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Hi Guys,

I'm really struggling with my greenside bunker shots
The ball JUST gets out of bunker clearing the lip and only goes a few yards.
In a nutshell what am I doing wrong ??

probably hitting them chunky and not finishing your swing.


open the face.


open your stance


swing


and finish with the club pointing toward the sky.

I agree you are getting too much sand. You have to open everything up to take advantage of the way the sand wedge is designed. The sole of the SW is made to work like the rudder of a boat where the leading edge with respect sole bounce angle will prevent the SW from digging in, or bounce. Sort of like skipping a rock over water. If the leading edge is down, the rock sinks, if the leading edge is up it skips. The trailing edge of the SW needs to be lower than the leading edge. So if you open the SW up th etrailing edge makes contact befor the leading edge does and skims along the surface of the sand and will not dig in.

The other keys are setup by placing the ball foward in your stance, het a couple of inches behind the ball and taking a thin slice of sand. But probable the most important spect is the hand action. The splash shot is very handsy. Many call it the "U" shot, meaning the hands hold off the club keeping the "L" angle between your arms and clubshafttill right before impact of the sand. It is like cracking a whip.

Remember what you are doing because you are hitting a perfect shot for a tight downhill pin.
While I don't necessarily disagree with dereckbc about the hands, be careful to not get "wristy" or loose in the hands. A bit firmer grip is better in order to prevent the sand from redirecting the clubhead. Practice is always the answer. Experiment with hitting at different swing speeds and different distances behind the ball, and remember to swing through the shot as others suggested; you are not trying to "lift" the ball out but swing through the sand.

hit the sand 2 inches behind the ball

Lot of good tips here. Mine is "be sure that your left shoulder clears and keep the lower half quiet as the shot allows ".

I think practice is the biggest key here. Greenside sand shots are in actuality one of the easiest shots to execute. The only reason they are hard is that they often aren't practiced and a lot of golfers are intimidated by them. The reason they are easy is that there really is a lot more margin for error on a splash shot than for say a wedge shot. You can be a little fat or thin on a sand shot and get pretty close to the same results with proper technique.

If you have a driving range nearbye with a practice green with a bunker, or a golf course with a practice bunker, go practice. You might find that in 10 or 20 mins you can get pretty decent results and get some confidence with this shot.

Start by just taking swings and trying to skim through the sand, taking out a stretch of sand about 1/2" deep and about 6-8" long. When I do this, I put a line in the sand across the target line, and try to have the club catch the sand 1-2 inches behind the line. Then start hitting some balls out. Try to catch the sand 1-2" behind the ball. Always make sure you follow through well and accelerate through the shot with confidence.

You can also just buy a bag of sand and a piece of plywood (so the sand is easy to pickup), and go out in your yard and practice taking good 'sand divots', and if you have room, hitting some balls.

I used to have a lot of trouble with these shots, then I spent 15 mins in a practice bunker, and now I'd much rather be in a greenside bunker than greenside rough. It can also be a good idea to practice with a Lob wedge and a Gap wedge for longer shots, and shots where you have to get it up fast.