But these bunkers are hard--no sand....

[cardoustie]

64.07 Vokey ... barely open face

 

not sure what the modern grind equivalent is ... v ?

[phizzy30]

14 hours ago, getitdaily said:

Open club face less. Get steeper. Maintain speed through the sand. 

That works for most hard bunkers.  Over here in SoCal, many of the public courses have really hard bunkers.  It's not sand in them, but rather, clay.  They are so hard that the only way to get the ball out is to actually clip the ball off the surface by chipping or pitching.  Pretty sad state of affairs here in regards to bunkers.  I was playing Mountain Meadow in Pomona today and the bunkers were all over the place.  I would say that 80% were hard as rocks and 20% were really soft sand box sand.  Luckily I only had to hit out of 2 of them and had to chip out of one and blast one an inch behind the ball.  🙄

[b.mattay]

I hit it the same way as I hit regular bunker shots: 

 

Square to closed stance

Face open (maybe a little less open) 

Cover the inside quadrant of the ball 

 

Only difference for me is less speed. I actually like firm bunkers because you are guaranteed spin! 

[TheDeanAbides]

Use a wedge with less bounce. Our course used to have two types of bunker - deep and sandy and thin and bare. I carried a 60* wedge with 7* of bounce specifically for this shot. 

As Monte says, swing slooow and easy. There's a definite tendency to get anxious from tight lies, but the key is slow and steady acceleration. 

[Pepperturbo]

19 hours ago, tthomasgolfer605 said:

A square face requires too much precision whether the sand his hard or soft. Like Lee Trevino said in the above video, you have to create sand.

Agree!  It's all about face angle.

[Pepperturbo]

14 hours ago, cavemeister said:

But these bunkers are hard--no sand....

Watch the video above where Trevino hits from no sand, using what appears to be the heal

[ThinkingPlus]

5 minutes ago, Pepperturbo said:

Watch the video above where Trevino hits from no sand, using what appears to be the heal

Trevino scrapes away the sand to expose firmer ground, but he could still get his wedge to penetrate the ground and get well under the ball.  I think the OP is talking about bunkers where your wedge cannot really penetrate the ground or slide under the ball.  In these super hard bunkers, the Trevino technique won't necessarily work very well.  The club will just bounce off the tarmac instead of "creating sand".

[Lincoln_Arcadia]

On 2/14/2021 at 6:54 AM, toc said:

I have the secret and I’m not going to help you. You, sir, can suffer at your Maui muni in February. 

That was my first thought as well. LOL.
 

22 hours ago, MonteScheinblum said:

Square to closed face.....less speed.

 

Get an old wedge and hit a few off the cart path.  Less speed is key.

This ^^^
Sounds simple enough, takes a lot of precision to hit off a cart path. Luckily, a hard packed bunker is just a tad more forgiving.

 

5 minutes ago, ThinkingPlus said:

Trevino scrapes away the sand to expose firmer ground, but he could still get his wedge to penetrate the ground and get well under the ball.  I think the OP is talking about bunkers where your wedge cannot really penetrate the ground or slide under the ball.  In these super hard bunkers, the Trevino technique won't necessarily work very well.  The club will just bounce off the tarmac instead of "creating sand".

Wasn’t sure the Trevino example applied either? Open face on hard pan could end up  with disappointing results.

[tthomasgolfer605]

1 hour ago, ThinkingPlus said:

Trevino scrapes away the sand to expose firmer ground, but he could still get his wedge to penetrate the ground and get well under the ball.  I think the OP is talking about bunkers where your wedge cannot really penetrate the ground or slide under the ball.  In these super hard bunkers, the Trevino technique won't necessarily work very well.  The club will just bounce off the tarmac instead of "creating sand".

Time to find a different course to play on.

[glk]

Need to create a long flat spot.     Monte's advice of hitting off of asphalt/concrete is a place to start or find a really bare, firm tight lie off of dirt.   Can open the face etc and still do this with a high bounce wedge.   

 

 

 

iteach with 14* bounce wedge

 

Edited February 15, 2021 by glk

[TheDeanAbides]

7 minutes ago, glk said:

Need to create a long flat spot.     Monte's advice of hitting off of asphalt/concrete is a place to start or find a really bare, firm tight lie off of dirt.   Can open the face etc and still do this with a high bounce wedge.   

 

 

 

iteach with 14* bounce wedge

 

This is true. The ground over my field was frozen solid for the last few days and I could still hit high floaty shots with the club laid wide open. Just gotta trust the loft, release the club and accelerate sloooow.