Playing from A Buried Lie in a Greenside Bunker

playing from a buried lie

No golfer likes to see their ball land in the bunker.  However, some lies can be favourable and escaping is fairly straight forward but there will be other times when your ball is buried in the sand and this makes escaping more difficult.

Today we have some tips for playing a ball from a buried lie in a greenside bunker.

The first thing you must do is refrain from getting angry with the situation.  As soon as you allow your emotions to get out of control, the less your chances become of making a great escape shot.  There is nothing you can do about the lie of the ball and the fact it is buried.  Think about this as a chance to show what you are capable of producing when faced with a tricky greenside bunker shot and accept the challenge.

When playing from a buried lie in a greenside bunker, settle into your normal stance for a bunker shot, which means a nice wide stance and work your feet a little into the sand to make sure you do not lose balance on the shot.

However, you need to close your stance slightly on this shot and that means your feet will be aiming a little to the right of the target for a right handed golfer and to the left for a left handed player.

From this position, line up the club face with the hole and then close it slightly, so it is aiming a bit to the left for right handed players and to the right for left handed players.  This will help to get the leading edge of the club to dig into the sand and get under the ball rather than the sole of the club skidding across the sand.  If you allow the sole of the club to skid across the sand you will catch the ball thin and there is a good chance the ball will remain in the bunker.

When playing the shot, you should be aiming to hit down into the sand about two inches before the ball.  This will result in a nice, soft shot and the ball will not race away when landing on the green.  Do not be afraid to hit this with power.  One of the most common mistakes when the ball is buried is to play the shot with the fear the ball is going to travel a long way.

If you set up correctly and play the shot as described, the ball will not travel a great distance but will rise out of the bunker and leave you in a good position for your putt.