The standard advice you always hear about playing a basic greenside bunker shot—play the ball forward in your stance and open the clubface—is the right information.

Even though most players know that, they still underestimate just how much of a change in the setup they need to produce consistent shots from the sand.

Don’t just move the ball an inch or two forward from center. Play it even with your left heel. It’s basically the same ball position you should use when hitting your driver. And you need to rotate the clubface significantly open at address—so that the back of the clubhead would be resting on the sand if you put it down.

At first, this setup might feel a lot different from what you’re used to, but get those two fundamentals down, and the club will almost automatically enter the sand in the right spot. And it’ll slide through the sand instead of dig.