You're Correct!

You may find yourself in a bunker in various lies and positions that will call for using different clubs in your bag. Sometimes you have a nice lie, sometimes a poor lie, sometimes a flat lie and sometimes an uneven lie.

Sometimes you need to hit the ball low and sometimes hit the ball high. Rather than modifying your technique too much, you can select a club to help you hit the shot you require.

So when should you use the lob wedge in a bunker? If you find yourself under a lip of a bunker and have to elevate and stop the ball quickly, then you need to select the use of your most lofted wedge, which is the 60 degree lob wedge for most golfers. To play a high bunker shot, you need to play the ball forward in your stance, opening the club face 45 degrees and make a smooth yet aggressive swing. If you make the correct contact with the sand, you should see the ball pop up high, land softly and may even produce some back spin on landing.

The limitations of using a lob wedge when playing a bunker shot is that it is difficult to hit the ball a longer distance. If you have a large portion of the bunker to carry over or a distance over 20 yards to the pin, then it is difficult to create both the height and distance to carry the ball far enough up to the hole.

When you find yourself in a greenside bunker and need to hit one of those high, soft landing short distance splash shots, grab your lob wedge to hit the ball close to the hole.

The majority of your bunker shots might be played using your sand wedge, but when you are required to hit a really high, soft landing bunker shot, you need to use your highest lofted wedge. Using the lob wedge for those high bunker shots will give you the best chance to pull off the shot.

There are times when the use of the lob wedge is essential to escape the bunker. If you find yourself stuck under a steep bunker face, you will require the use of a lob wedge in order to escape the bunker. Weigh up the shot and decide which club will help you play the desired shot.

If you stick to using just the lob wedge from the sand then you are handicapping yourself. The lob wedge is great for hitting those high, soft landing, short bunker shots, but those longer distance, running bunker shots are difficult to play with the high loft of the lob wedge. Use the correct club for the shot you want to play.