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Buried Lies

Not long ago on television there was a tour professional committing the same mistake from a greenside bunker that amateurs are notorious for making. He was taking a big, long swing from a plugged lie. It was clear that the reason this shot was shown was because it was a blooper. The ball went about two feet and rolled back to where the pro was standing.

What did he do wrong?
When your ball is buried (fried egg) in the bunker, you do not want to swing long and follow through. The idea is to swing your sand wedge up abruptly on the backswing, then steeply on the downswing, and finish the swing by sticking your club in the sand and leaving it there. Your ball will pop out if you do this. It won’t have any backspin on it because of the poor lie, but it will have a good chance of getting out of the sand.You want a steep angle of attack and no follow through on this shot so the club can get underneath the ball. With part of the ball resting below the surface of the sand, you need to get underneath it. That is where a short, steep, punchy type of swing works best.

A typical bunker shot calls for an open stance, an open clubface, and a shallow swing while taking a little bit of sand. That will not work with a plugged lie, regardless of how hard you swing. Your club will be approaching from too shallow an angle. You will hit the sand to the right of the ball, instead of hitting the sand underneath the ball. Thus, your club will bounce, or deflect into the ball. Worse yet, you will plow too much sand into the back of ball and it will hardly move.

Here’s what's recommended from a buried lie in a greenside bunker:
Set up with a squarer stance. Square the clubface a bit also. This will allow for the leading edge to enter the sand first. Pick the club up steeper, and then swing down steeper and stick the club in the ground. Hit about 1-3 inches behind the ball. You can swing hard, just don’t follow through. You won’t be able to follow through if you make the correct swing, because you will be coming down so steep. This is not a shot that you will face a lot, but it is still worth practicing. Go to a practice trap and step on a couple of balls to bury them a little. Then hit some shots.

Experiment a bit. Especially get the feeling of that up and down "chopping" motion, and that no-follow-through release. By doing so, you will find that it is not that hard to get out of a buried lie in the bunker.

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Chipping: Club Selection

You don’t always need a perfect technique to be a good chipper. In fact, many times it’s the golfers who have the best imagination and the softest hands who end up being the best. More than this, however, is that good greenside chipping can be obtained by doing something that doesn’t take much talent at all, and that is the ability to select the proper club. Doing so will give you confidence and the ability to focus solely on the shot at hand.

This sounds very simple, doesn’t it? After all, it’s just another club, right? Let’s see…Driver off the tee, 3-iron from 200, 7-iron from 150. How hard can it be to select the correct club around the green? The problem is that it is difficult for many golfers. When they are on the practice ground, they often bring about five separate irons to chip with. Many of them will even bring their entire bag over to the green. All of these clubs is the root of the problem. Any more than one club for chipping is unnecessary.

Even though there are different views in the golf world over this, it’s best to learn with one club if possible, so you know and feel comfortable with how the ball comes off that particular one.To better understand this, let’s look at chipping a little closer...First of all, chip shots are those played from right off the green. Most are known as "bump and runs." (Don’t confuse them with pitches, which are lofted shots with a sand-wedge. That’s for another tip.) Many golfers have been taught over the years to get the ball on the green as soon as possible and let it roll to the hole. There is nothing wrong with this. The issue is when golfers go about playing different length of chips with an assortment of clubs. They hit a 9-iron if the flag is twenty feet away, 8-iron for thirty feet, 7-iron for forty feet, etc. You should choose ONE club to hit all of your "bump and runs" with, and adjust for the distance with the force of your swing.

It can be a 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, wedge, or sand wedge. That doesn’t matter much. A great tour player, Phil Mickelson, likes to use his sand wedge in just about every case. He will play the ball far back in his stance with his hands way ahead. On the other hand, Corey Pavin sometimes uses a 5-iron around the green. He just taps it and the ball rolls across the green with little backspin. These are extremes, however. You should pick a 7, 8, or 9-iron. Many golfers like to use a 9-iron for chipping. They know how the ball is going to come off the club because that’s the one they practice with all the time.

Summary
The art of chipping is hard enough without having to master four or five clubs. Practice with a couple of clubs at first. Hit short "bump and runs" from the fringe, then longer "bump and runs" from in front of the green. From there, decide which one you like better, which one you can control the spin better with, and ultimately which one that you can control the distance better with. Master this one club approach and your chipping will improve dramatically.

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Learn more about the #1 rated golf instruction book in the game today, 1 Step to Better Golf.