Unplug the secret to plugged lies
A common problem among amatures is the total loss of control when tryin to play a bunker shot with a plugged lie. Using the same technique as your standard bunker shot is not going to be as affective as if you make some slight adjustments.
The impact factor that needs to change to get out of a plugged lie, is angle of attack. This needs to be steeper, in order to dig through the sand and under the ball. To help make my angle of attack steeper, I make three simple but significant changes from a normal bunker shot set up. First of all I close my shoulders, allowing me to take the club more outside on the way back. Secondly, and probably more importantly, I significantly lower my left shoulder, changing my spine angle and putting much more weight on my left side. This enables me to naturally pick them club up more quickly allowing the club to ascend down on the ball much more steeply. Lastly, again to help me hit down behind the ball a little more, the ball position moves back in my stance, about an inch or two.
The two pictures seen here show my normal set up on the left (admittedly the ball position has already moved back in my stance) and my plugged bunker set up on the right. You can see the closed shoulders and lower left shoulder. From here my ability to pick the club up steeply is greatly increased.
Simple changes to your set up, give you more chance of digging the club into the sand behind the ball, bettering the strike and increasing its elevation. This means more control and more chance of getting the ball up and down from a plugged lie!
