By far, the weakest part of my game is the bunker shot.
I have heard many different approaches to these from ball position in the front of my stance, to ball in the rear of my stance. Choking up on the club, club face open, hitting "down" on the ball, etc.
It seems that every time I attempt one, I hit about 2-3 inches behind the ball (too far I take it) and kick up a lot of sand, but the ball fails to jump out.
By far, the weakest part of my game is the bunker shot.
I have heard many different approaches to these from ball position in the front of my stance, to ball in the rear of my stance. Choking up on the club, club face open, hitting "down" on the ball, etc.
It seems that every time I attempt one, I hit about 2-3 inches behind the ball (too far I take it) and kick up a lot of sand, but the ball fails to jump out.
Are there any basic drills for practicing these?
Go to the bunker practice area. (This is one you cannot do on the real course) Draw a line in the sand about two inches behind your ball and setup for your shot. When you make your swing, focus on hitting the sand at the line; not before it, not after it. If you do this right you're going to know right away. If you hit too far behind or in front of the line you will either hit the shot heavy or you will skull it across the green.
Make sure that you follow through to a full finish. This should help to set proper acceleration and fix the point in your mind you want to hit the sand.A word of caution. If you are playing on wet sand the 1-inch rule is out the window. Wet sand tends to be hard to move so the line needs to come closer to the ball.
Here is one that I have used in lessons etc., Place a dollar bill in the sand and your ball on George's face. Try and take the dollar bill out from under the ball. One big key is to make sure that you follow through. If you don't you tend to dig in the sand and barely move the ball.
tips i got are,shuffle your feet to get them down into sand for solid stance and this also helps read the sand as the harder it is to sink your feet,then the harder the sand is = the more difficult to get ball out,as above draw that line and hit it thus letting the sand knock the ball out,this is especially for around the green,as taking the sand ensure it can,t go far so 10% error either way is,nt disatrous with swing,my friend opens the club up as if you could balance a glass of water on it,if you can do this its great for bunkers with high ridge,i tend to hold my wedge long and use that leverage in axe like fashion and i get out bunkers most of the time
Go to the bunker practice area. (This is one you cannot do on the real course) Draw a line in the sand about two inches behind your ball and setup for your shot. When you make your swing, focus on hitting the sand at the line; not before it, not after it. If you do this right you're going to know right away. If you hit too far behind or in front of the line you will either hit the shot heavy or you will skull it across the green.
Make sure that you follow through to a full finish. This should help to set proper acceleration and fix the point in your mind you want to hit the sand.A word of caution. If you are playing on wet sand the 1-inch rule is out the window. Wet sand tends to be hard to move so the line needs to come closer to the ball.
Ditto to this tip. Now do it 100x/day for a couple of months and you'll become a very good bunker player.
here are a couple of tips that i can add to all the very good advice above:
1) after you have settled in your stance, it is very important to keep a good posture through out the swing. a steady head with quiet legs is a must.
2) tempo is a key in the bunker as it is on the fairway. a nice smooth swing will help tremendously. with practice, you'll be able judge how fast a swing is needed to get the ball to the target. think smooth and steady.
i personally like to keep the ball just a little forward in my stance and take a normal swing that will bottom out just before the ball. works almost every time.
Spank the sand with your right hand...really go right hand dominante...on shorter sand shots I like to cut with a loop on the backswing...really puts spin on the shot...
The best thing is to practice at a practice range bunker. When I did it improved my sand play dramatically. I also found that I play better out of a bunker with my LOB wedge instead of my sand wedge. Don't ask me why, but I do. So don't get locked into thinking that you HAVE to use your sand wedge in the sand. I open my lob wedge face a lot and found I could get out and control my distance much better than with my sand wedge.
The one time I've read that you don't want to open your clubface in the sand is when you're on an uphill slope and you're buried. Then you keep the clubface normal and hit into the ball without expecting to follow-through. The ball should pop up and out, but I don't expect to put those close... I just want to get them out and on the green.
July 12th, 2006, 06:05 PM
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