Golf Tip: Getting out of Hard, Crusty, Compacted Sand

Written by: Tony Korologos | Sunday, May 29th, 2016
Categories: Golf • Golf For Women • Golf Instruction • Hackers • Instruction
Tags: Golf Tips • golf wedge • Sand Wedge

This past week I experienced a bit of an embarrassing learning experience while golfing with fellow golf blogger John Duval of IntoTheGrain.com. We were playing at Soldier Hollow Golf Course here in Heber, Utah, which had been getting pounded by rain and even hail. The bunkers (known by some as sand traps) had been compacted and not maintenanced. So that meant the sand in them was extremely hard and even had a bit of a crusty layer on the top.

On one of the six, yes six, par-3’s on the Silver Course, I had trouble getting out. I kept blading shots and line-driving them into the lip. Luckily for John the lip stopped one of them, or my ball might have killed him, or at least caused severe eye damage. Inside joke there. Like the extremely intelligent golfer I am, I kept trying the same shot and getting the same result, blading shots into the lip. After a few of them I picked the damn ball up with my hand and threw it at the hole. That was the shot of the day.

A couple of holes later on yet another par-3 I was again in a greenside bunker. This time a bunker quite short of the green, about 20 yards. Instead of sand wedge I chose lob wedge. I got out of the first bunker no problem, but went into the 2nd one. Lob wedge again from the 2nd one was no problem onto the green.

The Lesson

The Reader’s Digest version of the lesson was that out of crusty, hard, compacted sand my lob wedge was a better choice than my sand wedge. Why? The design between those two clubs in my particular bag is quite different.

Sand Wedge

My sand wedge, and the majority of most sand wedges has a lot of bounce. The bounce comes from the sole of the club, or the bottom line which is what touches the ground when a golfer is holding the club in position before a shot. This area of the club head can be flat, rounded, v-shaped, or custom ground into all sorts of shapes. The shape of bottom of the club produces a certain amount of bounce. Most common in sand wedges is about 10-12 degrees, quite a bit of bounce.

Why a lot of bounce? In regular sand which isn’t hard like the sand I described above, a club will go into the sand and dig or burrow in. This can stop the club or severely slow it down. A club which is decelerating in sand will not produce a good shot. This is why most amateur golfers hit fat shots in the sand, and the ball only goes a foot or two, leaving them another sand shot. The bounce of the sand wedge helps the club deflect off the sand and prevents it from digging in. This way the club travels through quickly and gets the ball in the air and out of the bunker.

Bounce and hard sand? So if the sand is extremely compacted and hard, the design of the sand wedge will make the club bounce far too much. The club will not go under the sand. Instead it will bounce up and the leading edge of the club, or blade, will hit the ball. This is called “blading a shot” and is what produces the line-drive shots I was hitting into the lip.

Lesson one is that clubs with a lot of bounce are generally not a good idea in hard sand or on very hard ground.

Lob Wedge

My current lob wedge has quite a different design or “grind” on the sole of the club compared to my sand wedge. Rather than 10 degrees of bounce, it has only four. This is not a lot of bounce at all. When I switched to the lob wedge in the 2nd trap, the club did not bounce in the sand. It went under the ball without going back up too soon from impacting the sand. Therefore I did not blade the shots. The first shot didn’t travel far enough because of the loft of the club and how hard I swung it, but the ball got out of the crusty sand with no problem at all.

Conversely a lob wedge or club like mine with a small amount of bounce may not be a great club selection for an average golfer who is hitting out of soft sand. The club will not bounce off the sand but will dig in, producing a fat shot which will come up short.

Lesson two is that clubs with very little bounce are a good idea for compacted sand or very hard ground.

Left: 56 degree sand wedge with 10 degrees bounce | Right: 60 degree lob wedge with 4 degrees bounce

Look at the image above. Left is my sand wedge and right is my lob wedge. The green line shows the leading edge of the face. The pink line shows the bounce. You can see that the sand has much more mass and the angle of the sole (between the pink and green lines) is much higher. That’s the bounce!

Lesson three from this experience which I learned, probably re-learned, is to not be too lazy to go get the right club. Once I hit that first bouncy bladed sand shot into the lip I knew the ground was too hard and the sand wedge was the wrong club. I should have gone to my bag and gotten my lob wedge before taking another swing. Instead I was too lazy to go get another club. The result was a big number and loss of hole.

If it were a tournament or important situation other than a casual round, I would have changed clubs.

Final Thoughts

Next time you find yourself in a bunker, look at the sand and get a feel for it with your feet. Is it hard? Is it soft? Now you may have a better idea which of your clubs is the best choice. If by chance you choose the wrong club, don’t hesitate to take a few more seconds to grab the correct club and save some strokes.

Puma Golf PWRWARM 1/4 Zip Golf Popover Review

Written by: Tony Korologos | Friday, May 27th, 2016
Categories: Golf Apparel • Golf Gear • Reviews
Tags: Puma

It is spring here in northern Utah. What that usually means periods of rain, cold, wind, hail, with the occasional jump up to 95 degrees. The last couple of weeks the temperatures have been in the 50’s and 60’s on average. That’s perfect for the Puma Golf PWRWARM 1/4 Zip Popover, which I’ve been sporting on and off the course for several weeks. Here’s a shot from Valley View GC last week.

Puma Golf 1/4 Zip Popover

In the round above there was just enough of a chill that I needed to take the edge off my core, but not enough to wear long pants. Then again, my nickname is “no-pants” so it has to be pretty cold to go that route.

Details

First things first. What on earth is “PWRWARM?” This is some amazing technology actually. It is a ceramic print that helps recycle and redirect the golfer’s body heat. Here’s how Puma describes it:

A CERAMIC PRINT THAT REFLECTS MORE OF YOUR BODY HEAT BACK TO YOU, SO YOU CAN KEEP PLAYING.

HERE’S HOW IT WORKS
High-performance golf apparel that keeps you warm in cold conditions; it’s a simple idea. Here’s how it works:

1. Heat is absorbed by the PWRWARM ceramic coating from the body.
2. Excess heat is stored by PWRWARM away from the body.
3. Stored heat is released back to your body if it gets too cold.

So basically a ceramic material stores and releases the golfer’s heat back to him as needed.

Sizes/Colors

The color shown above is one of seven color combinations, “white / gray medium heather.” Other combos include gray and black bases with the color orange, purple, and a couple of blue shades.

Sizes run from small to double XL. The size I’m wearing is an XL and it fits great, not too loose.

On The Course

As I mentioned, I’ve had this fantastic Puma Golf outerwear piece in action on the course for a few weeks. It has served me very well, taking the edge off the sometimes cold spring air here.

During the golf swing the 1/4 Zip Popover is extremely comfortable. There is no binding. No tight areas. No restriction when the body is coiled up or releasing a massive drive down the fairway. I particularly like that the fit is slimming but not loose. I need all the slimming I can get.

Off the course I’ll wear this piece in the office when it is chilly, or when I’m out on the town. It’s so sharp and comfortable it can work well for many situations off the course.

Final Thoughts

I love the style, performance, and comfort of the PWRWARM 1/4 Zip Popover. The white/gray matches up well with just about any apparel scripting I’m sporting. I especially dig how the gray matches up with my HOG hat.

Some golf outerwear can get into the crazy zone price-wise. Based on all the great properties and style of the 1/4 Zip Popover I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was in the $200+ range, but this piece is an extremely reasonable $75.00 retail price.

I’m stoked to take this piece as one of my scripting choices for my upcoming Scotland golf trip in July. Even in the summer the temps in Scotland can be a bit chilly if the sun goes behind the clouds. The 1/4 Zip Popover will be a perfect solution. Can’t wait.

Two Days of Meetings at Spring ING Conference in Heber, Utah

Written by: Tony Korologos | Tuesday, May 24th, 2016
Categories: Golf For Women • HOG World Tour • Miscellaneous • Site News
Tags: ING - International Network of Golf • Utah Golf

I’ve just completed two days of one-on-one meetings with golf industry professionals and media at the ING Spring Conference here in Heber, Utah.

Day 2 of 1-on-1 meetings at the ING spring conference. #INGHeberValley

A photo posted by Hooked on Golf Blog (@hookedongolfblog) on May 24, 2016 at 10:49am PDT

It has been quite fun and educational engaging with these interesting people and checking out their products/services. Here’s a list of organizations I’ve met with in the two days here:

Bridgestone Golf
Tour Edge Golf
Golf Mesquite Nevada
Zermatt Resort
Heber Valley Utah CVB
18 Birdies
CHASE54 Apparel
eduKaytion Golf
Golf Overnight (club shipping)
Knuth Golf
Perry Golf
PGA Golf Exibitions
SNAG Golf
SoulKix
TK International
Visit Central Florida (CVB)
Wasatch Golf

I will be following up with these companies and working with them in the future with (hopefully) great blog content for HOG readers! Stay tuned.

HOG World Tour Lands in Heber Valley, Along With Major Hail Storm

Written by: Tony Korologos | Sunday, May 22nd, 2016
Categories: Golf
Tags: ING - International Network of Golf

I’ve arrived in Heber Valley, Utah for the ING Spring Conference. My buddy John Duval and I, plus new buddy Will, attempted to play golf in town, but this happened:

After lunch we went back up to the course, Wasatch Mountain State Park Golf Course, to see how cold it was. Ironically I bailed because it was too cold, but John and Will who are from Florida decided to give it a shot.

The sun is out now of course, but it’s still cold enough that my back would not have had a very good time. Hope the boys are having fun while I’m in the Zermatt resort hotel room enjoying some golf blogging.
Hail Storm at Wasatch Mountain State Park Golf Course

Hooked on Golf Blog to Attend ING Spring Conference in Heber, Utah Next Week

Written by: Tony Korologos | Friday, May 20th, 2016
Categories: HOG World Tour • Site News
Tags: ING - International Network of Golf

Aerial Photo: Soldier Hollow Golf Courses – click for more

SALT LAKE CITY – May 20, 2016 – Hooked on Golf Blog will bring it’s famous “HOG World Tour” to Heber, Utah May 23-25, 2016 for the annual International Network of Golf (ING) Spring Conference. ING is a non-profit organization with the objective to “bring golf industry executives together with members of the golf media to improve communication, introduce new products, services and destinations, and to develop and nurture relationships.”

“I’m looking forward to attending my first ING conference and especially to meeting new and old friends and associates in the golf industry. I’m also looking forward to experiencing the great golf Heber Valley and the state of Utah have to offer, and showing some of my new and old friends around this great area.” ~Tony Korologos, Hooked on Golf Blog

At the ING Spring Conference the blog will be meeting with industry professionals media regarding equipment, travel, tourism, education, media, and social networking. Of course, many rounds of great Utah mountain golf will be experienced.

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