Why so many of you are dealing with a club face that's way too open in the bunker and your flop
shots. It's simple. Every instrument known to humanity built by humans for humans, apart from
a push broom is designed handle first in mind. So if I'm doing a tennis serve, the handle comes
through first. If I'm hammering nails, the handle comes down first. If I'm going fishing, the handle
comes through first golf, no exception. So if I start here with a square club face and I plug this
in to, let's say a baseball swing, and I commit to the pitch and here comes the hands, then the bat.
What What's gonna happen Now notice how open that face is. So if you start with a club face that's
way too open to begin with, then you are gonna have, you're gonna struggle out of the bunker.
So many of you who feel like you don't have enough momentum to get the ball out, your club face is
way too open. And some of you with a, with a much stronger grip, if the face is too closed,
the club is gonna dig. So essentially all you're looking for is for the soul of the club to ride
along the surface of the sand, like a snow plow or a road greater. So if I add momentum to that,
so I'm feeling right now that I'm able to spray some sand forward onto the green using the soul
of my golf club. So if I feel that it's catching, I need to open the face a bit more. If I feel
like if it's too open, notice now I can't move any sand, it's just gonna deflect off the sand,
then nothing's gonna move. So for me, it's opening the club face about 15 to 20 degrees.
And now I'm just focused on using momentum to spray sand onto the green where I want
the ball to land. And you can see how easily that comes out. If I open the face too much,
see what happens, and if I close the face too much, if it's two square,
then everything catches and the ball can't get out. So the right amount of opening is really
simple. All you're looking for. And if I do it towards you here, all I'm looking for is
spraying sand with the soul of the club. So you notice how I'm moving the sand toward the camera.
I'm gonna spray some sand onto the green where I want that ball to land. There we go. Nice shot.
So let's look at what that looks like from behind here for you. Spray some sand about
20 degrees open. Spray some sand. There you have it.
Spray some sand.
Ooh,
That'll be good. Just a couple of feet past the hole. So if I want to go a little further,
then I'm just gonna spray the sand farther. So let's say I want it to
spray the sand to the other side of the green. So I'm gonna need more momentum.
And that's just getting to the fringe on the other side of the green.
And if I want, if I want to just pop it just over the fringe here, I'll pop it
just out of the bunker onto the fringe. All I wanna do is spray some sand onto the fringe,
just like that. Cool stuff, huh . So , it is, it's fun. So if the face is too open,
if the face is too closed,
It tends to catch and it tends to run out. Now, if I had a ball that's way too plugged into the sand,
all I gotta do now is use my road grader. So I'm gonna turn that in and I'm gonna
create a nice trench. So notice how my wedge is creating, I call this the Moses
cuz I'm parting the sand, the Moses shot. So I'm just gonna spray some sand. My face is about
70 degrees closed, which means that impact is gonna be about 45 degrees closed.
And I'm gonna send some sand onto the green. Here we go.
See how that ball comes out So nice. So it's gonna come out with a little bit of top spin,
but it's extremely easy for it to come out. If you don't close it enough at impact, it'll be
two square and it's gonna couch and it won't come out for you. Little more closed then at impact.
Now I, I got my ditch digger coming through. So it's all about how you're going to use the
club to move sand onto the green where you want that ball to land. There's your secret. So let's
look at the flop shot. So what you see in front of you are a bunch of dandy lines in disguise.
And what I'm doing with the soul of the club, when I open the face and at impact, it's gonna be,
my hands are gonna be that much more forward. That's gonna be for a very pronounced flop shot.
So I'm picturing the leading edge here has teeth on it, and I'm sawing through the dandelion stem
with the soul of the club. So I'm gonna use momentum to saw in the direction I want that
ball to go. So let's say, I'm gonna use this as an intermediate point so you guys can see that.
And I'm gonna stay a left edge of that leaf cuz it's a fade.
So I open the face about 20 degrees at impact. It's gonna be here. So that's gonna be about
45 degrees open. And I wanna saw through the stem to the left of that leaf. Here we go.
And there it trickles down. Oh, come on, one more foot.
So whether it's slightly down or slightly up, if it's too far up, then you want to be very,
very careful about how much you open that face. Because see, if I'm sitting way up in the rough
here and I open the face too much, watch what happens, , see how the ball doesn't move at
all. It just stayed right there in its spot. So I open it a little bit less cut through the
stem. There's that beautiful flop shot that trickles down to the hole. There's two feet.
So we're just using some nice momentum to cut through the stem. So even if the ball
is sitting down in the rough, that's fine, as long as I'm using momentum to cut through
the stem of the dandelion. So I'm seeing the stem cut through the stem that came right out,
and I just peeled that out of a divot. So let's look at it from down the line. So there's my leaf,
There's my stalk flop shot. I'm staying left of that leaf. See that So look at my momentum,
See the blur. I want to keep the blur of my club moving left of the leaf that faces about
20 degrees open and I'm just flowing through the stem of the dandelion with the weight of my arms
and club. I'm letting it fall through the stem in that direction. Okay, so you saw how nicely
that came out. Now I got a choice. I can o open the face less, use the same amount of momentum,
or I just need a little bit more momentum. So watch the difference, more momentum gather up.
And there it is. And that fell about six feet short of the flag. It's very downhill.
So if I do that with a little bit more open, I've got the right combination.
See my stem gather, cut through the stem. Oh yes,
get in. Ooh, hit the hole. . How fun is that So if I'm there and it did it,
I'm cutting through the stem to the left of that intermediate point. Watch me,
I can see the stem of the dandelion. My eyes are between the leading edge of the club and the ball,
and I'm feeling momentum cut through the stem.
See how that came out Just a little more momentum because this is fresh turf that was just pla,
you know, rolled out. So it catches a little bit more than usual, but a little more
momentum through there. And that would've been absolutely spectacular. You saw how that came
out. It came out brilliantly. Okay, so there's, you know, a little lesson in dynamic face open.
What you see at the address is not what you get at impact. And you definitely don't want to go club
head first. We don't want to be cutting through bamboo shoots like this. It's cut through. So
beginning of cut, end of cut. And the release is over here. So when I'm letting it fall through,
fall through peak speed is out here through the cut. Always hands forward first. All the best.