Grip down to the metal to set your posture

One of the biggest problems amateurs have when hitting from greenside bunkers is that they straighten their legs during the downswing in an effort to “lift” the ball onto the putting surface. Unfortunately, standing up almost always leads to hitting a fat or thin shot.

To improve your sand play, you need to keep considerable flex in your knees through impact. One way to ensure you stay flexed is to grip down on your wedge’s shaft—all the way down so the thumb and forefinger of your right hand (left hand for lefties) is touching the metal (above, left). By gripping down so far, it encourages you to increase the flex in your knees at address and maintain that flex as you swing into the sand (above, right). If you don’t keep the flex, you would miss the ball, or at least hit it thin.

Once you’ve gripped down, nothing else changes. Make your normal bunker swing, the club skimming through the sand and under the ball.