You're Correct!

If you observe a golfer of a decent ability when playing bunker shots, you will notice that their club face is open and the loft of the club looks like it is pointing at the sky.

The opening of the club face is doing two things to assist in escaping the sand - adding loft and increasing the bounce. The added loft on the club helps the ball elevate high and the added bounce assists the club head in gliding through the sand without digging too much.

So how much should you open the club face when playing a bunker shot?

This all depends on the type of shot you are trying to hit. Lets say when the club face is square, the toe points towards 12 o clock on a clock face. On a standard bunker shot, you want the toe of the club to point towards 1 oclock. So what do you do if you want the ball to fly higher? You need to open the club face even more, to 2 oclock. Make sure you open the club face before taking your grip. Those of you who arent used to seeing the club face positioned this way may be initially put off by the look of the face at set up. As the club face is now open and aiming to the right, you need to lower the handle a little and align yourself a hair left of target in order to hit the ball straight. Now make a swing, maintaining the added loft, slide the club under the golf ball and watch the ball pop up high.

Give this a go and see how much easier playing from the sand becomes.

Many golfers, especially those less skilled, all seem to play bunker shots with a square club face and try to lift the ball by hanging back through the shot. When playing from the bunker, you want to open the face and align yourself a hair left of the target in order to hit those high controlled bunker shots.

When opening the club face, you need to set the face open before taking your hold on the grip. If you just opened the face by rotating the hands whilst still holding the grip, you arent changing the club faces relationship to the hands, and the face is likely to return back to square during the swing.

The only time you may advise the club face to be closed at set up when playing a bunker shot is if the ball is badly plugged or really sitting down. Closing the club face reduces the soles bounce and allows the club head to dig deeper into the sand and get under the golf ball when plugged.