  When
you’re in a deep bunker, your primary concern should be hitting
the ball high enough so that it clears the lip, therefore, you’ll
need your most lofted wedge. If your most lofted wedge is a sand wedge,
you’ll have to open it up. I recommend you open the face of your
lob wedge, as well. Height is the key. When you open the face of any
club, the leading edge will face to the right of your target. Therefore,
when playing this shot, aim left of the pin so that the face on your
wedge points at the target. As far as ball position is concerned,
play it off the instep of your left foot, yet close to your body.
You want your hands in nice and tight on this shot. The reason why
is that it makes it easier to hinge your wrists—the key swing
component for this shot. These aren’t power shots, they’re
finesse shots, and a choked grip will give you better control of the
clubhead. As you start your swing, move the club away from you, with
your arms, hands and torso moving together. Hinge your wrists immediately,
all the while keeping your right elbow tucked close to your right
side. On the downswing, make sure to swing along your toe line, that
is, to the left of the target (remember your open stance). The combination
of the open clubface and cut swingpath will send the ball high into
the air.
To get the ball up quickly from a deep bunker lie, open the face
and your stance and swing along your toe line. A quick hinging of
the wrists should dominate your backswing.
Maintain constant acceleration through the shot—don’t
hit it and quit. That’s a sure-fire way to leave the ball in
the hazard. Aim for a spot a few inches behind the ball and move
the clubhead underneath it at a constant rate of speed. I’ve
yet to mention the lower body. That’s done for a reason. The
deep bunker blast is an upper body-dominated motion. You should
allow your lower body to follow your hands on the downswing, but
you’ll experience the best results if you keep your legs as
quiet as possible during the backswing.
A missed green is a missed green, even if your ball happens to
wind up just a few feet from the putting surface. Good players will
often find themselves in this situation, with a good lie on close-cut
grass and but a few feet away from the putting surface. A great
play from here is the putter. Even if there’s 20 feet between
you and the green, if the grass is tight, opt for the putter. Your
first choice may be a wedge, but the bounce on a wedge can force
the club to carom off tight lies and send the ball scurrying across
the green. Plus, there’s an age-old adage in golf that says
it’s always easier to control a ball on the ground than in
the air. I believe this to be true. The best part about this shot
is that you already know how to execute it. Just be careful not
to forward press too much. This will decrease the amount of loft
built into the putterface and force the ball to potentially jump
offline. The average putter loft is four degrees, which is needed
to get the ball rolling over the grass end-over-end as soon as possible.
One last recommendation is to keep your normal putting grip, but
make sure not to over-hit with the right hand. This is a common
error when trying to execute this shot as the golfer believes he
or she must hit the ball hard to get it through the grass. Simply
make your normal putting stroke, with constant acceleration and
easy tempo. For longer-length shots, just take the putter back a
bit further, low to the ground, both back and through. If you’re
just a few feet from the pin, tighten your grip a bit. For longer
shots, go ahead and loosen your hold. You’ll be amazed at the
results. Experiment with this technique using 3-woods and 5-woods.
When the grass is a little longer, or if you’re playing late
in the day, the greater loft of these clubs will help the ball navigate
the longer blade lengths.
When you miss a green, your ball will usually come to rest in some
deep grass either to the side or long of the green. Thankfully,
we don’t play in U.S. Open-style conditions everyday, so the
typical deep grass greenside lie won’t require a chop shot
or blast. What’s normally required is a crisp, controlled pop
on the ball via a slow, smooth swing.
Set up for the shot exactly how you’d set up to hit from a
deep bunker, that is, with an open stance, with the face of your
wedge slightly open, with a choked-down grip and with the ball played
forward and close to your body. If you have lots of green with which
to work, take a longer backswing; short shots require a shorter
swing. In either case, break your wrists at the start of the takeaway.
It’s likely you won’t have to swing past hip-high in the
backswing. The true key on the deep-grass chip is to hit down and
through. The clubhead should still be traveling on a descending
arc as it strikes the golf ball. How’s this done? It’s
done with your hands. Forget about your legwork and rotation and
clubface position. Simply move your hands back with a hinge of the
wrists on the backswing and power the club back to the ball with
your hands. The only real requirement is to keep the clubhead traveling
on a line that parallels your toe line.
Once contact is made, don’t stop your swing, but don’t
continue to a full finish, either. On these delicate blasts, it’s
okay to stop your swing post-impact, when the shaft and your lead
arm once again form a straight line. By doing so, you’ll put
an extra bit of spin on the ball to better control it once it lands
on the green. I like to play these shots where the ball lands three-quarters
of the way to the hole, takes a jump and then spins to a stop with
a slight trickle forward to the cup. Bumping and running can be
used here, too, but in my opinion, trying to run the ball all the
way to the cup will keep the golfer from hitting cleanly down on
the ball, which is paramount to success.
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