Sand Bunkers

                Hitting out of the sand has always been one of the hardest things for anyone who has ever played golf. Not only because it is hard to get a clean shot, but also because you cannot get much distance, or accuracy. According to the book, How to Hit Every Shot (The Ultimate Guide to Shot Making and Scoring) there are two main types of sand bunkers. The first type is the fairway bunker, which a bunker in the middle of the fairway, usually about 100-200 yards away from the green. The second is a greenside bunker, which is a bunker that is usually 10 yards away from the green, 20 yards away at the most. Below, I will talk about the most efficient ways that you can hit out of the sand.

               There is the full swing, which is where you can place the ball in the front, middle or back of your stance. Either stance works, but usually it is best to line the ball closer to your back foot. It is most efficient to line up in the back of your stance because most bunkers have large lips that you have to hit high to get out of, so placing the ball in the back of your stance adds loft to your shot. No matter where you line the ball up, you take a full swing almost every time. You can take a full swing whether you are in a fairway bunker or a greenside bunker. From experience, I have learned that when you are in a fairway bunker it is best to hit the ball cleanly, trying not to hit a lot of sand. If you do not hit a lot of sand then you are able to hit the ball farther, which is important, especially in a fairway bunker. When you are hitting out of a greenside bunker, it is good to hit a lot of sand. The reason you want to hit a lot of sand is because then you can pop the ball up very high and not that far. This is good because you can land the ball on the green instead of hitting it far past the green.

               Another type of way to hit out is the flop shot out of the sand. The flop shot is placed in the front of your stance. The reason you place it in the front of your stance is to get a ton of loft on the ball. The best place to use this shot is when you are hitting out of a bunker with a very high lip. A high lip means you have to hit the ball higher than normal to hit it clearly out of the sand. The flop shot pops the ball up high and pretty short. “You usually want to use this shot when you are at a greenside bunker and the pin is close to you. This shot is never smart to use when you are in a fairway bunker because that means you will not hit very close to the green” (Golf Mag. 105).

               Above you can see a picture of a famous golfer names Phil Mickelson demonstrating the flop shot out of the bunker. In the “golfing world”, Phil Mickelson is known as one of the bests at hitting out of the sand and one of the bests and the flop shot. He chose to use the flop shot because as you can tell there is a big lip right in front of him that he has to hit over. Hitting out of the sand bunker is one of the hardest things to perfect as a golfer, so that is why most golfers just try there hardest to just stay out of the bunkers ;)