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BUNKER SHOTS
The test: Testers played bunker shots ranging from 43 to 52 feet to a center pin from the following situations: blast from a deep-faced bunker, standard bunker shot, blast from a buried lie.
The results
Surprisingly, the lob wedge outperformed the club originally designed specifically to escape bunkers, although the two performed roughly equally from a buried lie.
Why the lob wedge won
The majority of testers felt the extra loft of a lob wedge made it easier to get the ball up and out of the bunker. "To do the same with a sand wedge, you have to open the face," adds Top 100 Teacher Dr. Gary Wiren. "But that raises the leading edge above the bottom of the ball and increases the chance of blading the shot. You're better off blasting with a lob wedge."
On Tour: Justin Rose
"I use my lob wedge most frequently from the bunker, and for pretty much every shot that's 40 yards or less. If the sand is really soft, however, I'll go with my sand wedge because it has more bounce and won't dig into the sand as much as my lob wedge." — Justin Rose is ranked fifth (59.1%) on Tour in sand save percentage
THE TEST
USE YOUR LOB WEDGE TO BLAST IT CLOSE FROM SAND
From non-buried bunker lies, blasts hit with a LW by our testers landed and average of 7.5 feet closer to the hole.
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