- 3 days ago
In this video, short game guru Dan Grieve gives 25-handicap golfer Richard Baker a lesson on bunker shot basics. Richard really struggles to get out of the sand consistently, so was hoping that Dan could work his magic and give him some pointers that will ensure he can get out on the first attempt every time.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Hi, I'm Dan Grieve and I've teamed up with Adidas Golf to help three lucky Golf Monthly readers improve their short game. Let's get started.
00:12Right, Richard, great to have you here in the bunker.
00:14Thanks very much.
00:15Tell me about your bunker play. You're saying you're playing off 26?
00:18Yeah.
00:19And you don't like the bunkers?
00:20No, I either end up staying in the bunker or thinning it way over the bag.
00:25Okay, not a good combination.
00:26No.
00:26Right, can I just watch you at two shots first?
00:28Yeah.
00:28I'm giving you a nice lie. We're going for this pin over here, okay?
00:31Okay.
00:38That's the heavy one leaving the bunker, yeah?
00:40Yeah.
00:42Again.
00:47And there's a thin one.
00:49That wasn't perfectly done for camera, by the way.
00:51That was, that was, that's sort of typically the shots you get.
00:55Yeah.
00:55Okay, right. Stand this side.
00:57Okay, two very different shots, but the same fault.
01:01Okay, so really for you, your setup isn't where it needs to be.
01:06So you're not, you're not creating the platform that you need to play good bunker shots.
01:11Bunker shots really, for me, are 90% setup, 10% swing.
01:13And your setup is quite narrow.
01:16Yeah.
01:16And you've actually got the majority of your weight on your right side.
01:19I know it's quite a tall lip, this.
01:21Yeah.
01:21But your brain's saying, I've got to get back to try and get this thing up.
01:24Yeah.
01:24And as you're coming down, you're leaning back a bit.
01:26There's quite a lot of right hand here.
01:27And you're just hitting way back on it, but sometimes you'll actually lean back even more
01:31and you'll hit up on it and get that ball first.
01:34So I think if we get your setup correct, I think the whole thing will just chain me out much better.
01:39Okay.
01:39So I'm going to set up this one, I'm going to put my footprints in the sand.
01:41You're going to stand in my footprints and you're going to tell me what you feel.
01:43Okay.
01:44So I'll put a line there for the club face as well.
01:48I'll dig them in.
01:50So there we go.
01:51So come and stand, put your right foot there.
01:55And your left foot there.
01:57And then put your club behind the ball and then open the face on that line.
02:01I'm just going to make a couple of other little tweaks before you tell me what you feel.
02:04I want your pelvis to come forward a bit more.
02:07A bit more.
02:07There we go.
02:08Okay.
02:08Hang on.
02:09Right.
02:09There we go.
02:09And then I don't want that shaft to lean too much.
02:12Do you want it open?
02:13Open and straight.
02:14There.
02:14Let's have a look at your foot.
02:15Hips forward again and they've come back.
02:17Right.
02:18Now that looks really good.
02:19Yeah.
02:19It probably feels very different.
02:20It feels weird.
02:21Tell me what can you feel is different.
02:23Hands are low.
02:24Lower hands.
02:25And the weight's definitely on the left.
02:27More on the left.
02:27Yeah.
02:28What about distance from the ball?
02:29It's further away.
02:30It's further away, which helps you get lower hands.
02:32Yeah.
02:32But my eyes are almost over the ball.
02:34Okay.
02:35Yeah.
02:35You're more over it.
02:36So what you've got there, you've got a setup that hopefully feels like you're less likely
02:40to move around too much.
02:41Yes.
02:41You feel like you've got a bit more rooting down?
02:43Yeah.
02:43Okay.
02:43Great.
02:44Now, while we're going to concentrate on the swing here, keep your pressure here at all
02:48times.
02:48Yeah.
02:49Take a back swing.
02:50And I want you to feel like you're turning this right side and actually getting a bit of a
02:53turn there.
02:54Okay.
02:54Okay.
02:54Really turning here.
02:56Keep your weight here, as I say.
02:57Now as you come down, you must keep your weight forward.
02:59When I come down, the empty club swing and release.
03:02And I want you to focus on your chest turning and finishing somewhere like here.
03:07Yeah.
03:07Can you get there?
03:08Yeah, just about.
03:08That's going to allow you.
03:09But you can see you've kept your weight here at all times.
03:11Okay.
03:12So that looks good.
03:12Yeah.
03:13So let's not worry too much about getting the perfect shot.
03:15Let's just focus on, can we just get some stability in your legs?
03:20Okay.
03:21And that's great.
03:21Let's hit one from there.
03:26Very, very good shot.
03:27How did that feel?
03:28Much better.
03:29You look a lot more stable.
03:31Yeah.
03:31A lot more stable.
03:34I mean, for you, if you can just get it out and two putt, your handicap's coming down,
03:37isn't it?
03:37Yeah.
03:38Yeah.
03:40And again.
03:41It's further away from the ball.
03:43Don't get too open.
03:44You're aiming a bit too far left there, actually.
03:46So aim a little bit more at the flag.
03:48That's really good.
03:50Pelvis forward more.
03:52Fine.
03:53Well, now that is world-class.
04:00Okay.
04:00You moved your chest better on that one than the previous one, and it had some spin.
04:03And it stopped.
04:04It stopped really quickly.
04:05Yeah.
04:05So that was a proper bunker shot.
04:07Yeah, that stopped right.
04:08It didn't kind of just get out and run.
04:09That came out with height and spin.
04:11Yeah.
04:11And really, we just got you set up.
04:13Yeah.
04:13Yeah.
04:16Feels good, right?
04:17It does.
04:17Bunker shots like that?
04:18It does.
04:21Right, and again.
04:21I can do that every time.
04:22I'll be happy.
04:22Let's see if we can do a turn around.
04:23Here we go.
04:24So, pelvis forward.
04:27Hands back a little bit.
04:28Open the face.
04:29Right, pelvis forward a bit more.
04:30Come on, forward.
04:31Right, keep it forward.
04:32Turn your chest.
04:37Very good.
04:38Well done.
04:40That's fantastic, isn't it?
04:42I'm going to give you one extra thing.
04:43If I'm not pushing it.
04:44Come this side.
04:47So, setup's transformed.
04:49Body movement is transformed.
04:51Can you do one extra thing,
04:53which is just make sure as you come through
04:54that the loft stays on the club face a bit more.
04:56You did it quite well on the nice high one you hit.
04:58The other two, it's turned over.
04:59See how the club's turned over?
05:00Okay.
05:00A bit like you might do that in the full swing.
05:02Yeah.
05:02But, you know, in short game, you've really got to make sure that loft stays on this way.
05:07And that's with the hands.
05:08It's with the hands.
05:09When the chest moves more, it's going to help you do that.
05:12But, yeah, just feel like the, don't overthink it.
05:14Get the club face looking back at you.
05:15Yeah.
05:16And let your instinct do it.
05:17Okay.
05:22Nice and wide again.
05:24Pelvis forward.
05:25Good.
05:26That's good.
05:26So, as you're coming through, it's going more like that.
05:29Yeah.
05:30See?
05:30Not that way.
05:30Yeah.
05:31Okay.
05:32As you turn your chest.
05:33Now, that's much better.
05:43Height and spin.
05:44Yeah.
05:45You've got some awareness of that.
05:46Yeah.
05:47Now, as it comes through, if you do that, you see the loft and bounce stays on.
05:49Yeah.
05:49And that's how the ball gets out of the bunker.
05:51It's how you work the sand.
05:52The sand goes under the ball.
05:54Sand lifts the ball out of the bunker.
05:55Yeah.
05:55When your face turns over it, can you see how it will dig in?
05:59Yeah.
05:59And it won't project the sand high enough to get the ball out.
06:01Yeah.
06:02And the big difference is I'm not thinking about where am I hitting the ball.
06:05No.
06:05Because I'm set up right for it now.
06:07Good.
06:07Whereas not...
06:08Normally, you'll be thinking...
06:09Messes with my head.
06:10Where do I need to hit?
06:11Yeah.
06:11You don't need to worry about any of that stuff.
06:12I never look at the sand behind the ball.
06:14Yeah.
06:15Never think of that.
06:16Most good players would never think of that.
06:19Just trust it.
06:20From that setup, if you're releasing the club properly, you're turning properly, you've got your weight sufficiently forward,
06:24the club will just bottom out one to two inches before.
06:26Yeah.
06:27Now, if I try and hit two inches before, I'll hit four inches before.
06:30You know, it kind of just comes back.
06:31So, yeah, just look at the ball.
06:36Perfect.
06:38Genuinely, I could not play it any better than that.
06:40Did you see the spin on the picks there?
06:41Go...
06:42That's the spin rate.
06:43Yeah.
06:43Really going up.
06:44That means you can play that to a short-sided pin and you can actually control it.
06:49Fabulous.
06:49Get some spin.
06:51So, yeah, you've just got to get those concepts.
06:52It's all about getting world-class basics.
06:54There's no reason you, with 26, can't be world-class over the ball.
06:57Yeah.
06:57Okay?
06:58There's no reason at all.
06:58And you can see there, just by getting the setup right, how it's chain-reacting in terms of how you move,
07:02and you're hitting by the bunker shots.
07:04Brilliant.
07:04So, yeah, I'll leave you to practice that.
07:05Okay?
07:06Thanks very much.
07:06Great pleasure.
07:07Cheers.
07:07Cheers.
07:07So, before I came here today, my short game was a bit of a lottery. The occasional good shot, but lots of duffs and lots of thins. I asked specifically to work on the bunker shots today, and that was fantastic. The focus on how to set up right and let the swing take care of itself was really, really helpful.
07:33So, even on Saturday this week, I took three shots to get out of a bunker, and the third shot was thinned right over the back of the green. It just ruins your whole round. And I really had no idea what I was doing wrong. So, being able to reliably now, hopefully, get the ball out of the bunker and get it into play is going to make a huge difference to my rounds.
07:58The real benefit of spending time with Dan is getting the feel for what a good setup feels like. So, watching the videos, hearing what he tells other people is great, but actually feeling it for real and then experiencing the impact of getting it right is just so much better for the memory.
Recommended
4:02
|
Up next
1:56
8:14
3:15
1:29
4:10
0:52
6:05
7:41
10:24
3:12
1:11
12:38
4:48
14:42
4:54
Be the first to comment