My best shot today was a trap shot. I should confess that I'm not usually very good out of traps, but a few
weeks ago I got out my Maltby M-series 56/10 wedge and bent it to 58/12 as an experiment. I also read an old
Harvey Penick tip about pointing the butt of the club at your zipper when setting up for a trap shot. It's
been working pretty well lately, and today I blasted one to about a foot away to save a par.....

    fatshot

    Nice sand save! I struggle for consistency with bunker shots so I'll have to try the Penick tip you mentioned.

        Supp I think the reason that it works is that it exposes the bounce or rear edge of the wedge
        better than having your hands ahead of the ball (which I used to do!). That makes the leading edge "dig"
        into the sand too deep, and (for me, anyway) causes me to leave the ball in the sand! To a guy who knows what he's doing, this is probably "Sand Play 101." For me, it was like "Where has this been all these years???"

        Good luck with it!

          Maybe the best 60 yard wedge shot of my playing days. 60 degree wedge, 3/4 swing, proper toupee sized divot, medium trajectory, 10 feet below the hole and stopped quick. It seemed so easy at the time.

          fatshot

          Supp
          I was stuck in a bunker for a few strokes and had a heck of a time. The guy I was playing with saw my pained look and told me his trick.
          Pretend the ball it on a tee, now hit the tee out from under the ball. It has worked every time for me.

                Walterjn

                I've heard of that one before. Maybe the next time I'm in a bunker I'll try that combined with the Penick tip. I'll probably end up in the bunker across the green.🙄

                    Supp it works for me, I was playing with another guy, and he was amazed at how easily I was getting out of the bunker. I told him that tip and he tried it and said that was a far easier tip than what he had been using. Something about a dollar bill behind the ball...

                        Walterjn I think I like the idea of hitting the tee out more...

                        That one is good and so is this one:

                          A scramble for me today, and the best shot came early. 192 yards for our approach into the first hole, wind into off the left, playing last with the best shot so far being about 5 yards short of the green - hit a knockdown 3-wood to 2 feet to give us a fast start. (We ended up with a 3-under 65 (net 61) on a tough day for scoring - the wind picked up significantly after the first few holes, and par was a good score on most holes, even with 4 tries at each shot.)

                            Saturday afternoon in my 2 broken club 9 hole round I had a fluffy lie with the ball above my feet from about 15 yards out. I took the 64 degree Callaway wedge I picked up from Dan this year, open the face slightly to compensate for the lie and gave it a healthy half swing. The TP5 landed 12" past the hole and spun back 3 feet. That wedge is great around the green. Thank you, Dan.

                              155 yd par three into a stiff breeze. The pin was cut back left, behind a rise. I hit a 5-hybrid that was tracking just left of the flag. The shot disappeared behind the rise but I knew it would be close. It ended up about 8" from the hole . . . a tap-in birdie. It also was the closest-to-rhe-pin on the front nine and that won me a $10 gift card. 😁

                              My last round, I think the best shot of that or at least the one that comes to mind fastest.
                              Hole 14, par 3, 167 yards, no wind, slight breeze. I hit last, everyone else was short or to the right.
                              I hit my 7 iron, ball flew so very high I'm telling it to sit. Ball lands on the green, and stops 6" from the pitch mark. 15 footer for birdie, missed a little short, made the par putt.
                              Not even the birdie putt I made on 11 comes to mind as quickly. Most of my drives were fantastic, and I remember a few of those, they still fall short of that 7 iron tee shot onto the green.