Greenside Bunkers - Getting out of the Sand

I have a tip on getting out of the sand that you're just going to love not matter if you're a new golfer or if you're a +3 handicap.

When you have a buried bunker shot, you either make a great big smash at it and the ball doesn’t move but a foot or two, or, if you happen to hit it out, it takes off on a line drive and it doesn’t have any backspin on it, and you whack it over the green.

The reason that you either have trouble getting out of the sand or skulling it over the green, is because on a sand wedge the trailing edge has a bounce on it. It’s a curve and it makes the leading edge sit up off the ground.

So, if you try to hit the golf ball out of a buried lie the conventional way, the back of this bounce will run into the sand and carom off the sand, and you’ll hit a skull.

What you should try to do; is the next time you’re getting out of the sand and you have a buried lie, put a little weight on your left leg, but tilt the handle over so the leading hits the sand first and digs into the ground.

It doesn’t matter how deep; you can bury it all you want. Ball in the middle of your stance, weight on your left leg, handle on your left leg, up and down, and it will pop right out of there. You won’t believe it. You’ll love this.

So, in closing remember this: getting out of the sand means you need to get the bounce off the back.

Bobby Eldridge is the Head Instructor for the PurePoint Golf Academy where he teaches "The Simple Golf Swing" theory. You can check out PurePoint Golf instructional DVDs at http://www.golfswingguru.com/index15.htm