How To Play Bunker Shots - 3 Key Tips
Nov 04, 2021Full Transcript
this week's training I've got bonkers and boy I love bonkers most people's pet hate - most people
hate bonkers but do you know what you probably hear it on TV bunker shots for the professionals
are supposed to be the easiest shot in golf but obviously increasing the I here at golf clubs is
that this is an area a part of the game that a lot of amateurs really struggle with but there
really is no need there's there's a real simple action you can you can learn and we're going to
show you that today on how to get out the bunker shots nice and easily now as is all my videos they
always say look none of this works without some practice and some effort and some persistence but
I promise you by the end of this video you'll have a really good understanding on how to get
out of bunkers so let's get started and I'm gonna start with the first of all what type of strike
is required in a bunker shot so first things first in order to get out of a bunker we need a certain
type of strike now unlike normal shots okay in a in a normal shot from a fairway there's always a
direct connection with the golf ball okay and the golf club we're trying to strike the ball with the
club in a bunker we don't strike the ball at all with the golf with in fact what we're doing is
is we're actually striking the sand behind the golf ball and there's almost like a deflection
so this is how it works the club comes down at an angle okay downwards it then slices the sand goes
beneath the surface of the golf ball the back of the club which we call the bounce hits the
sand ricochets off the sand and bounces like this so you might want to look at imagine almost like
the letter V where the club comes in and then out in out like a bounce okay so in order for that to
happen there's a few things that we've got to do in actually the actual swing itself to make
it happen so the first thing we're going to do is we've said well you've heard me mention the bounce
well what is the bounce the bounce is the back part that golf club and is one of the key factors
to get it in getting out of the bunker so what we do with that bounce is it we twist the club
face slightly open to the right now the way we do this is is we don't just go okay danice's turns
the right one turn because we do that we haven't actually changed that grip what's going to happen
through it in practice we're just simply going to turn back to here so we're going to twist the club
face to the right then we're going to grip it and that's going to feel quite strange I'll want you
to watch out for this because the copy I see we go up as when they do this is this it does feel
it feels really weird so they start to shuffle it back okay without them without realizing they're
eventually back to square so open it and try your best to keep it for keep you that that's the first
thing the next thing we're gonna do is is we're gonna push the ball forward in our stance we're
gonna push it off the left heel way out of the way now on a normal picture on a chip shot you
know that we're going to probably have the bottom middle of some if not sometimes back in the stance
well we why do we push it forward in a bunker well as we said at the start we don't want to
hit the ball at all we want to hit the sand so what we do is by pushing out the way it gives
us room now look to actually strike that sand now when we do this what we're gonna do is is
we're going to make sure as you said this the next thing was we needed some form of descending blow
now this is the bit I find a lot of golfers get the first bit they kind of twizzle the clubface
and it points a little bit to the right and then they kind of shuffle their bodies a fraction to
compensate to the left and they even get the ball position right and push the ball forward but the
next bit is a bit that I found is the hardest for people to grasp and that is the downward strike
okay what a lot of golfers I see doing is they see a bank in front of them like this and they
just can't help trying to raise it and try to lift it out of the bunker what that looks like
is something like this they're trying to lift it out of the bunker here and whether that's leaning
back whether that's flicking with their wrists but what's happening here is the club is going
up and can you see what do we talk about in terms of actually the type of strike that was required
is it this type of strike going upwards it's not as it when you go upwards what happens this bit
comes up and we hit the ball with this bit and the ball goes to low I'm going to show you that
in a second and what do we need we don't need this strike we need this strike the v's type
strike okay we don't want it coming up too soon we want it coming down so it ricochets below the
surface and pops up so what this looks like well from this angle you see my club tends to work up
and down up and down and it's very much committed so I'm actually going to go up here and I'm gonna
get down into the south and just slow as I can circus it up down and the ball pops up and almost
into the hole so let's go through that again so what we're going to do is is we push the ball
forward we've opened the face of the club and what we're trying to do here is get it up and
down with strike now things that you can that may help you to do this more consistently so
the first thing we do is to this I want you to focus I want you to focus on the first third of
your golf club here the first section and I want you to imagine that that's slicing into the sand
here it's slicing into the sand it's going up and down is actually slicing down and what you try to
do here is you're going to try to slice deep into the sand here to encourage that bounce to operate
and pop up as I said most golfers they tend to hit up on the golf ball too soon and leave it in
the bunker the other thing I see them doing is I see them because it's such a short distance I
see them quitting on the shot they tend to make a long backswing here that because they're in fear
of the ball going too far they slow down and the end up kind of stopping and when our bodies stall
or stop what happens when I body stop is we kind of get crumped when we start heating it up on the
ball again and what that does we hit the ball as opposed to sand and then boys left in the bunker
so what what I try and do is you want to make sure that we fully committed through the shot even if
that goes too long that's finally if we get some learning but it's very important to swing down and
have that commitment going through the show when we commit through the shot it really increases
the likelihood that you're gonna strike the sand first and get a ball popping up so now let's work
on two or three ways that you could go and go and practice this in a practice bunker so the first
thing I would do it then it can depends on what level you're at at the moment if you're a level
where you know what you've really been struggling to get the ball out of a bunker then what I would
suggest is is the first stage is actually don't try and hit the golf ball so don't try to get the
ball out at all the first stage is to see if you can actually just make connection with the sand
and what I'd do to help you with this is that draw a line where your golf clubs straight down
like this and then what I do is to make sure that line is maybe two or three inches inside
your left heel and what you want to try and do is simply this start to make some swings where
you're starting to strike that line okay now this is really useful because when you've got a line
like this you'll be able to identify exactly where you're striking or not strike in the sand a lot of
times when people do this they either miss a sound completely which is learning in itself so you just
keep persisting in till you start to strike the line all what they do is they start to strike way
behind the line and that is usually because what they're doing is is they're leaning back and again
just trying to help it without them realizing but the great thing about the line is it gives
you that evidence it kind of helps use the arcade that's what I'm doing them I must be leaning back
so doing some swings repeatedly without a ball means that one you're not seeing the negative
results of the shot staying in a bunker so if you if you've got a great psychology you can't deserve
any money you know but for a lot of us if you keep hitting bad shots it kind of gets us down and and
that really can get in the way of our progress so without a ball draw a line as strut start to hit
it the second thing you can do is once you've done that and you start destroyed that line a bit more
consistently the next thing to do is simply to observe how you're striking the sand and this is
quite important we're not going to observe where the ball goes out often what happens when people
are learning this they leave the ball in the bunker the melee is the frustration starts to set
in and the learning stops and the progress stops what we want to be able to do it seemed right in
time the ball would come out let's focus on again the first part session how to strike the sand so
let's focus on striking the sand by slicing down into it getting the bounce working and go right
brilliant strike the sand where the ball goes out or not it's not important am i hearing that
sound that lies splash into the sound is the club coming down where is it coming down is it
coming down roughly two or three inches behind the ball or is the club coming down way behind
the ball pay attention to those things as you're striking the sand then you'll get some learning
and the third and final thing what I often see again is when people are playing bunkers they
tend to lose commitment they tend to stall so what I want to see here is this fully commitment now if
that means when you hit a practice bunker you do something like this and the ball goes way too far
and flies over the green doesn't matter this is all part of the process all the basic means if
the ball goes too far when your committees that you hit the golf ball too much and not enough
sand you still keep that commitment through the shot because when you do look as a fully committed
shot the ball is going to pop up alright now there is a few more things in a bunkers to add to this
but this is just a start for you I will release some more bunker videos as the week's go on but if
you've got any questions in the meantime really please do put them in a comment box below and
I really will I'll answer them over the coming weeks until next time have a great golfing week
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