You're Correct!

Many amateur golfers find normal bunkers shots very difficult to play and when the sand is wet they sometimes downright panic!

However, like all other bunker shots, playing from wet sand neednt be a painful experience and can in fact become successful and controllable. When it rains the sand will become more compact. This is important to understand as the composition of the sand will affect how the club interacts with the ball. Wet sand will want to grab and hold the club more than dry sand; therefore, golfers need to attempt to take less sand. Taking less sand will cause more back spin to be produced and therefore more control.

When faced with a wet sand bunker shot, use this technique:

• Open the blade of your club slightly. When playing out of wet sand, use a wedge with relatively low bounce, no more than 12 degrees. The higher the ball needs to go, the more the club face should open.
• Once the club face has been opened, take your grip and hold the club slightly down the handle. Holding the club more firmly with the back two fingers of the top hand will keep the club face open.
• The body should open until the leading edge of the club points towards the target.
• The ball should be positioned just forward of center in the stance. This is because players need to enter the sand about an inch before the ball (in normal dry sand golfers should enter a couple of inches before).
• The swing should be made along the body line, hinging the wrists upwards which will help a player enter the sand just before the ball on the down swing.
• Enter the sand an inch before the ball and skim beneath the ball. Dont stop and accelerate through the ball.
• The swing thought should be to skim through the sand and not dig.

Hitting bunker shots from wet sand can be scary but using the correct technique and committing to the shot can help golfers get up and down.

Because the sand is wet, hitting down hard into the sand could cause the club to dig down deep and not come out the other side! A shallower angle of attack and skimming motion through the ball will produce the most consistent results.

Although digging down into the sand is not advised, players still need to skim the ball out on a fine layer of sand. This will require entering into the sand just before the ball. Trying to hit the ball clean out of sand is always dangerous and leads to difficult distance control.

Bounce angle on wedges is designed to help guide the club up through the sand and not let the front edge dig in. When the sand is wet golfers attempting to skim the ball up and out of the bunker could be hindered by a large amount of wedge bounce and start thinning the ball. Try to use a wedge with less than 12 degrees of bounce.