Today’s lesson is on using the correct club in a greenside bunker and it is not always the sand wedge. In fact, this is the worst club to use in the situation we will talk about today.If you play golf on a course with some large greens you will run into this scenario quite often over the course of a season. You have landed in a bunker, have a good lie, but there is a lot of green between you and the flagstick.

Most people I see who have trouble with this shot automatically take out the sand wedge every time and have trouble getting close to the pin over and over. Instead of the sand wedge, try using your pitching wedge or even a 9 iron if the shot is a bit up hill.

                       The Long Bunker ShotNow take a nice easy swing as if the pin was just on the green and see the ball come out lower with more run on it. Because of the lesser loft on the pitching wedge you will not have as much spin on the ball and it will run out much better.

I liken this play to the chip and run you have around the green. You know how easy this shot is compared to lofting the ball in the air all the way to the pin.

One last thing on this particular play – you do not have to open the face up as much as you do on a very short bunker shot. The more you open the face of the club, the more loft you are adding. The whole idea of this shot is to have a little less than normal.

Put this into your game on long greenside bunker shots and you will see quite a few shorter putts and lower scores.