Welcome to Play Smart, GOLF.com’s regular game improvement column that will help you become a smarter, better golfer.
I’ve been playing municipal golf my whole life. I was never a country club kid, and even the courses I practiced in high school were rough. Target ball with wear dents. The greens look like shag carpet. This is the norm.
These less-than-ideal conditions forced me to learn how to hit the ball, otherwise I wouldn’t hit the ball. Throw a high ball from the hard drive. Cut pieces out of the turf. The putt went through a crater on the green. You get it.
By the time I started working in golf and getting better practice facilities, I had taught myself a lot of handy shots. Yet, all these years later, I still can’t hit a shot out of a short-sided bunker from firm sand.
Luckily for me, one of our top 100 teachers, Joe Plecker, was a municipal kid himself. When I approached him to learn more about how to properly execute this shot, he quickly taught me his secrets.
A simple technique achieves impossible shots
I always get sick to my stomach when I hit short side bunkers with hard sand. I knew I was either going to slide the club into the back of the ball or overcorrect and grab too much sand and leave it in the bunker.
For hard sand, it’s important to get a steep angle of attack to get the clubhead into the sand and hit the ball out. But when you do this, it’s easy to snag the leading edge and trap too much sand.
To execute the shot correctly, Plec recommends setting up in two parts. First, you need a setup that produces a steep angle of attack. Second, you want to grip the club in a way that ensures the clubface is open.
For the first element, Plec says to lean your upper body towards Target.
“This upper body forward position will help us maintain a very steep angle [of attack],” Plec said.
After that, place your hands on the handle. Plec likes to see a very neutral hold on the dominant hand.
“I like to see your lead hand in a neutral position,” Plec said. “Imagine your left hand pointing directly below the top line of the grip. This is your skill position, meaning it’s much easier to twist the club open from there.”
From here, all you have to do is focus on twisting and screwing the club to the top. Don’t feel like you’re doing a full-body turn.
“That’s the secret to accurate bunker shots,” Plec said. “The first step is casting the club.”
If you do it correctly, the club will cut into the sand and pop the ball out of the bunker.
