You're Correct!

Poor ground contact when playing from a bunker is fairly common amongst golfers. Most will be making contact by hitting the ball both too fat and too thin.

So what is a fat and a thin? Fat and thin are golfing terms for hitting too far behind the ball, too fat, and hitting the ground too much after the ball, thin.

When you are playing bunker shots, you actually want to hit the ball fat. To play quality bunker shots, you want the club head to enter the sand a couple of inches behind the ball. Hitting two inches behind allows the club to slide under the ball in order to splash the ball out safely on to the green.

If you make contact too far behind the ball then you will run into problems in the sand. If the club enters the sand a foot or so behind the ball, the club head will slow down through the sand and run out of speed. This loss of club speed will result in the ball only travelling a few yards and it is highly likely you will be playing your next shot from just in front of you.

So why are you hitting the sand too far behind the golf ball? The most common fault is that the player is hanging back on their trail leg and trying to lift the ball in the air. Hanging back and scooping at the ball will lead to the club head bottoming out too early. This results in hitting the sand too far behind the ball. Keep your weight favoring your lead leg and hit down and through the sand to escape the ball on to the green with ease. If you can control the clubs entry into the sand, you will then be able to control both the trajectory and height of the shot.

If your weight is too far forward and the handle is leading too much at impact, you will struggle to get the club head to slide under the ball. The result of leading too much with the weight and handle will cause the ball to be hit before the club enters the sand. Thin bunker shots are likely to be produced. In the bunker you want the club head to enter the sand a couple of inches behind the golf ball.

If you are not taking enough sand in the bunker, you are likely to be thinning the ball into the lip or sculling the ball out of the bunker and over the green. You want the golf club to enter the sand a couple of inches behind the ball and take a dollar bill length of sand out from underneath the golf ball.

Hitting the golf ball with the leading edge of the club is known as thinning the golf ball. When you thin the golf ball, you will either hit the ball into the lip of the bunker or scull the ball over the green. To play a bunker shot, you want the club to enter the sand a couple of inches before the ball, slide under the ball and splash the ball on to the putting surface.