Here's four ways to try to play the egg lie.
They will increase in difficulty with each shot.
Obviously the simpler one will ensure you get out every time, but you won't have as
much control over the ball.
The more difficult one you need to practice it more, but if you can play it successfully,
you will gain a little more control over the ball, increasing your chance of actually making
your par save.
The first one is the standard one.
We're going to close the club face, that's ensuring we're going to hit the ground, hit
the sand with the leading edge of the club, the sharp edge of the club, helping you dig
into the sand underneath the ball.
Somebody described it to me once as an ice cream scoop; you're trying to get in under
the ball and lift the ball out of the sand.
We're going to close the club face, so we'll close the club face then take our grip.
I want you to put the ball more to the right in your stance than normal.
That's going to help you create more of a descending strike, again getting under the
ball.
You're going to place a lot more weight on your left foot, with your spine tilted towards
the target.
Basically from here in the swing, I want you to increase your wrist cocking so the club
will be picked up a lot more steeply.
From here you can drive down into the sand, ensuring you're getting underneath the ball.
It goes like this.
You see there's very little follow through because all the momentum of my swing is going
into the sand and not forward.
It's a very small, but deep, divot.
The second way to play this we try to gain a little bit more control in that shot.
The last shot actually finished off the green.
We're going to increase the loft of the club.
Having more loft is really the only way to get a little more height and have the ball
land softer.
Understand the sharpest point of this club is, yes the leading edge, but actually in
the heel.
When I open the club face I'm increasing the bounce of the club, which is making it more
difficult to get the club underneath the ball and into the sand.
What I'm going to try to do with this shot is I'm actually going to try to use the heel.
I'm going to address the ball from the heel and try to use the heel to help me cut into
the sand.
The rest of the technique remains the same.
Weight left, spine left, ball position to the right, and again I'm going to swing up
and down, cutting into the sand with the heel of the club, and hopefully with that little
bit of extra loft, the ball will come out slightly higher and softer.
That one is going to stay on the green this time.
Okay.
This third one, the level of difficulty is increasing.
This is very good when you've got very hard sand.
The harder the sand, the more downward force you'll need, and the more vertical angle of
attack, v-shaped angle of attack.
This time we're going to do the same and use the heel of the club and the same address
position, but the closer I can keep the club head to the vertical line of the ball, the
easier it is for me to strike down, helping me if the sand is very hard and compact.
This time I'm going to ensure I don't have a wide arc; the wider my arc, the more difficult
it is to hit down.
Hopefully you can see that.
This time I'm going to cock my wrist very quickly, but I'm also going to let my left
elbow soften and almost bend slightly in the swing.
That helps me keep the club head close to the vertical line of the ball, ensuring I
can hit down into the ball a lot.
Easily get underneath the ball, especially if the sand is very hard and compact as I
say.
Last one, this is probably the most difficult one.
You'll see the pros doing this a little bit, even if they're not aware of it.
We're going to play everything the same, but this time add impact and through the follow
through, what you're gonna see is rather than the club continuing toward the target a little
bit, I'm going to try to retract the club and pull the club into my body.
The club head will go under the ball and I will be pulling the club head into my body,
helping to apply the loft of the club to the ball.
You'll see a very narrow follow through; the club is almost coming back toward me.
I actually got that to finish between the bunker and the edge of the green.
It finished quite short.
That's the most difficult one; it will take some practice.
If you're not confident and you haven't done any practice, use the first one every time
just to ensure you get out.
The other ones are only if you've been practicing in the bunker, but they do give you some control,
and they'll give you a chance of making your par save.