Correct Shot From A Buried Lie Greenside Bunker - Senior Golf Tip (Video) - by Dean Butler
Correct Shot From A Buried Lie Greenside Bunker - Senior Golf Tip (Video) - by Dean Butler

So we’ll talk about this how to play a buried greenside bunker shot. Now just imagine that ball is buried, we’ve got to carry that lip of that bunker, so the first thing, the most obvious factor is look at your back. In my case here I want a plus 60 degree lob wedge, not my 54 which is my sand wedge, the ball is buried so I’m going to go for a nice high lofted golf club here. And on this club here I got very, very little bounce because it’s buried I want to go in, I don’t want my club to hit the sand and to bounce back up.

Now typical sort of bunker set up would be with the ball positioned slightly ahead of sensor the club hovering behind the club face square to open and then we come in and have a nice splash up. But this is a buried lie so it’s a little bit different, we need to dig. So how do we go about it? The first thing is we’ve going to put the ball position back. When we put the ball position back it makes the swing become more steep it’s more steep it goes up and it goes down. Well we want that because we’ve got to dig the ball is buried, we’ve got to get underneath it we can’t go in trying to scoop it out we just won’t succeed we keep topping it. So ball position back in the stance. The second thing I want you to do is I want you to hold the club nice and tight with the top two fingers, that’s your ring finger and your little finger. This helps to prevent the club face from closing as you make impact with the sand. Keep your hands nice and high, we use lots of leverage here so get your hands nice and high on the grip but not off the grip, ball position back. Now just to help you dig into that sand a little bit more, what I want you to do I want you to just close the club face ever so slightly. This is going to basically create a bit more of a spade effect a bit more of a digging effect. So put that club face down a little bit close but remember to set yourself up aligned for that flat. Put your feet square, put the ball back in your stance and your hands forward, now there is the set that we want. Now from here I want you to focus on about two inches behind the ball not one inch as you’d hear normally. There is a very fine line between getting it perfect and just catching that ball and we don’t want to hit that ball, it will go too far or hit the face. Two inches behind, from here I want you to hinge your wrist pretty quickly so swing the club back and I want you to basically pick that club straight up, and I want you to think about hitting down, I want you to dig, it’s just like an punch shot. I want you to focus on picking that club up, break the wrist and hit down. So from here, break the wrist and you could here that sound off the mat, our ball has gone very high for something that is supposedly closed but that sound like you heard of this mat would it be not causing a sound so we’ve got to come in vertical, we’ve got to dig we’ve got to explode, it’s that sand, it’s that cushion, the sand that froze the ball out. You mustn’t make contact with that ball. So remember put the ball back, hands forward, hands up nice and high, top two fingers nice and tight and from here let’s get a nice wrist break, let’s pick that club up, come in two inches behind and hit down and through. And remember when that ball comes up because with the loft of that club face when that ball comes out it’s not going to have a backspin on it, it’s going to release, it’s going to land, it’s going release. So remember to allow for that. If you’ve got a bunker shot, try and get it on the foot of the green just let it release so because it will have some roll. That’s your best way of playing a buried greenside bunker lie. 2013-12-12

So we’ll talk about this how to play a buried greenside bunker shot. Now just imagine that ball is buried, we’ve got to carry that lip of that bunker, so the first thing, the most obvious factor is look at your back. In my case here I want a plus 60 degree lob wedge, not my 54 which is my sand wedge, the ball is buried so I’m going to go for a nice high lofted golf club here. And on this club here I got very, very little bounce because it’s buried I want to go in, I don’t want my club to hit the sand and to bounce back up.

Now typical sort of bunker set up would be with the ball positioned slightly ahead of sensor the club hovering behind the club face square to open and then we come in and have a nice splash up. But this is a buried lie so it’s a little bit different, we need to dig. So how do we go about it? The first thing is we’ve going to put the ball position back. When we put the ball position back it makes the swing become more steep it’s more steep it goes up and it goes down. Well we want that because we’ve got to dig the ball is buried, we’ve got to get underneath it we can’t go in trying to scoop it out we just won’t succeed we keep topping it. So ball position back in the stance.

The second thing I want you to do is I want you to hold the club nice and tight with the top two fingers, that’s your ring finger and your little finger. This helps to prevent the club face from closing as you make impact with the sand. Keep your hands nice and high, we use lots of leverage here so get your hands nice and high on the grip but not off the grip, ball position back. Now just to help you dig into that sand a little bit more, what I want you to do I want you to just close the club face ever so slightly. This is going to basically create a bit more of a spade effect a bit more of a digging effect. So put that club face down a little bit close but remember to set yourself up aligned for that flat. Put your feet square, put the ball back in your stance and your hands forward, now there is the set that we want. Now from here I want you to focus on about two inches behind the ball not one inch as you’d hear normally. There is a very fine line between getting it perfect and just catching that ball and we don’t want to hit that ball, it will go too far or hit the face. Two inches behind, from here I want you to hinge your wrist pretty quickly so swing the club back and I want you to basically pick that club straight up, and I want you to think about hitting down, I want you to dig, it’s just like an punch shot. I want you to focus on picking that club up, break the wrist and hit down.

So from here, break the wrist and you could here that sound off the mat, our ball has gone very high for something that is supposedly closed but that sound like you heard of this mat would it be not causing a sound so we’ve got to come in vertical, we’ve got to dig we’ve got to explode, it’s that sand, it’s that cushion, the sand that froze the ball out. You mustn’t make contact with that ball. So remember put the ball back, hands forward, hands up nice and high, top two fingers nice and tight and from here let’s get a nice wrist break, let’s pick that club up, come in two inches behind and hit down and through. And remember when that ball comes up because with the loft of that club face when that ball comes out it’s not going to have a backspin on it, it’s going to release, it’s going to land, it’s going release. So remember to allow for that. If you’ve got a bunker shot, try and get it on the foot of the green just let it release so because it will have some roll. That’s your best way of playing a buried greenside bunker lie.