Trevino´s bunkerlesson

Yoda
Fun to watch and instructive, too. Thanks, Javier!
Uppndownn
Great link. Thank you.

UPP in stunning Ohio
12 piece bucket
Genius! Lee Buck is the best.
KAPLOWD
She should also watch "Yoda in Arabia".
powerdraw
hmmm.....sounds like a slash down hard on the ball, i'm a little confused with the bounce though....i thought we are taught to use it, he seems to say not too. can i get a clearer pic from someone please? thanks
ThinkingPlus
Originally Posted by powerdraw hmmm.....sounds like a slash down hard on the ball, i'm a little confused with the bounce though....i thought we are taught to use it, he seems to say not too. can i get a clearer pic from someone please? thanks
I am not the most qualified to answer, but I'll give it a try. I try to expose more bounce (open the face) in bunkers with deep, soft sand to prevent digging too deep . Conversely, in thin or very firm sand I setup with the face more square and minimize the exposed bounce. This lets you cut into the sand a little more. I also play all standard bunker shots with vertical hinging. IMO, you must read the sand (just like reading a green) properly to make the most effective use of bounce in a bunker.

The thing I found most intriguing was playing the ball back a little in the stance which seems to go counter to all the standard advice. I am definitely going to try that my next foray on the golf course.
Uppndownn
Moving the ball back and opening the blade just an eigth of a turn has remade my sand play.......(for this month).

Try it........you may like it!
ThinkingPlus
This seems to be a good approach. I played 9 yesterday and tried this approach in the first bunker I wandered into (really crappy 9-iron I hit from a side hill lie on the 8th). I played the ball just back of the middle of my stance, opened the club a bit, hit down behind the ball, and employed vertical hinging as I always do. The ball popped out nice and high about 20 yards to about 6' (yes I missed the putt - cost me an under par 9).

It felt as though I had greater distance control and did not have to swing as hard. I suspect with the ball far forward it was much harder for me to get much oomph into my sand shots. I also tended to hit them a little fat. With the ball back I felt like I had more control over where I entered the sand and subsequently did not have to swing near as hard. I practiced a little in the bunkers after finishing 9 and found I could make much easier controlled swings to vary my distance. Kind of amazing really out of practice bunkers hard as rocks. I think I'll keep this approach for awhile. It will be interesting to see if Natalie improves her bunker play as well.
Uppndownn
Steph,

Did you also happen to note that you felt more sand and less ball when you moved the ball back? I know sand shots are supposed to take all sand, and the sand carries the ball out, but until I moved the ball back in my stance, I usually felt the ball through impact. No more....... all sand now!!!
ThinkingPlus
Originally Posted by Uppndownn Steph,

Did you also happen to note that you felt more sand and less ball when you moved the ball back? I know sand shots are supposed to take all sand, and the sand carries the ball out, but until I moved the ball back in my stance, I usually felt the ball through impact. No more....... all sand now!!!
Yep. You are correct. I have on occasion had difficulty, especially when laying my sand wedge way open with slicing right through the sand and hearing a little click. This was no ball first contact, but with the ball so far forward I was not able to penetrate deeply enough in the sand to slide all the way under the ball. The wedge seemed to glide up too quickly (low point probably behind the ball rather than ahead). Of course those were not pretty shots as they tended to rocket out of the bunker with far more pace than expected.

Good catch, Uppd. BTW, I played 36 yesterday with continued success out of the bunkers. All (ALL) my bunker shots so far using this method have come out nice and high with good control. One sandy yesterday with a couple of close calls.
hardpan
Originally Posted by Yoda Fun to watch and instructive, too. Thanks, Javier!
Lee comes in to the golfsmith here in dallas where I'm the clubmaker and over a period of time has warmed up to me a little...he's not near as animated when it's one on one and no cameras He had brought a reshafted cally driver in to show me the new metal hosel and i started laughing when i saw all of his epoxied forever fingerprints all over the crown...he told about the ugliest club he ever owned...a Helen Hicks Wilson wedge that he used to win two British Opens...it was circa 1940's so it was old even in the 1970's...At Firestone one year, he had set it up against his car in the parking lot and then forgot and left it behind...when he went back it was gone...later on the range, J.Nicklaus walks up with his HH..Jack said he saw it sticking out of a trash can behind the clubhouse when he short cutted to the range and Recognized it 'cause nobody had a wedge that ugly..evidently a car lot attendant had seen it and tossed it ...Lee said he loved it because it had a dot/punch face rather than scoring lines and no matter how you laid the face, you always got a very predictable action..he said he designed and had built a wedge with the scoring lines at a slant so when opened the face, the lines would be more square to the target...his Helen Hicks wedge was later declared illegal because the there were too many dots per square inch...he also said he likes his wedges with a little more offset than usual and will take a 58* and bend it to 56* which increases the offset while reducing bounce...Lee is really really very interesting to talk to...he has great insight and knowledge and it didn't come from a book
Yoda
Originally Posted by hardpan
Lee comes in to the golfsmith here in dallas where I'm the clubmaker and over a period of time has warmed up to me a little...he's not near as animated when it's one on one and no cameras He had brought a reshafted cally driver in to show me the new metal hosel and i started laughing when i saw all of his epoxied forever fingerprints all over the crown...he told about the ugliest club he ever owned...a Helen Hicks Wilson wedge that he used to win two British Opens...it was circa 1940's so it was old even in the 1970's...At Firestone one year, he had set it up against his car in the parking lot and then forgot and left it behind...when he went back it was gone...later on the range, J.Nicklaus walks up with his HH..Jack said he saw it sticking out of a trash can behind the clubhouse when he short cutted to the range and Recognized it 'cause nobody had a wedge that ugly..evidently a car lot attendant had seen it and tossed it ...Lee said he loved it because it had a dot/punch face rather than scoring lines and no matter how you laid the face, you always got a very predictable action..he said he designed and had built a wedge with the scoring lines at a slant so when opened the face, the lines would be more square to the target...his Helen Hicks wedge was later declared illegal because the there were too many dots per square inch...he also said he likes his wedges with a little more offset than usual and will take a 58* and bend it to 56* which increases the offset while reducing bounce...Lee is really really very interesting to talk to...he has great insight and knowledge and it didn't come from a book
What a great post, Hardpan. And a great story about the Helen Hicks wedge.

Book or no book, Lee's the real deal. Thank you for your insights!