SW unpredictable behaviour

[Pe11e]

When the ball is stuck in a bunker and the hole is around 16y away, I know I must hit SW straight around 50% to 60% strength, But in some cases, sand bunker, SW straight shot, around 60% of strength, ball goes haywire and flies over 50 yards! So instead putting an easy short put, I end 50 yards away from the hole in rough or deep rough, adding 2 shots to my scorecard, if I'm lucky. Never found out the reason why that happens. I watch the graphic of the ball in the bottom left corner, how deep is in the sand, and I'm also watching terrain slope graphic. I think I found out the if the ball is on the high left or right slope, it will fly at least 50% longer, I'm really not sure.

So how do you guys read sand traps, and how do you know how long the ball will fly? Do you use straight shot or punch?


Thank you in advance!

[Danny D]

When the ball is stuck in a bunker and the hole is around 16y away, I know I must hit SW straight around 50% to 60% strength, But in some cases, sand bunker, SW straight shot, around 60% of strength, ball goes haywire and flies over 50 yards! So instead putting an easy short put, I end 50 yards away from the hole in rough or deep rough, adding 2 shots to my scorecard, if I'm lucky. Never found out the reason why that happens. I watch the graphic of the ball in the bottom left corner, how deep is in the sand, and I'm also watching terrain slope graphic. I think I found out the if the ball is on the high left or right slope, it will fly at least 50% longer, I'm really not sure.

So how do you guys read sand traps, and how do you know how long the ball will fly? Do you use straight shot or punch?


Thank you in advance!

This will most likely not make much sense to you at first, but if you work with it, you can get really good at greenside sand explosions.

To begin, don't worry about trying to hit snaps, or make precise swings, but rather try to get your distance by making the type of swings shown on my meter.

DO NOT get near the bottom snaps. The closer you hit to the bottom snap lines, the farther your shot will go. Also, the closer you get to the top snap line, the further your ball will go. Notice where my meter snaps are at top and bottom. This swing produced an approximate 50 feet in distance. If I want it shorter, I make a shorter backswing. A longer backswing will produce longer distances. The important part is making sure you don't get close to the bottom snap lines.

Now go to a greenside bunker with a fairly level lie and make a bunch of similar type swings like mine and pay attention to the distance you get. Then experiment with making longer swings at the top, and missing the bottom way short, like mine. Then experiment with taking shorter backswings, and hitting closer to the bottom snap line. It won't be long before you will learn how to control "approximate" sand explosion shot distances.

Don't worry about accuracy on backswings and bottom hits. Only pay attention to how much control you can actually get by varying these backswing distances, and missing the bottom snap lines real early. Just remember, if you over-swing at the top, or hit the bottom snap line, the ball will go much farther than you want. As far as target accuracy, just aim where you want to ball to go, and it will go that direction. Missing the snap lines has no bearing on the direction the ball will travel. Only the distance it will travel.

This is the method I have used for years, and I don't mean to brag, but sand explosions are the easiest shots to master of all other types of shots. Give this some practice, and thru trial and error you will soon become confident of what to expect distance-wise out of sand explosions.

One final note. This method DOES NOT work with buried or "fried-egg" lies. Generally a buried lie will fly twice as far as one that's not buried.

I use straight sots. Playing lofted or punch shots will simply take away, or add distance.

Good luck,

Dan

sand.jpg (854.68 KiB) Viewed 1115 times

[dko]

What seems likely to me is that you had a "buried" lie in the bunker. As Dan points out, and this does indeed make no sense, these shots fly crazily long in our game. If that is the case for your example, you either need to take a much shorter swing with your sand wedge or go to the lob wedge and still take a shortish swing to get the ball closer to the pin. And if your line is a downhill one, you may even have to loft the shot higher. It is just one of the vagaries of the game we love, and a shot that is very hard to practice since getting a buried lie near the green is a crapshoot.

[dko]

By the way, it seems this phenomenon with buried lies only seems to occur around the greens. If the ball buries in a fairway bunker, good luck getting it to go very far, at least in my experience.

[Pe11e]

When the ball is stuck in a bunker and the hole is around 16y away, I know I must hit SW straight around 50% to 60% strength, But in some cases, sand bunker, SW straight shot, around 60% of strength, ball goes haywire and flies over 50 yards! So instead putting an easy short put, I end 50 yards away from the hole in rough or deep rough, adding 2 shots to my scorecard, if I'm lucky. Never found out the reason why that happens. I watch the graphic of the ball in the bottom left corner, how deep is in the sand, and I'm also watching terrain slope graphic. I think I found out the if the ball is on the high left or right slope, it will fly at least 50% longer, I'm really not sure.

So how do you guys read sand traps, and how do you know how long the ball will fly? Do you use straight shot or punch?


Thank you in advance!

This will most likely not make much sense to you at first, but if you work with it, you can get really good at greenside sand explosions.

To begin, don't worry about trying to hit snaps, or make precise swings, but rather try to get your distance by making the type of swings shown on my meter.

DO NOT get near the bottom snaps. The closer you hit to the bottom snap lines, the farther your shot will go. Also, the closer you get to the top snap line, the further your ball will go. Notice where my meter snaps are at top and bottom. This swing produced an approximate 50 feet in distance. If I want it shorter, I make a shorter backswing. A longer backswing will produce longer distances. The important part is making sure you don't get close to the bottom snap lines.

Now go to a greenside bunker with a fairly level lie and make a bunch of similar type swings like mine and pay attention to the distance you get. Then experiment with making longer swings at the top, and missing the bottom way short, like mine. Then experiment with taking shorter backswings, and hitting closer to the bottom snap line. It won't be long before you will learn how to control "approximate" sand explosion shot distances.

Don't worry about accuracy on backswings and bottom hits. Only pay attention to how much control you can actually get by varying these backswing distances, and missing the bottom snap lines real early. Just remember, if you over-swing at the top, or hit the bottom snap line, the ball will go much farther than you want. As far as target accuracy, just aim where you want to ball to go, and it will go that direction. Missing the snap lines has no bearing on the direction the ball will travel. Only the distance it will travel.

This is the method I have used for years, and I don't mean to brag, but sand explosions are the easiest shots to master of all other types of shots. Give this some practice, and thru trial and error you will soon become confident of what to expect distance-wise out of sand explosions.

One final note. This method DOES NOT work with buried or "fried-egg" lies. Generally a buried lie will fly twice as far as one that's not buried.

I use straight sots. Playing lofted or punch shots will simply take away, or add distance.

Good luck,

Dan



sand.jpg

Thank you for a detailed clarification. Firstly, I'm not sure what bottom snap line is? Is it the main line to get a perfect straight shot? If so, you confused me with a statement that if you hit a shot before or after the snap line, the ball will not deviate. How? On every shot, even from the bunker, when I hit before bottom snap line, the ball is hit to the left. The more I miss the line, the more ball deviate from the target, logically.

Secondly, how can I recognize buried or "fried-egg" lies? All lies looks the same in the game, at least that is my experience. The only way to differ the lie is via the slope graphic. Also, what is "fried-egg" lie at all? :) I'm not familiar with all of golf terms.

So, the general consensus is to not aim for the bottom snap line as the shot will go further. But, again, how can I recognize the lie without any visual references? I don't know how to hit a ball if I can't see the lie.

Cheers.

[Danny D]

Thank you for a detailed clarification. Firstly, I'm not sure what bottom snap line is? Is it the main line to get a perfect straight shot? If so, you confused me with a statement that if you hit a shot before or after the snap line, the ball will not deviate. How? On every shot, even from the bunker, when I hit before bottom snap line, the ball is hit to the left. The more I miss the line, the more ball deviate from the target, logically.

Secondly, how can I recognize buried or "fried-egg" lies? All lies looks the same in the game, at least that is my experience. The only way to differ the lie is via the slope graphic. Also, what is "fried-egg" lie at all? :) I'm not familiar with all of golf terms.

So, the general consensus is to not aim for the bottom snap line as the shot will go further. But, again, how can I recognize the lie without any visual references? I don't know how to hit a ball if I can't see the lie.

Cheers.

To begin with, these tips only refer to short green-side bunker (or what is called "explosion") shots. With this type of shot, hitting to the LEFT or the RIGHT of the bottom "SNAP" line, will NOT cause your shots to be hit off to the left or the right of your target like would happen on full fairway or tee shots...

I'll try to repeat what I said before. The closer you swing to the top snap line, the further your shot will fly from the greenside bunker. Same goes for the bottom. The closer you swing to the bottom snap line, the further your ball will fly out of the greenside bunker. The swing that I made in this demonstration picture, made my ball go about 50 feet, or about 17 yards.

sandmeter.jpg (93.96 KiB) Viewed 933 times

The "SNAP" lines are the green ones showing in this picture. The thin yellow line is the sand snap line that you would try to hit from fairway shots, or bunker shots from long distances.

The thick yellow lines are indicators of where I stopped my backswing before it reached the top snap line, and then the lower one was where I stopped my downswing before it reached the bottom snap line. When I made this swing, I had my aiming marker set in the hole, and I actually hit the flagstick and bounced away about 4 feet. So to repeat my comment, missing the bottom snap line way to the left, does not cause your ball to come out to the left, like it would on a full fairway shot. Please don't be confused about that. I am describing a method of hitting short sand explosion shots around the greens only. Don't try to compare it to what would happen in the fairway.

I don't know how to show you a "buried" lie, or "fried egg" lie. The term "fried egg" indicates how it would appear lying in the sand. The ball will have a shadow of sorts surrounding it, and you will only see about half of the top of the ball, much like a fried egg would appear in a plate. A normal lie in the sand will allow you to see the entire round ball. If you can't see the entire ball, then most likely you are buried.

Generally balls will get buried when you hit long full shots into a bunker. Most of the time when you watch one land, it will stick into the sand right where it landed, and not bounce or roll around. If you see one stick tight exactly where it landed, odds are it will be "plugged", or "buried" or look like a "fried egg" with only the top part of the ball being visible. When you see one like that, then only take about half of the swing you would normally take, because those plugged/buried/fried egg balls will fly over twice as far as a non-buried shot will.

Perhaps someone else has a picture of a buried ball in the sand. I tried for a long time to make one happen, and finally gave up on it.

I hope this helped to clear up any confusion. Like I said, this will probably sound strange to you at first, but if you practice this type of an explosion shot from around the greens, you can get pretty good at getting up and down from greenside traps. Just pay attention to the lies before you hit.

Best wishes,

Dan

[Jimbo]

If you're buried in a fairway bunker (rarely happens I find that the best thing is to simply "take your meds" and play it back onto the fairway.

[pmgolf]

I don't know how to show you a "buried" lie, or "fried egg" lie. The term "fried egg" indicates how it would appear lying in the sand. The ball will have a shadow of sorts surrounding it, and you will only see about half of the top of the ball, much like a fried egg would appear in a plate. A normal lie in the sand will allow you to see the entire round ball. If you can't see the entire ball, then most likely you are buried.

Generally balls will get buried when you hit long full shots into a bunker. Most of the time when you watch one land, it will stick into the sand right where it landed, and not bounce or roll around. If you see one stick tight exactly where it landed, odds are it will be "plugged", or "buried" or look like a "fried egg" with only the top part of the ball being visible. When you see one like that, then only take about half of the swing you would normally take, because those plugged/buried/fried egg balls will fly over twice as far as a non-buried shot will.

Perhaps someone else has a picture of a buried ball in the sand.
Dan

Yes. Someone does. Mr Google. Do a "Google" search with these words: "fried egg lie in sand golf" and you will get definitions, pictures and articles about fried egg lies. Add the words "Youtube videos" and get links to videos about how to get out of sand IRL. (this is what my grandchildren do to figure things out).

But there is no substitute for practice. Go to "Practice" mode in Links and hit sand shots over and over until you understand how to do it. And better yet, borrow someone's sand iron and go to a golf course that has practice facilities which include a practice sand trap and teach yourself how to hit out of sand. Just reading about it is no substitute for actually working at doing it. And lastly, use your LW for sand shots - I find it easier to hit.

Pete

[Pe11e]

Thank you all for detailed explanations. It takes a bit of practice to get used to longer disstances on buried shots though, it negates any logic.