The fix for Face not opened to suit the sand

Fixing a clubface not opened to suit the sand

What is actually happening

How far the face is opened decides which part of the club meets the sand. Open, the sole's bounce skids through and the sand carries the ball out. Square, the leading edge digs, and in firm sand it bounces off the surface instead. The right amount depends on the sand under the ball, so one setting used everywhere is wrong in half of the bunkers on the course.

Target line
Body and swing line, aimed left of the target
Clubface, open to the target
The fault, held first

Face open, body aimed left

The fix

Look at a sand wedge from the toe, club soled: the back edge of the sole sits lower than the leading edge, and that step is the bounce. Opening the face turns more of that sole toward the ground and lifts the leading edge off it; leave it square and the leading edge goes in first. That choice decides whether the club skids under the ball or knifes down into it, and how much you want depends on the sand you are standing in. Written for a right-handed golfer; left-handers mirror every direction.

On a greenside splash the club never touches the ball: it enters the sand an inch or two behind, passes underneath, and the sand thrown forward carries the ball out. To do that it has to stay in the sand and keep moving. An open face keeps it moving, because the wide sole planes along under the ball. A square face digs, and a digging club slows and stops before it gets through.

Which mistake you make depends on the sand, not the swing. Firm, wet or shallow sand has a hard base close under the surface, and a wide open face bounces the sole off it: the club skips instead of entering and the leading edge catches the middle of the ball, the low screamer across the green. Soft, deep or fluffy sand gives the sole nothing to bounce off, so a square face sends the leading edge straight down. The club buries itself, the swing stalls, and the ball comes out short or stays in.

Test the sand before you choose. Working your feet down into it is allowed, since you are taking your stance, and they tell you most of what you need: something solid half an inch down is firm and shallow, sinking and still sinking is soft and deep. What you may not do, once your ball lies in that bunker, is touch the sand with a hand or club to test it, and a practice swing must not touch it either, so rehearse outside the bunker. Your eyes fill in the rest: damp, dark sand packs.

Open the face before you take the grip, never after. Hold the club in front of you, turn the face open with the handle loose in your fingers, then close your hands in their normal position and build the stance around that. Set that way it stays open through the swing. Twist your hands on a club already gripped and they unwind to where they are comfortable, squaring the face at the moment you wanted it open. Then allow for aim: an open face sends the ball right of where the club swings, so aim your body left to balance it. More face open, more body left; the swing runs along your toe line, the face at the flag.

There is no single setting. Firm, wet or shallow sand wants the face barely open and a shorter swing, because less sand comes with the ball. Dry sand wants the leading edge clearly right of the target, the body aimed left to match. Soft, deep or fluffy sand wants it wide open, the body further left, and a longer swing. Read the marks before you rake. A shallow, wide saucer starting an inch or two behind the ball is the shot working. A narrow trench stopping under the ball says the edge dug and the face wanted opening; a skid starting at the ball says the sole bounced and it wanted squaring.

Keep this separate from the two entry faults. Going in a hand's width behind the ball, or not going in at all, asks where the club meets the sand; this asks which part of it does. You can pick a perfect spot an inch behind the ball and still bury the leading edge in fluffy sand with a square face, or skid off a firm base with a wide open one. Both instinctive repairs go the wrong way: after thinning one out of hard, wet sand, opening the face further makes the sole bounce more, not less; after leaving one in fluffy sand, squaring the face and hitting down buries the club deeper.

Drills

Work through them in order. Each one says what it needs before you start.

Three settings, same sand
In a practice bunker, draw a line in the sand at right angles to the target line and set each ball an inch or two in front of it. Hit five with the face barely open, five with it clearly open, and five with it wide open, making the same swing and looking at the line each time. Before raking, compare the marks: a shallow saucer starting on the line is a pass, a trench that stops under the ball or a skid that begins at the ball is a fail. Success is finding the setting that passes on four of its five. Repeat the whole drill in a different bunker, and again after rain, so you know both ends of your own course.
Needs nothing but a club
Open it, then grip it
Away from the sand, hold a wedge out in front of you, turn the face open with the handle loose in your fingers, then take your normal grip and sole the club to an imaginary ball. Photograph the address position from face-on. The leading edge should point well right of the target while your hands sit in their usual place on the handle, neither turned under nor on top. Do ten, and a rep counts only if you did not adjust your hands afterwards. When ten in a row pass, take it into a practice bunker and hit ten balls, checking the face on a photo every third one.
Needs A phone
Two lines, one target
In a practice bunker, lay one alignment stick on the sand along the line your toes will take, aimed left of the flag, and put a tee in the grass beyond the bunker on the target line so you can see where the ball should start. Open the face, build your stance on the stick, and hit ten balls swinging along the stick rather than at the flag. Success is eight balls that start at the tee rather than right of it, with sand landing on the green. Then open the face further, move the stick further left to match, and hit ten more, so you feel how the two move together.
Needs An alignment stick and a tee
Feet in, then call it
Before every shot, work your feet into the sand and say out loud whether it is firm or soft, choose the face setting that suits your call, then hit the shot and read the mark before raking. Ten balls, and use at least two different bunkers, or one bunker before and after watering. A call counts as correct when the mark is a shallow saucer starting behind the ball. Success is eight of ten. Then take the same routine to the course, where the feet and the eyes are all you are allowed, and make the call part of the walk in.
Needs nothing but a club

Browse every drill on the site

Practice plan and log

Practise this fix, day by day

Keep a dated log of every session against this fix, so in a few weeks you can read back whether the change has taken instead of trying to remember.

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Or turn this fix into a practice plan

With a free account, the drills above become a 14-day plan: the setup checks and the first drill for three days, then the next drill, a rest day every fourth day, and a re-test on the last day that sends you back through the questions. Each day is a short list to tick off at the range, with reminders by email or in your calendar if you want them.

How the 14 days run

Day 1Ten balls as a baseline, then the setup checks and the first drill
Days 2 to 3The first drill again, one checkpoint and one feel a day
Day 4Rest, as are days 8 and 12
Days 5 to 11The next drills in turn, each warmed up by the one before
Day 13Every drill once, then every checkpoint
Day 14Re-test: the baseline again and the questions for your symptom

Checkpoints

What to look for to know whether the change has taken.

Before raking, the mark is a shallow, wide saucer starting an inch or two behind where the ball sat, rather than a narrow trench or a skid beginning at the ball.
A face-on photo at address shows the leading edge pointing well right of the target while your hands sit in their normal position on the handle.
Your toe line points left of the target by roughly as much as the face points right of it, and the swing runs along that toe line.
In firm, wet or shallow sand the face is nearer square than the one you use in soft, dry sand, and you chose it after working your feet in.
The strike sounds like a thump with sand landing on the green, not a click with the ball leaving low and fast.

Feels

A feel is not a description of what the club does. It is whatever gets your body to do it, and a correct change usually feels exaggerated long before it looks correct.

The face is looking up at the sky and you are swinging along your toes rather than at the flag.
The wide back edge of the sole slides under the ball like a spoon under an egg, and the sharp edge never touches anything.
Your hands sit where they always sit, and the clubhead is the only thing that turned.

Symptoms that lead here

Each of these can resolve to this cause. If the page above does not match what you are seeing, start from the symptom instead and let the questions narrow it.

If this is not it: causes that produce the same shots

What this rests on

Search for the Perfect Swing: The Proven Scientific Approach to Fundamentally Improving Your GameAlastair Cochran and John Stobbs, for the Golf Society of Great Britain, 2005 reissue, originally 1968
The Physics of GolfTheodore P. Jorgensen, University of Nebraska, 1999, second edition; Springer reprint 2013

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