You're Correct!

You can sometimes find yourself in a deep bunker with a really steep face. If you dont know the technique to elevate the golf ball up and out of the bunker, you could be in the bunker all day and wreck your scorecard.

You have all seen some of the worlds best pros in the famous Road Hole bunker at St Andrews need a few swipes to get the ball out of the bunker.

So how do you play the bunker shot to elevate the ball up and out of a deep and steep faced bunker?

Firstly, you need to use the most lofted club in your golf bag. This may be a lob wedge or a sand wedge. If the bunkers face is really severe, you then need to open the club face in order to aim the loft towards the sky. Make sure you open the face then take your grip. From the correct club selection and open club face, you then need to set up to the ball with the ball positioned forward in your stance. Having the ball forward will encourage the loft to stay on the club face, whereas having the ball back would de-loft the club face. A forward ball position encourages the loft to be retained through the hitting area and will aid in elevating the golf ball. You need to hit the ball high. Many players fall into the trap of leaning back at impact to try and help the ball up in the air. This leaning back is counter-productive and leads to hitting the sand too far behind the ball. You want your body weight forward favoring your lead leg, trusting the loft on the club face, and then make an aggressive swing in order to hit the ball out high.

If the shot is played correctly, the ball will elevate very quickly off the club face, land softly on the green with little roll out.

Bunker shots can be played from a square club face position. When it comes to playing from deep bunkers with steep faces, you need to add loft to the club in order to elevate the golf ball quicker. To add this loft, open the club face 45 degrees before making your grip.

By playing the ball back in the stance, you are encouraging an impact position where the club would be de-lofted. In order to elevate the ball higher and quicker to escape deep bunkers, you need to open the club face and also position the ball forward in your stance.

When hitting crisp, clean iron shots, you want the handle leading the club head to hit the ball cleaner and further. In order to hit the ball high from deep, steep faced bunkers, you need to almost let the club head pass the handle to assist in elevating the ball quicker.