Everyone Is Bad At Bunker Shots Until You Learn These 2 Things

Get This Free Practice Plan

Transcript Summary- 

So, you’ve been struggling with your bunker shots, right? And I completely get it. You’ve probably had five, six, maybe even seven pros all telling you different things — open the face, swing hard, hit down, break the wrist — and it just leaves your head spinning. So in this lesson, I want to strip all of that away and make bunker play unbelievably simple. I’m going to show you just two things that, if you do them, will not only get you out of the bunker every single time but also give you control over your distance just like the pros.

Let’s start with something really simple. I’m going to draw a line in the sand. All I want you to do is place your left heel on that line and make some swings, just trying to land the club on that line. Don’t try too hard — just notice where the club is entering the sand. If it’s behind the line, that’s fine, just notice it. If it’s on the line or just ahead, even better. What we’re doing here is developing the skill of awareness — learning to control where the club lands. That’s the foundation of all good bunker play.

Once you can do that, we’ll pop a ball just in front of the line and keep everything else exactly the same. You’re not trying to hit the ball — you’re just trying to strike the sand in the same place every time. The ball will simply get in the way of the motion. If you hit the sand an inch behind the line, the ball pops out beautifully. That’s how you start building consistency.

Now, let’s make a small adjustment. For most bunker shots, particularly if you’ve got a steep face, open the clubface just slightly — but here’s the key: don’t open it with your hands. Keep your hands neutral, and let the face naturally aim a little to the right. From there, when you swing, keep your shoulders square. You’re not cutting across or leaning back. Think of it more like an underarm motion — brushing the sand with a smooth, shallow strike and allowing that loft to do all the work.

Once you’ve got that, let’s add rhythm. Hold the club and start swinging it gently back and forth, feeling the momentum. As you increase that rhythm, notice how the club starts to feel heavy — that’s exactly what you want. The key to good bunker play isn’t about force, it’s about flow. As the club drops into the sand, your body naturally rises slightly — almost like a dance between you and the club. That’s the rhythm we want.

Now when you step into the shot, keep that same feeling. Set up, aim to land the club about an inch behind the ball, and then simply let the ball get in the way of that natural swing. No tension, no overthinking — just rhythm and flow.

And look, if one or two don’t come out perfectly, it doesn’t matter. The point is you’re out — you’re learning the skill. There’s no magic wand here. Good bunker play comes down to two controllable skills: where the club lands, and how deep it goes. That’s it. Once you can control those two things, you can get out of any bunker, no matter how firm or soft the sand is.

So, keep it simple. Develop that awareness of strike, add a little rhythm, and let the momentum of the club do the work. Before long, you’ll be hitting bunker shots that feel effortless — and honestly, it’ll be a sigh of relief when you realise how easy it can be.

If you enjoyed this lesson, give Brian a big thumbs up for being such a great sport. And if you want help with your driver or your full swing next, check out the video right here. If you’re new to the channel, hit that subscribe button down below, and for more personalised coaching, head over to dannymaude.com — all the details are in the description. But until next week, have a wonderful golfing week!

Full Transcript- And you said you've been struggling bunkers. I must have had seven pros telling me what to do. Look, Brian, if you just do these two things with your bunker shots, not only will you be able to get out instantly, you'll start to be able to control your distance with every bunker shot just like the pros. How easy does that feel? It does feel easy. Just doesn't it? So, what I want you to do to start off with, I want to keep bunkers unbelievably simple to start with, right? I'm just going to draw a line like this. Right. I want you to put your left foot just on one edge of the line, the left heel basically. Right now, all I want you to do now is simply this. I want you to make a swing. Okay? And I want you to see if you can land the club on that line. Off you go. Listen to that sound.

And again,

pause. It's entry there, there, and there. So, it's changing, isn't it? Yes. So, where this changes, right, will determine there'll be three different bunker shots. Yes. Right. I'm going to put a ball just ahead of that line. Right. So, don't change anything. Now, this is your target line right there. Okay. Okay. Now, just focus again. Just imagine. Just notice where this club Don't try really hard to hit the line. Just notice where this club strikes the sand relative to that line. Okay. Where did it strike? Way behind. Going way behind, right? And again for me.

Where did it strike this time? Less weight behind. Ball comes out. Make sense? So it struck maybe an inch behind the line and the ball pops out. Yeah. So what we're doing in reality to start with is this. We're building a skill on paying attention. This is your balance, right? So, let me pop in here for a second. It's like we're learning to ride a bike, right? And we know that maybe the bunker technique could be improved and all those kind of things, but just to start with, what we're doing is we're getting ourselves set. Can we land the club in the same spot every time and practice that as a as a simple girl? Right. The next thing I would do is I'd probably have the face just a fraction just a fraction open. Okay? Particularly when we have a steep bank like this. Now, the key thing here is this though. When we have it open, we don't open it with our hands. No, we have that hand still there. And when I'm swinging, look, I'm not trying to slice across, lean back. If you look at here, look, I am completely and utterly square. And as my club comes down, look here. And I'm swinging my Where are my shoulders? Square coming through. It's like an underarm motion here. I've still got the loft. Look on that golf club very naturally. That makes sense. So here, look back through impact and then I'm releasing that golf club. You follow? Yeah. Okay. Have a go. All we're going to do is is I want you to pay attention to an inch behind the golf ball and see how close you can get to the line. Now, the key thing here though is this. Don't try. Okay? Just notice after you've hit the shot, notice where the club hits the line. If you try, you could end up doing this. You follow? Just simply pay attention to where that club strikes that hand. Beautiful. Yep. Love it. Gee, open the face a little bit on this one. So, we're going to feel like your face is aiming slightly to the right of target. Relax, but the right hand still stays on top. Yes. Yes. There you go. Lovely. And with the open face, the ball will naturally pop up softer. That's all we're doing. This the only reason necessarily why we probably open the face up is to hit bunker shots a little bit higher and land a little bit softer. If the club face is square, the ball will come out a little bit lower and go a bit further. Right? So on bunker shots with a close pin like this, just open the face a little bit, take your grip and then just notice where that club is landing on that sand.

Okay, now pop in for a second. I want to show you something. Now what we're going to do, want to do this with me. Hold the club just like this.

Feel the rhythm of that. Feel the momentum of that club. Got it? Yeah. Now watch this. Let's increase Feel what it takes to increase that momentum. Feel that rhythm. Yeah. Yeah. What are we doing? We're almost lifting the club up, aren't we? Yeah. See that? Right now, imagine this. We've got an idea. We're trying to build a skill. What we want to try and do now is have a rhythm to this motion. So, what you've got at the moment, there's a bit of a little bit of a movement. It's okay. It's normal, right? For a golf course, have have a bit of this. But when you did this, you didn't have any of this going on. Yeah. There's a rhythm.

As the club comes down, we go up slightly. We let the club fall to the ground as we look go up. Feel that? Yeah. So, as I'm swinging now, look at this. Now, look. Watch this. Got myself set.

Make sense? Imagine as I'm walking in here, right?

As the club's dropping, I'm rising. Make sense? So, I'm finding that balance. Yeah, there's a rhythm to this motion. So, once you've got the line right, you've got an idea. Now, like we did with the chipping, we want to start to find a rhythm to this. You could create the rhythm just with your wrists. I wouldn't advise it. It's too hard, right? I mean, but it's too hard control, right? So, this time, look at this. create swing the club back like it's a heavy object with the with your shoulders again like we did earlier. Yeah. Yeah. That's it. Feel that rhythm and feel the momentum increasing as it goes. There you go. It's like an Right. Going to hit the golf ball and let that ball now get in the way of this motion. Yeah.

There you go. Look at that. How easy does that feel?

It did feel easy. Just doesn't it lovely? Okay, when you got a chance, just walk to the golf ball. Same principle. Let the ball just get in the way of that rhythm.

Look at that. Two in a row. Almost in the hole.

It feels like looking at you. It's like it's like a almost like this sigh of relief. Well, it is a sigh of relief. And you said you've been struggling bunkers. I I must have had seven pros telling me what to do. Yeah. So, my head's spinning. Yeah. Uh the latest one said, "Take it out the line. Break the wrist. go up here and and really hit down on it and I mean it just lots of things. And what's what does this feel like? Well, there's just much better, isn't it? Does it feel good? Yes, it does. Just let it swing. That's it. That's it. Feel that rhythm and momentum. Yeah, that's it. And then just walk to the golf ball and let the ball the hole just get in the way of that freedom.

And and by the way, if he dodgy one, doesn't matter. Right. The point is I'm out. You're out. You're out. Exactly. Right. But the key here is this. Each time you're doing it, remember we started, we said, look, it's still a skillless, right? So there is no magic wand with all this, right? It's a skill. You have to be good at two things. Landing the club in a in a correct spot. Yeah. And having that consistent Y and being able to control how deep it goes. Yeah. Yeah. Right. So, you do have to get that's a skill. So, you need to practice it, but you don't try like make that really stiff. Right. So, now what we do is you've got the idea. It's like then start to add some rhythm to that. And I love this as a feeling. Just Yeah, it's good there. And then all you're doing is from here like, okay, I want to land the club about here. And I I like to say about so it doesn't give you too much precision and tension. And then I'm like, okay, let's let's get that club just colliding with the sand. But notice this. I'm not no going. I'm letting as a club falls.

I'm increasing momentum. Where's my body going again? Going up again. Going up again. Because that's what goes with the golf club. That's what helps me swing the club. Yes. Yeah. If I'd stay down, I've got more space. I end up like this. But look

there. Now we add the body to this. Now we start looking like a proper bunker player. Yeah. Off you go.

It just looks effortless, doesn't it? Feels effortless. Yeah, feels effortless. And by the way, look at the sand. That's horrid. Horrid, right? Rock hard sand. So, we're not putting it on soft, easy sand, right? No. And you don't need to. Good bunker shots, right? And a good good bunker actions will get out of anything cuz all you got to do again, remember, control where it lands and how deep it lands. And therefore, it doesn't really matter what at all. Make it a quadrupler.

Done. Brilliant. Gee, that's ridiculous. Ridiculous.

Well done, Danny. Gold star for you. So, hope you enjoyed that video. Give Brian a massive thank you by giving this video a thumbs up if you did. And of course, look, if you'd love some help with how to hit driver straight, click this video out right here. If you're new to the channel, press the subscribe button down here. And if you'd love some more personalized lessons from myself, head on over to dannymod.com. All details in the description box below. But until next week, have a wonderful golfing week.