Fried eggs are a great way to start your day — especially when paired with toast — but it’s a different story on the golf course. These tricky bunker shots have a way of taking the wind out of your sails before you even attempt to hit them, and with the wrong approach, they can ruin the hole and stifle any momentum you had built up throughout your round.
Luckily, with a few fundamentals, you can learn to escape plugged lies in a single swing. Use the five keys below from Parker McLachlin, a GOLF Teacher to Watch, to navigate these greenside bunker shots with ease — and even give yourself a chance at making an up-and-down for par.
Open the clubface
In part one of McLachlin’s three-part series on plugged lies in the bunker, he explains that most amateurs set themselves up for frustration from the start because they address the ball with a closed clubface. The reason this gets you into trouble is that the lie is already promoting a lower ball flight.
“This ball wants to come out low and fast because it’s sitting an inch below the surface,” he says.
Instead, you want to open the clubface to counteract the lie. Opening the face, McLachlin says, is going to allow us to create more height and softness through the shot.
Stand closer to the ball
In a typical bunker shot, McLachlin says that he likes to set his feet further away from the ball because this encourages him to make a more rounded, shallow swing plane. However, for a plugged bunker shot, you need a more vertical swing plane to get below the ball. To encourage a steeper angle of attack, McLachlin says to stand closer to the ball.
“I want to get extremely close to this. Almost uncomfortably close,” he says.
Compared to his standard greenside bunker setup, McLachlin says he prefers to move four to five inches closer to the ball.
“I want to be able to provide an angle of attack that’s very steep into this ball so that I can dive underneath this ball which is sitting beneath the surface of the sand,” he says.
Narrow your stance
Amateurs often take a wider stance in the bunker to create a stable base for their swing, but McLachlin says that for plugged lies from the bunker, you’ll actually want a narrower stance.
“This ball is one inch below the surface of the sand, so I have to build a steep angle of attack to be able to get underneath and almost create my own sand underneath the ball,” he says.
Setting your feet closer together is a great way to encourage a steeper angle of attack without changing your mechanics.
Remember: hinge and hands
In part 3 of McLachlin’s plugged bunker shot course, he explains that taking a narrow stance not only encourages a steeper angle of attack but also less body movement throughout the swing, which is precisely what you need to execute this shot successfully.
“This is going to be a very hingey and handsy swing,” he says. “Not much torso rotation at all.”
In the clip, McLachlin demonstrates what your backswing should look like. Notice that when he takes the club back, he hinges his wrists quickly and stops just above hip height. This shortened backswing prevents him from making any unnecessary body movement and creates a more narrow backswing, which encourages a steeper angle of attack into the ball.
Minimal follow through
The last key you need to know to hit a fried egg lie is to abbreviate your finish.
“I don’t want to ever see, out of a plugged lie, this motion here,” McLachlin says as he demonstrates a standard release and finish from the sand.
Instead, he says to use the more vertical angle of attack you’ve created to your advantage and allow the club to stop naturally just after impact — almost like a chunk and run.
“Use the steepness, and the open clubface to help get this ball up and out,” he says, “You don’t have to muscle it out of here.”
Which brings up another critical key McLachlin touches briefly on: don’t try to overpower the sand.
McLachlin says to check that your club shaft returns to a neutral position at impact. Maintaining a neutral club shaft through impact ensures that all of the setup adjustments you just made are working with you, not against you.
If you’re doing it right, the result should be a low, running shot that releases almost like a bump-and-run. And, with a little practice, you can master this tricky shot.
ShortGameChef.com, created by PGA Tour winner Parker McLachlin, provides golfers with a comprehensive resource to improve their short game. Through personalized tips, drills, and expert insights, Parker helps players of all levels gain more confidence and a deeper understanding of their short game to lower their scores. You can browse membership options here.
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