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In this video, top 50 coach Alex Elliott demonstrates fives easy drills to help you get out of the sand and close to the flag every time.

► Video shot on location at Infinitum Golf Resort, host of the DP World Tour Qualifying School.

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Transcript
00:00I want to give you the confidence to get out the bunker first time every time so I'm going to
00:04share
00:05with you my five top tips to help you master your bunker shots. Now there are five we all learn
00:11differently we all improve differently so make sure you stick around for all five because one
00:15could just be the answer for you. First things first we've got to have good foundations right
00:21so follow these real simple steps. Now I'm going to show you this from the player cam perspective
00:26because I think you can get a real good sense of what I'm showing you here. I want you to
00:30open the
00:31club face and then take your hold so your club face is open relative to you but your grip is
00:37actually
00:37the normal grip you would take on every single shot. Then take a nice wide stance I like to dig
00:44my feet
00:44into the sand as I do this because it can move under your feet a little bit so you can
00:49see there
00:49my stance is just wider than my shoulder width apart my ball position is a club head inside my left
00:55heel
00:55and the final point and for me probably the most important point here to help get that loft point
01:01into target just sit down and put the weight left. You are now ready to hit a bunker shot and
01:07let's use
01:07these drills now.
01:14So the first drill is hit the line really easy to set up all I've used is my alignment sticks
01:20I've got
01:21one directly on where the golf ball is and then a golf ball back of that I've made an impression
01:27to create
01:28the two lines. Just throw your alignment stick out of the way. So the essential part of this drill is
01:33learning to control the bottom of your arc and having a focus point. We don't actually want to hit the
01:38ball
01:39in the sand we just want the sand to cushion the ball onto the green. So really nice and simple
01:44use the forward line
01:46to make sure you've got your correct ball position from our foundations and then simply just create
01:51three practice swings trying to hit the back line and then move into your shot. If you go a bit
01:57too far
01:57back learn from it and improve. So okay here you go you're about to put me to the test here
02:02and see if I can do it.
02:05Okay good that one.
02:09Okay that was a little bit far back just reset myself again and really focus on that back line.
02:16And now you're ready to go. So learn where your bottom of the arc is
02:20and build it into your shot. Look at the speed we have got at the bottom.
02:28One of my favorites that one.
02:33Now number two on our list is about you creating speed with the correct release. Okay I call this
02:40striking the match. So I've drawn on the sand here effectively a match box. I've got a
02:46line in the middle and that middle line is going to be where we're trying to strike.
02:50So that point before where the golf ball is where we're trying to hit into the sand.
02:54Now nice and simple we have to understand that if we're striking a match right and we had a match
02:59we'd have speed right where we contacted the box and off. We need the same down the golf ball
03:06in order to cushion that ball onto the green. So I want you to do it like this. Now
03:12I am terribly right-handed so I want you to do this one-handed with both hands. We're not going
03:17to hit a golf ball to begin with. So hit those points. Get that correct grip with your face open
03:23but your grip normal to you. Put both hands on to start with if you want and then take your
03:28right
03:28hand off. What I'm focusing on is creating this. Hitting the line with speed and the loft pointing back
03:36at me. Then have a go at it right-handed. I'm actually worse with this hand than that hand.
03:44And same again. The momentum of the club allows me to create speed in this direction not like we would
03:52in a full shot. So learn that feeling. If you need more than two goes to find out what feels
03:57best for
03:57you. Go for that. And then have a go at striking one away trying to emulate the exact same.
04:06And you can feel like you're striking that match right at the bottom.
04:13The two ball drill. Quick, easy, simple. Let's do it. So nice and simple. Place one golf ball and
04:20give yourself a good lie. We're learning to play our bunker shots right? In the sand. The second one
04:25all you're going to use it to do is create an impression just behind. A golf ball behind. So
04:31press it into the sand. Take it out and pop it in your pocket if you're confident enough
04:36just to hit one away afterwards without an impression in there. So I'm making all the same
04:41address points as before but all I'm looking at and I would stress this as well. I focus on
04:46that dot in the sand. Not the ball, the dot in the sand. Quick, easy and simple.
04:59So, so far we've learned to have some speed. We've got the correct setup and now we've got the release.
05:05The final thing and this drill is great for learning to keep the loft on. In the bunker we need
05:11loft to
05:11get the club to glide. So really nice and simple. Have a look at this too. Put your club into
05:16the
05:16sand and get a nice healthy chunk of sand on that face. The idea here is you're learning to keep
05:24that sand on the club face for as long as possible through that backswing and only throw it off over
05:30your shoulder. If you're throwing it off early you're manipulating the face far too much. So have a few
05:36goes get that feeling and then just work the same exact feelings into your shot because you've got
05:43everything you need now to help improve your bunker tips. So remember the speed, remember the loft,
05:51remember the setup and let us know down in the comments what is your favourite drill.
05:55It's a really cool idea here?
05:56We have our first panel.
05:56So, thank you.
05:57So, thank you, my first panel.
05:57We're here for the new one.
05:58So, thank you.
06:02We've got the new one for our now.
06:02You can all see you.
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