Blading or Skulling Bunker Shots?

Dewsweeper writes in that they are hitting too many bunker shots thin and bladed over the green can I help.
Lets start with what we are trying to do in a bunker shot. We are trying to hit a fat shot and hit the sand before the ball so that the sand will splash the ball up onto the green.

Most problems with bunkers I find come from poor ball postion. Most amateurs play the ball too far back which places the ball in the path of the club before the ball hits the ground or the sand in this case.

The fix: move the ball up in front of where the low point is supposed to occur. We’ve mentioned many a time here on the dewsweepers that the lowpoint should occur under the left shoulder if we simply put the ball forward of our left shoulder socket we can insure that the club hits the sand before the ball.

Also if you square the face of the sandwedge up it will make the leading edge dig the sand and act more like a shovel.

This will also help reduce the likliehood of the ball coming out thin or bladed.
That’s the Cleveland golf tip of the week.

Make Sure Your Setup Fits Your Shot

Make sure your setup matches the shape of shot you want to hit. Many times players will come to me and have too much fade, slice, draw or hook on their ball and be struggling to fix it.
I always start with the setup for these players as it is important to have a setup in which the alignment of your body matches the type of shot you are going to hit.

For example if you want to draw the ball you need a grip that for a right handed player will be slightly stronger with the thumb being slightly to the right of center. You want a square to slightly closed stance . You would want hips that are level to running up hill with your left hip slightly higher than your right at address.
You want square shoulders and from the down the line view you would want your left forearm visible over your right forearm.

If any of these components are off or are in the opposite position you are more setup to hit a shot that curves to the right.

Conversely if you want to play a fade your thumb should be more on the top of the shaft and your stance and shoulder may be slightly open. From the down the line view your right forearm would be higher than your left hiding it from your view. Your hips would be set level.
Remember to have the variables in your setup match the shot shape you are trying to play.
This will make it easier to control your shot shape and to hit better shots.