How To Play Bunker Shots

Golf Monthly

In this video, Dan Grieve, head professional at Woburn Golf Club, explains how to play bunker shots with some simple tips and drills.

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 - Hi, Dan Grief here, head professional

00:06 at Women's Golf Club.

00:07 And here we're talking about the green side bunker shot

00:09 and the technique in which you need to be able

00:11 to splash that ball out every time.

00:13 So it really all begins with setup.

00:15 So I like to see golfers standing nice and wide.

00:18 Really very important to create a nice wide base

00:20 when you play these shots because the biggest fault I see

00:23 is a golfer moves side to side

00:24 and that creates thin shots and fat shots.

00:27 So let's get really wide like a driver

00:29 and get this left foot turned out around about 45 degrees.

00:32 And what that allows you to do then

00:33 is push your left knee over your foot

00:36 and get this right leg kicking in.

00:38 So you'll find that majority of your weight,

00:39 perhaps up to 80% is forward on this left side.

00:42 Now for this soft sand, you can afford

00:44 to allow your right shoulder to drop back a little bit.

00:47 You don't want to get your upper body stacking

00:48 over your left leg too much this way.

00:50 So allow the right shoulder to drop a little bit lower

00:53 and we'll have the ball position just inside the left heel.

00:57 Very important as well to make sure

00:58 that the shaft line mirrors that.

01:01 So we have the shaft line neutral.

01:03 Hands don't go ahead and they don't come back.

01:06 Really, really nice and neutral.

01:08 The face can be slightly open

01:10 because I'm standing further away from the ball.

01:13 Lots of knee flex.

01:15 Okay, that allows me to get more into the sand

01:17 and really feel like I'm rooted and strong down

01:19 into the sand.

01:20 And then from there, it's about making sure

01:22 that we keep the loft and bounce on the club going back

01:25 and then through the same thing,

01:27 making sure the chest turns.

01:29 So I'll just hit one here.

01:30 We see it splashes nicely there.

01:34 Now, one of the things that allowed me

01:36 to play that shot really nicely

01:37 was the fact I kept the loft and bounce on.

01:39 And here's a really simple drill you can do.

01:41 It's put some sand on the club face

01:43 and see if you can keep that sand on

01:45 and see if you can throw it over that shoulder there,

01:47 over your back shoulder.

01:48 Now, if you do that, that means the left wrist

01:49 is getting cupped and the loft and bounce is on

01:52 and equally you can put some sand on the club face

01:54 and see if you can then throw it over your front shoulder.

01:57 And if you can do that,

01:58 you've got the same thing going on there

02:00 where the club face isn't turning over,

02:02 your holding the loft and bounce on

02:03 and creating that nice splash shot.

02:05 So one of the real skills when you get into a bunker

02:07 is being able to read the lie

02:08 and make relevant adaptions for the lie.

02:10 Now, we don't always get that lovely soft,

02:12 fluffy sand that we had for the first shot.

02:14 Sometimes the bunkers might have less sand in,

02:17 they might be more compact

02:19 and we need to slightly change how we approach the shot.

02:23 'Cause if you go in there with this one dimensional approach

02:25 of just using your standard splash shot,

02:27 you'll have a lie like this, okay?

02:30 And then you will play the shot.

02:31 And there we go, off it goes.

02:34 It's thinned, you'll do well to find your ball.

02:37 So there was nothing wrong with my technique there

02:39 for the standard splash shot.

02:40 What was wrong was my intelligence.

02:42 I wasn't able to read the lie very well

02:44 and I wasn't able to adapt

02:45 how I put the bounce into the sand.

02:47 So when you get a tight lie like this,

02:49 you have to set up slightly differently.

02:51 So we'll keep the stance the same.

02:53 You pretty much get the weight forward on the left side,

02:55 but the shoulder line will now be more left as well.

02:57 So you get your left shoulder more over your left foot.

03:00 And this is simply gonna steepen your angle of attack.

03:02 It's gonna get you coming in more downward into the sand

03:05 and more with the leading edge

03:06 rather than the trailing edge of the bounce.

03:09 So it's gonna dig down a bit more

03:10 and just, it's a bit of insurance about that,

03:13 that bounce happening and that ball going too far.

03:16 The ball position also,

03:17 I just moved that back a little bit

03:18 and add a little bit more forward lean of the shaft,

03:21 whereas before it was very neutral.

03:23 We're now gonna shift this way a little bit,

03:25 put a bit of that lean in.

03:27 And you'll see the difference in the follow through.

03:28 My follow through for the soft sand,

03:31 you can see it's a full and complete release

03:34 'cause I'm using the trailing edge.

03:35 From this lie here,

03:37 you'll see the difference in the follow through.

03:39 So the ball goes back, the hands go forward

03:41 and the follow through is much shorter and more curtailed.

03:45 And that means my leading edge is going more down

03:48 into the sand with the handle leading.

03:50 And that means I'm not gonna get that semi-thin shot,

03:52 which is such a dangerous shot out of the sand.

03:55 (upbeat music)

03:57 (upbeat music)

04:00 you

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