Best Wedge for a Terrible Bunker Player

[JermWRX]

Bunker play was always the worst part of my game. It was anxiety ridden. The thought of leaving it in the bunker became a given. I just knew I’d either leave it in or pick it clean and skull it across the green. I tried all the standards. Vokeys, RTX, Mizuno, Glides, etc. I also tried the so called “bunker saviors”, the set up square and swing clubs. SmartSole and even more gimmicky, the C3i. Finally I figured it out. For me, anyway. Set up is always the same as long as it’s a green side bunker we’re talking about. Wider stance, dug in, ball off the front instep. 56 degree PM Grind wedge. It’s the only club I ever use in green side bunkers. So easy. It’s now to the point where I aim for bunkers if I need a bailout position because I know I can get it close. That would have been completely foreign to me 2 years ago. I would avoid bunkers at all costs. They’re still available at CPO and other secondary outlets. I haven’t played any of the newer high toes that have come out since the PM19, so I can’t speak to their effectiveness. I do know however, that I’ve bought 3 more PM19’s in 56 degree lofts just in case they never make them again. I don’t ever want to not have this club in my bag. Just my 2 cents from a guy who hated and feared bunkers for way too long. Good luck in finding your solution!

[ChipNRun]

2 hours ago, OspreyCI said:

Using a 60 PXG wedge with 9* of bounce.

If you have to get the shot 30 feet to an elevated part of the green, that's a great club to use. If you have a longer shot, terrible choice.

 

Getting out of bunkers: use a 54* or a 56* as your base club, unless you need to get up rather than out. A higher lofted club doesn't give you as much clubface time on the ball.

 

IF a bunker shot is longer than 40 yards, use a half swing with a GW to get it out.

 

Also, consider taking a bunker lesson. Obviously you are doing one or more things wrong. A good  instructor can you purge these problems much quicker than you can on your own.

 

2 hours ago, OspreyCI said:

Bladed every darn time!!

 

Ensure you are not looking up on the shots.

 

[Gamble Gamble]

I like the RTX full face and the PM Grind but almost any wedge with a 9*+ bounce will do well out of the sand.  If you play a place with no sand, check out monte's video on short game, if you play out of fluffy sand, check this out:

 

 

[PorkChopExpress]

Thump it behind the ball

[TheBiles]

How many lessons could you get for the price of a wedge? 

[hammergolf]

38 minutes ago, PorkChopExpress said:

Thump it behind the ball

Exactly

[hammergolf]

1 hour ago, Gamble Gamble said:

I like the RTX full face and the PM Grind but almost any wedge with a 9*+ bounce will do well out of the sand.  If you play a place with no sand, check out monte's video on short game, if you play out of fluffy sand, check this out:

 

 

This guy is one the best ever from the bunker….

[Strategery]

Lesson wedge.

[Sean124]

I see you also live in the Phoenix area. Are these bunkers with decent sand or desert hard pan with a dusting of sand?

[Phabs]

What sand?

[Valtiel]

3 hours ago, nsxguy said:

 

Then I watched some video and read about getting just a bit further from the ball and shallowing my swing. Much better.

 

I've also had the blading issue. If you're blading the ball, perhaps you're looking AT the ball ? The solution, at least in my case, was to focus on the SAND an inch or 2 behind the ball, NOT the ball itself. After all, we (mostly) strike what we're focusing on, no ?

 

Bon chance. 👍

 

2 hours ago, LukeDonaldsTiger said:

I second this. I watched a great clip by fellow WRXer @iteachgolf and he says lowering the body and hands allows for a shallower AOA and hence a longer, shallower divot.

Yup, agreed with these. Bunker play is SO much about technique that the only reason to ever focus on the equipment part is if you either have something drastically wrong e.g. using a PW when you should be using a LW, you play in either really soft or really firm sand and you have the wrong match in terms sole/bounce/grind, or you have the technique side down and are looking to augment your performance. 

I took my partner to the range a couple months ago (she does not play at all) and for fun tried to apply these concepts to see if she could get out of a pretty big bunker. It took at 6-7 shots, but she started splashing them out decently. 

The keys are:

1) Get LOW. Lots of knee bend. 
2) Swing flatter, like you're going under a table. A wedge is still going to have enough of a negative AoA to get underneath the ball. 
3) OPEN clubface. I kept cranking my partner's clubface open because like most, she couldn't quite get comfortable with the face being as open as it needs to be. That Luke Donald vid that @hammergolf posted above is not an exaggeration, get that face pointed skyward so you can use/enhance the bounce.
4) Keep the speed up. 

If you do all these things even close to correct, the wedge itself matters very little as long as it is in the ballpark. The softer the sand, the flatter you want to be (a wider sole wedge helps as well) and the firmer the sand, the more you can steepen a bit (keep the face open though!). 
 

2 hours ago, caniac6 said:

Vokey K grind 58% is a good one,

That's barely half a Vokey, I prefer mine 100% tbh. 😛

Edited November 13, 2021 by Valtiel

[Billfitz]

3 hours ago, LukeDonaldsTiger said:

I second this. I watched a great clip by fellow WRXer @iteachgolf and he says lowering the body and hands allows for a shallower AOA and hence a longer, shallower divot. This in turn gives you more room for error as the club doesn’t dig and you glide under the ball. See the link below. 
 

As for equipment, a 60/10 works for me but I’m not sure what grind is best. 56/14 for fluffy sand. 
 

 

+1. It's not the club, it's the technique. Bend the knees and lean to the left to get your weight on the left side. I don't even open the face when using my 60 degree on shorter shots. One of the most difficult things to do is to hit it full. That's to be expected, as you're concerned about going too long. What you should be concerned with is not going long enough. You won't go too long when you hit it full, because that's what gives backspin.

[Shushwap]

7 hours ago, toddba11 said:

Callaway Sureout

This right here.. It's just about idiot proof

[bvanlieu]

As ChipNRun and others have commented a basic bunker shot is played with any decent bounce wedge. Biggest thing I see with people who struggle in bunkers is they lack technique in two places (which I have learned from others and lessons in the sand myself).

 

Setup: folks already have commented on weight forward, bending etc...but also people when positioned in the bunker often don't have perspective where the ball is: you are managing the low point of the club to get under the ball, so that ball better be *forward*. People play it way too far back. They may think its forward, its not. I see it off back feet all the time. Sternum center point of your body is a good start, and since leaning forward again: that ball better be forward else you be digging

 

Finish: that's my swing thought personally. You work on getting that nice 'thwump' sound in the sand. This only happens by finishing the shot, getting the speed through the sand vs digging.  

 

Bit of speed, the club does all the work. I use a 60 PM grind for 10y or less shots which is about the average sand shot distance. Longer shot? grab the 56 use same swing and it flies lower goes farther. 30-40y shot? grab the 50 wedge. There is plenty of bounce, open it up a smidge. Others prefer just a 56 and are good at opening it a lot to play the shorter shots: nothing wrong with that. 🙂

 

I do not suggest you go Seve and start using a 7 iron. Yet. 🙂 

 

- b

[Davidv]

Just get a Callaway Sure Out2 and your bunker problems are a thing of the past. 

[cradd10]

Vokey K. Close thread 

[Tupperwolf]

I think this thread is going to do wonders for my bunker play, some really great advice in here. I don't have a practice bunker so whenever I'm in there I'm always a little bit unsure. I can usually get it out, but I've also struggled with blading it lately which has led to some fat shots as I try to avoid the blade. Great reminders about using the back edge of the bounce.

[strug'-a-ling]

If you're a really bad greenside bunker player, then your goal isn't sand saves but simply to be putting on the next shot.

 

Assuming soft sand, things like the Lovett and the Alien will get you to that point without your having to learn a proper sand shot.

You have to be willing to have a "sand only" club taking up a slot in your bag because they're pretty useless from a good turf lie.

 

Meanwhile, if you'd rather learn the sand shot, it isn't exactly rocket science.

You just have to be willing to go ahead and make the non-intuitive, unnatural feeling stroke.

It doesn't stay weird-feeling once you successfully make a few.

 

Now if you've got firm sand, it's just a hardpan shot where you have to get the ball over the lip.

Hard bunkers are enough reason for me to not play a course, however, so I don't know much about that.

[Billfitz]

When it's a hard pan shot I chip it just as I would off a tight lie. Where guys get in trouble with this shot is they get nervous and peek, which usually results in a bladed hit that doesn't clear the lip of the bunker. That comes from lack of confidence, which comes from lack of practice. Be it fluffy or hard pan if the only time you hit a bunker shot is when you're in a bunker you'll never get to be good at it. When you hit a bucket before a round you should be hitting as many balls out of the practice bunker as you do with driver.

[cgasucks]

13 hours ago, Gamble Gamble said:

I like the RTX full face and the PM Grind but almost any wedge with a 9*+ bounce will do well out of the sand.  If you play a place with no sand, check out monte's video on short game, if you play out of fluffy sand, check this out:

 

 

 

Very true.  One day for shitz and giggles I used my PW (with a 9 degree bounce) to get my ball out of a bunker on a round I was playing.  I bladed it at first but it forced me to shallow out my attack even further at the ball.  Once I got the hang of it, getting balls out of a bunker with a PW was a breeze.  Once I went back to my normal SW it was stupid easy since there was more bounce (and more margin for error).  From then on, I always practiced my bunker shots with my PW.  

Edited November 13, 2021 by cgasucks

[jdcadkin]

I have used both a Vokey K and D grind with success.  But the absolute goat out of the bunker is the TM Hi-Toe Bigfoot. 100% automatic. 

[Luke'sdad]

Old school Ping Eye 2 SW or LW. Your welcome.

[Nixhex524]

Best answer is to improve technique.  We all play different conditions in our bunkers so where one wedge set up may work really well, it may not work as well in another.  The bunker swing is different from any normal chip or pitch swing, where you are basically taking the club back away from your body then coming down across the ball, but hitting the sand.  It sounds goofy but this is by far my best season out of the bunkers since implementing this technique, granted there are a lot of factors that come into play but first on the list is getting the ball out and onto the green, then comes dialing in distance.  Keep the head down and hit behind the ball and DO NOT decelerate.

[elwhippy]

There isn't a wedge out there to fix poor technique. Have some lessons and practice. 

[Paintman]

Normally I play a traditional sandwedge (Cleveland 588) but sometimes I get the yips. So I bought a Cleveland smart sole wedge and just love it. Sometimes just having a different looking Club in your hand can Inspire more confidence. Plus with a design of that sole you have to use a pretty basic swing out of the Trap.

[Highlander 24]

Osprey you’ve helped me many times on this site and I have to say it’s not the club. Find a teacher you’re comfortable with and take a bunker lesson and work thru it. You got this!!

[BCULAW]

I’ve always been decent out of the sand, but I picked up a Vokey K grind a couple of years back and really struggled out of the bunker with it.  It was supposed to be a beast in the sand, but it just seemed to have too much bounce and sole width for me to use effectively. 
 

Then, it occurred to me - it is designed to not dig in the sand. If I TRY to make it dig, it won’t. Instead of playing my normal, open-faced splash shot, I turned the face down slightly (almost hooded) and made a swing intended to lead with the leading edge instead of the bounce. Almost like a chip shot, I entered the sand with a descending blow but the wedge would not dig. Instead, The K grind carved a beautiful slice right under the ball and the shot came out so nice and pillow soft onto the green. It was lovely. 
 

If you continue to struggle, find a wide sole, high bounce wedge and use a straight faced swing with a descending blow. It might be the trick you are looking for. 

[OspreyCI]

46 minutes ago, Highlander 24 said:

Osprey you’ve helped me many times on this site and I have to say it’s not the club. Find a teacher you’re comfortable with and take a bunker lesson and work thru it. You got this!!

Yea, that’s what I am gathering from this thread. I need a lesson. Rest of my short game is very good, just struggle in the bunkers. 

[mootrail]

The Smart Sole is amazing if you just want to square it up and get out of the sand.  Everywhere else it's a bit trickier.

 

If you're a better wedge player, the new Jaws Full Toe is excellent out of the sand and pretty much everywhere else.

[Highlander 24]

44 minutes ago, OspreyCI said:

Yea, that’s what I am gathering from this thread. I need a lesson. Rest of my short game is very good, just struggle in the bunkers. 

Honestly if you’re that comfortable with your short game try hitting out of the bunker like hitting out of long green side rough. Get a little more knee bend more weight on front foot and let your club slide under the ball and let the sand pop the ball up. On shorter shots stick with your 60 on longer shots same thing but use 56 but the lesson will also help.