Greenside bunker shots create a lot of frustration for players of all skill levels. Beginners tend to chop the ball out of the sand; this creates a very steep angle of approach. Angle of approach refers to the angle at which the club meets the ball.
A steep angle of approach is counter-productive to getting the ball out of the sand with height and spin, as the sand creates little resistance to trap the ball and pop it up like in the fairway. Players who use steep swing paths in bunkers will commonly make large, deep divots, and struggle to get the ball out of the bunker in one shot.
To fix this problem a player must shallow out their swing path and follow-through on each swing. This means that the club needs to just skim across the sand, rather than dig into it, to be performed correctly. The bunker tee drill is designed to help shallow out your angle of approach in the bunker. The idea is to tee a ball up in the sand so just the lip of the tee is visible. Take your normal setup, with the ball in line with your front heel. Swing and focus on clipping only the top part of the tee. This will encourage you to take shallow divots out of the sand. You will notice immediately how effective a shallower angle of approach will improve your bunker play.
Take this knowledge to the course and get more sandies guys!