Don’t panic if you find yourself with a buried lie in a greenside bunker. The shot is eas-ier to hit than you might think. This lie is called a “fried egg” lie because of the circular splash pattern created around the ball in the sand. When you look at it from the top, it looks like a yolk sitting in the middle of a fried egg.
With soft sand behind as well as under the ball, you’ll have to “power” the ball out of the sand to escape in one. Make some key adjustments to your stance and swing and you’ll have no trouble getting out.
Below are seven keys to this shot:
1. Square your stance and clubface
2. Play the ball back of center
3. Shift your weight to your front foot
4. Hit down hard on the ball
5. Choke down on the club
6. Make an abbreviated swing
7. Keep your wrists rock solid
First, don’t get upset. Stay calm and set a simple goal for yourself to escape in one. Then, do this:
Square your stance and clubface at address. Shift your weight forward. And play the ball in the middle of your stance or slightly back from the middle. Squaring your clubface lets you use the clubface’s leading edge to slice through the sand. Shifting your weight for-ward and playing the ball back encourages you to hit down on the ball.
Also, choke down on the club, grip the club firmly, and keep your wrists rock solid throughout the swing. You’ll meet a lot of resistance at impact, so you’ll need to keep your wrist solid.
Take your normal backswing. (Some golfers like to hinge their wrists early during the takeaway.) Then make a smooth transition to your downswing. Come down hard into the ball—almost as if you were chopping wood. Aim to enter the sand just beyond the lie’s outer circle. And accelerate through impact. Use an abbreviated swing and keep the club-face open all the way to the finish
A helpful hint is to imagine burying the club in the sand and leaving it there. The ball comes out low with little backspin. It runs when it lands.
Hitting from a buried lie isn’t as hard as you might think. Make the adjustments we de-scribe above and you’ll escape in one every time.
