How Do Different Lies Effect Bunker Shots? (Video) - by Peter Finch
How Do Different Lies Effect Bunker Shots? (Video) - by Peter Finch

How do different lies affect different bunker shots? Now when you get into a bunker you won’t always have a perfect lie. Because of their nature they are hazards and they are there to catch players out and make it a more difficult shot. Now there’re a number of different lies you can actually get in a bunker but we’ll just narrow it down to a couple with a good lie and then a slightly bad lie. So it’s not quite setup in the sand it’s slightly buried down with a little bit of sand around it. Now with a good lie what you want to be doing is more of a sweeping motion through the ball, take a very fine carpet of sand from underneath, getting the ball lifted out nice and high, spinning quite a lot, stopping quickly on the green.

When it’s a bad lie it sat down slightly you’ll need a slightly different technique which will send the ball out a little bit lower with a little bit more roll. So if a ball is lying very, very well in the bunker you want to be opening up the club face by about -- if we’re up I’ll go 56 degree sandwich here, I’m going to open up by about 45 degrees just to add a little bit more loft on that. Then I can open up my stunts to match so the leading edge doesn’t point to the target and with a good lie I can be swinging up quite steeply getting in just before the ball and really collecting the ball very nicely with only a very small divot from the sand, get a nice elevation, a nice stop when it actually lands. So I can open up the club face quite wide, I can open with my stands put the ball at the front, take a wide swing and really just clip the ball away taking a very, very fine layer of sand from underneath the ball. Now if it’s a bad lie you might not have the option of taking that fine layer of sand you might have to move a little bit more and send the ball out a little bit lower. Now what you have to do there is just slightly adapt your stance. So rather than having the club face wide open just open it slightly, take a slightly open stance not as wide as when the lie was good, put a little bit of weight on the front foot and then keep the hands level or even slightly ahead of the ball. Now what this will do is it will increase the steepness of your angle of attack, it will take out more sand from behind the ball and get the ball lifting out with a lot more sand following. So it won’t land quite so softly and it will roll out towards the hole. So for this technique with a bad lie is a slightly open stance, only a slightly open club face, the weight a little bit forward, the hands slightly ahead, but then the same big swing driving down and into the sand and getting that ball moving. It would be a mistake for these shots to use the same technique no matter what the lie. You have to adapt your technique to match the lie. Just don’t get into a bunker and try and hit the same shot every time, assess the situation, and then match your technique to that situation. Just don’t jump in the bunker and use the same technique every time. 2014-05-23

How do different lies affect different bunker shots? Now when you get into a bunker you won’t always have a perfect lie. Because of their nature they are hazards and they are there to catch players out and make it a more difficult shot. Now there’re a number of different lies you can actually get in a bunker but we’ll just narrow it down to a couple with a good lie and then a slightly bad lie. So it’s not quite setup in the sand it’s slightly buried down with a little bit of sand around it. Now with a good lie what you want to be doing is more of a sweeping motion through the ball, take a very fine carpet of sand from underneath, getting the ball lifted out nice and high, spinning quite a lot, stopping quickly on the green.

When it’s a bad lie it sat down slightly you’ll need a slightly different technique which will send the ball out a little bit lower with a little bit more roll. So if a ball is lying very, very well in the bunker you want to be opening up the club face by about — if we’re up I’ll go 56 degree sandwich here, I’m going to open up by about 45 degrees just to add a little bit more loft on that. Then I can open up my stunts to match so the leading edge doesn’t point to the target and with a good lie I can be swinging up quite steeply getting in just before the ball and really collecting the ball very nicely with only a very small divot from the sand, get a nice elevation, a nice stop when it actually lands.

So I can open up the club face quite wide, I can open with my stands put the ball at the front, take a wide swing and really just clip the ball away taking a very, very fine layer of sand from underneath the ball. Now if it’s a bad lie you might not have the option of taking that fine layer of sand you might have to move a little bit more and send the ball out a little bit lower. Now what you have to do there is just slightly adapt your stance. So rather than having the club face wide open just open it slightly, take a slightly open stance not as wide as when the lie was good, put a little bit of weight on the front foot and then keep the hands level or even slightly ahead of the ball.

Now what this will do is it will increase the steepness of your angle of attack, it will take out more sand from behind the ball and get the ball lifting out with a lot more sand following. So it won’t land quite so softly and it will roll out towards the hole. So for this technique with a bad lie is a slightly open stance, only a slightly open club face, the weight a little bit forward, the hands slightly ahead, but then the same big swing driving down and into the sand and getting that ball moving. It would be a mistake for these shots to use the same technique no matter what the lie. You have to adapt your technique to match the lie. Just don’t get into a bunker and try and hit the same shot every time, assess the situation, and then match your technique to that situation. Just don’t jump in the bunker and use the same technique every time.