No, your eyes are not deceiving you, the title of this golf tip is playing out of water. In most cases, when you hit your ball in the water, however infrequent, your ball will land somewhere near the middle and sink into the drink without a trace.
However, there are times when you will slightly misjudge a shot and the ball will roll slowly into the water and as you approach it, you can see it sitting there, at the water’s edge. Again, the advice here would be to suck it up and take a drop, continuing with your round from dry land. However, that is not the only option from this position and if the situation requires it, you can play the shot, using the following tips.
Firstly, make sure some your ball is visible above the water because this will make the shot playable. If the ball is submerged, forget it.
With over half of your ball showing above the water, you can play the shot much like you would a normal bunker shot. However, there is one major difference and it involves the club face. Whatever you do, do not open the face of the club as you would when playing from the bunker. Instead, keep the club face square, as this will be enough to displace the water and connect with your golf ball.
If less than half the ball is visible above the water, you will need to play the shot as you would when your ball is plugged in a bunker. Therefore, you must play the shot with a steeper angle of descent and a shorter follow through. Take your stance as you would when playing a bunker shot but again, you do not have to open the face of the club, so keep it square to the ball. The club head will displace the water easily enough, without the need to open the face.
As you will not be opening the face of the club when playing this shot, there will be little to no spin on the golf ball as it approaches the green. With that in mind, you need to think about exactly where you want to pitch the ball on the green and where and how it is going to roll from that point. If the greens are particularly fast, you may have to land the ball off the green and allow it to run on from there.
The final thing to be aware of is getting wet. You are going to get wet playing this shot, this no way around it. If you are not willing to get stuck in and accept you need to get wet, you are not fully committed to the shot and this will result in a poor execution. However, if you are 100% committed, you can surprise your group by playing a fantastic escape shot, from a seemingly impossible position.
