Youre quite right. You can also swing down a bit sharper or look at picking it out with your L Wedge or P Wedge. On hard sand the bounce from a sand iron really comes into play and an awful lot of shots get wasted you see it every week.

Wet sand often plays like hard sand and its easy to determine, when you set up for a shot and bury your feet you know how deep and how soft the sand is so it helps you determine the sort of shot you need to play.
Sounds silly but I'd rather be in a bunker than 20 feet off the green chipping.