Playing out of a fairway bunker is a very scary and thus difficult shot for most amateurs. I have even had PGA Tour players and mini tour pros run into trouble playing this shot. Problems with this shot, like hitting all golf shots, usually start from setup.
The most likely culprit is ball position being too far back. This causes a tendency to hit it a little chunky as the descending blow is too steep. Sometimes, but rarely, I see the ball too forward. This ball position likely causes a thin to skull impact, with a lower than desired trajectory, likely hitting it into the lip of the bunker. If you get a good break, the ball will bounce out. The real bummer here is when it pops up and back into the bunker, and pray it doesn't go into your foot prints, especially if you really dig in deep, as most players do.
I never dig in and also teach that. Why, you ask? Because I want to stand tall and stay very still during my swing, especially with my lower body and feet. I am not after power, but consistency and quietness in my golf swing, and good contact. Standing on top of the sand sends me an image and feeling, both mentally and physically, of less body movement, for better contact.
Since I have just mentioned it, let's discuss ball contact and setup. Conventional teaching has you playing the ball center to a little back in your stance. Weight neutral to a little left to assist in a steeper, downward angle of attack on the ball, with the club striking into the sand. Hit down to make the ball go up. The problem here, as I see it, is once the club is in the sand, acceleration is immediately ended raising the odds of a chunky hit that will likely come up short of the green. And. if your angle is too steep, and the face is de-lofted, you can have a serious problem of too low a launch angle. The ball may not clear the lip.
I believe we can improve the odds of not experiencing the above two problems in our fairway bunker shots by just changing the mental approach to the shot. But, to improve the odds, we'll make a setup change of keeping the ball in normal position for the club you are using. We'll also not dig in and try to stand taller with your knees and shoulders, and stay extremely level and quiet with my body in the swing. Mentally, from now on, think, nip it, clip it, pick it clean off the sand for your contact / impact with the ball. I want to pick it off the sand as clean as I can. I always imagine that I am standing on a cart path, and I want to clip the ball off the concrete without scratching the sole my club.
Now I must be honest and reveal there is a caveat here. Hitting the shot this way brings the lip of the bunker into play if you hit it thin. But, since Thin to Win is one of my mantras for impact, I stick with it here, even in the fairway bunker. Because a thin shot that clears the lip is always better than the chunk, And with practice, this clip it approach, taking the sand out of the shot, is way more reliable and successful.
The Surge!