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My sand play is pretty decent up to ~ 120yds out.


But when I have to use anything lower than a 7-iron I'm gauranteed to "duff it". I usually get it out of the sand but the ball goes nowhere.

Just wondering if anyone has some thoughts or tips for me to consider. I know I need to pick the ball clean but I just can't seem to do it for some reason.

Fortunately I'm pretty accurate w/ my tee shots so I don't have to hit out of the fairway traps more than once every five rounds or so. But when I do, it's like automatically adding a stroke or two to my score.

Choke up about 1/2-inch on the club.
Ball slightly behind the middle of your stance.
Steep angle of approach.
And most importantly, hit it HARD.

Thanks, Dormie!

I currently do none of those things (besides swinging hard).

I don't think Dormie meant "swing hard". That's a recipe for disaster unless you're very, very good. In addition to playing it back and choking down a bit, I also take an extra club or 2. My swing thought is to keep a quiet lower body, with minimal leg action. I picked this up from Tom Lehman on TGC awhile back and it's really helped me pick it clean more often as I am a digger with my irons, usually. FWIW...

That's my problem as well. I can hit my irons cleanly if I need to but it requires me to take a few practice stokes (which you can't really do in a bunker).

Thanks for the tips!!

You actually still have to have a descending blow. Trying to pick it clean will worsen things because either a) you will hit it thin trying to keep the club from touching the sand or b) you will hit it fat trying to swing up on the ball to get it into the air. A "down and through" swing is needed in the bunker because the ball will settle in it's own little crater.

What I do is dig my feet into the sand for traction, choose 1 more club, choke up on the club about a half inch, and swing smoothly. You will be surprised that a smoother swing with that extra club from the sand will go the same distance. Some people use quiet legs, but I still find that you still need to move your weight toward the target, and you can't do that with legs that don't move.

All that advice is really good. I would add one more thing. If you are right handed, aim a little to the right as your tendency will be to hit a slight pull because you are not shifting your weight. Took me a few bunkers to realize this once I started using the technique described above.

No, I don't mean swing hard. You want to keep the lower body pretty quiet. I mean that you have to be sure to put a good hit on it. As in, not decelerating. If you decelerate here, the ball is going nowhere, you'll probably leave it in the trap.

This is absolutely right. You need to make a decending blow on the ball is if it were in the fairway. I've found that if I hit the ball correctly with the decending blow out of the fairway bunker, with my normal aggressive pass at the ball, it will fly nearly the same distance as it would from the fairway.

I didn't say no leg movement, but minimal as in less than a normal shot and I agree that you need a descending blow. I thought that goes without saying with all iron shots, but, at least for me, making the same pass from a fairway bunker that I would from the fairway does not work. I'm not sure why but my guess is that it has something to do with the difference in resistance between the sand and the turf where a more descending blow pinches the ball between the clubface & turf at impact. I'm not questioning you guys so much as saying that this method has worked for me and since I started using it, fairway bunker shots no longer rattle me. Thanks to C-Tech for the tip on pulling it. That has been an issue occassionally.

your swing has to go down thru it, but only slightly - if you think about swinging down thru it you'll go down thru it too much. It depends on your swing - some people really dig it out on the fairway, which only works from a bunker with perfect timing. Here's how to maximise the odds of a good shot:

Here are the main things:
1. firm stance and not too much leg movement.
2. ball just a tiny bit (1 inch) further back in stance. no further or you'll swing differently from normal.
3. you don't need to grip down necessarily, but if you do just a tiny bit - again, keep it as close to a normal shot as possible.
4. take the club back as low to the ground as possible (without swaying). you'll come back along this shallow angle of attack, and a shallow angle means even if you don't time it right you'll only catch a tiny bit of sand and it'll still go a long way. Take it back low, and on the downswing try to take a foot long, very shallow divot, starting an inch after the ball.

5. MOST IMPORTANT! pause at the top, and start down slowly. You shouldn't try to hit this shot hard (unless you're already a long bunker shot god). If you just make a clean contact the ball will still go a long way i promise you! It's hard to make yourself do this, but as with many things in golf, once you do it once you'll believe it works and it'll become easier and easier to do.

If you still hit it fat then you probably just have a bad swing or bad timing. You can compensate a little by taking the club back inside and swinging flat (like a draw swing)... but the ball will come out lower which isn't really hwat you want - tho better than a 30yard mishit!



I always follow these 5 rules, and have hit a slightly open faced 5-iron from close to the face of the second fairway bunker at augusta to the middle of the 18th green (this year, after they made the bunker deeper!), and a 3 iron from the left hand fairway bunker of the 10th at pebble beach to about 10ft, so it clearly works! The main thing is overcoming mentally the urge to snatch at the ball. Forget the sand and it's just a normal shot with a shallower angle of attack.

I hit it like a punch shot. Ball back in stance, short back swing, extra club or two. Works pretty well for me.

oh... and one other thing - about the quiet lower body... you keep it quiet, but you must still transfer your weight or else you'll have to compensate by aiming right as the man says.
- if you dont transfer your weight back too much you wont have to transfer it forward too much. That's the secret to a quiet lower body. Not moving it at all will stop you getting power. - quiet, not silent!


-and yeah the punch is the easiest option - only works tho in america! try doing that at carnoustie and your ball will disappear into the face and never be seen again!

Great stuff- thank you, flash and everyone else!

A punch shot? I never thought of that....I'm actually very good at hitting those, so it might work.

Careful with that punch shot. If there's any lip at all on the bunker, plan on wasting a few more strokes in there...