bunkers are ruining golf for me pls help!

**Sandwedge74** · June 5, 2008

hi - i shoot in the 80's and have an awful achillies heel to my game. bunkers..i cant get out of them and often blow anywhere from 2 to 6 strokes when I land in one. I have tried every piece of advice I can find and nothing works. I chip well and drive the ball well and have a good iron game but bunkers are ruining my game and starting to drive me to the point of giving up - can anyone here help?? I hear so many things that conflict about set up and swing. keep your weight forward- keep your weight back - have a steeper swing - don't have a steep swing - hit behind the ball - just chip it out - open the face - DONT open the face ....I play bunkers with normal no too hard not too soft sand.. I am loosing my mind - the ball either stays in or blades out into no mans land or even worse another bunker! - anyone have tips or know a good book? I have hogans book and that didn't help - I have only broken 80 once and that was day where I wasn't in a bunker - pls help me get off the beach!!!! also I have no driving range with a bunker to practice in

**Garthmo** · June 5, 2008

well this advice may not be all technical and stuff but I just use my 60 degree most of the time around the green and hit it just as normal, and making sure i dont hit more than a inch behind the ball and it always comes out nice and stops fairly quick for me. and if i need to get out of a bunker that is farther away i use my pw and just hit the ball on the way down. One tip i make sure and that i think klls peoples bunker shots is accellarate throught the ball not decelarate. and that's about it, works for me..

**RX Phoenix** · June 5, 2008

You're lucky because you should be motivated to do everything you can to stay out of bunkers which means:

1: Get exact yardage to front, middle, and back of green. ((I use a Sky Caddie to do this)

2: Be very aware of how far each of your irons go and be sure to take enough club to clear the front bunkers. Use a hi-spin ball to help hold the green so you don't go into the rear bunkers.

3: If you're problem is fairway bunkers, find out the distance to them and hit a club that will leave you short. Don't try to fly bunkers, that's very risky.

4: If you do get in a bunker be sure to take the club back inside and coil the body as if hitting a full shot and swing hard.

I'd guess that you are not swinging hard enough and using your arms and wrists too much, make sure the coil of your hips and torso are used to give power to the swing.

Some skilled players seem to finesse the ball out but that is real difficult for most people. Even if you fly the ball a bit too far, at least you will be out of the trap and putting.

**QWKDTSN** · June 5, 2008

I am a high handicapper but I am not bad with bunkers for my handicap level - I've made it out of the bunker on the first try every time so far.

Set up with the ball in the middle of your stance and wiggle your feet to dig them into the sand. Point your stance slightly left of target and open the clubface slightly right of target. Estimate your swing speed and hit the sand 1 inch behind the ball. Imagine you are hitting the sand all the way to the hole and don't even think about hitting the ball. FOLLOW THROUGH. I can't stress this enough. Make sure you don't just thump the sand. Follow through.

If it's really, really bad, don't even try to hit the pin. Just get your ball out of the bunker the safest way you can - it's better to hit it out to the side and then take another chip up to the green than it is to waste 3 shots hitting it into a steep lip of sand and getting frustrated.

**golf_junkie27** · June 5, 2008

All of the advice you were given is correct. Watch you need to know is when to use this advice. Depending on the lie, the type of sand, the size of the bunker, etc. all come into play.

From experience, here are some things you should work on:

1) Have an idea of the distance between the bunker and the green. Use an appropriate swing for that distance.

2) Don't slow down your swing as you are going through the ball. I see this all the time.

3) Don't cup your wrists.

4) Be relaxed and swing easy. The idea is to get through the sand and ball. By swinging easy, I don't mean, slow. More like tension free.

5) Look at your divot marks. Are they small? Does it show your club going through the sand and ultimately, under the ball?

**RX Phoenix** · June 5, 2008

Since you are a 12.5 HC the first question should be, how often are you in bunkers? What tees do you play from? Maybe you are playing back one set too much leaving long approach shots on most par 4's and then coming up a bit short.

A 12.5 should rarely get in bunkers, maybe once a round, so focus on how to stay out of the bunkers, ask yourself why you are going into them. Is it a slice with the irons? Most bunkers are there to distract the golfer, try to focus on yardage and don't even think about the bunkers.

Ed1 · June 5, 2008

Only thing to fix your problem is lots of practice. If your local golf range has sand practice area spend about half of the time practicing the sand game before you even hit the reange. I was once just like you....every peice of advice I got from people trying to help me got me further from the truth. The head pro of the local muni where I use to paly gave me the best advise in my opinion; he just told me to go get a whole bucket of ball and drop them all on the practice sand, I did that for about a month (maybe twice a week) and by the end of second month I gained confidence playing off the bunkers, I also developed my own style because of that. Now I dont sweat it anymore when I go to the bunkers. So the key is Lottsa lottsa Practice....

**Craig Mac** · June 5, 2008

Since you are a 12.5 HC the first question should be, how often are you in bunkers? What tees do you play from? Maybe you are playing back one set too much leaving long approach shots on most par 4's and then coming up a bit short.

And then ask the ball, "why did you go in the bunker?". I think learning to hit out of bunkers is much more helpful than learning how to avoid them. technique and practice always helps.

All of the advice you were given is correct. Watch you need to know is when to use this advice. Depending on the lie, the type of sand, the size of the bunker, etc. all come into play.

This sounds like really good advice to me. I am not sure if this is the same as the OP, but my problem is I either take way too much sand or little to none and hit a pitch shot over the green or occasionaly thin it. I don't have the deceleration problem. I think my technique is ok, I just can't figure out how to take the proper amount of sand. I am 1/20 in sand saves for my last 13 rounds....hatin' it and I know some of it is a mental block, because I have 0% confidence in a trap.

he just told me to go get a whole bucket of ball and drop them all on the practice sand, I did that for about a month (maybe twice a week) and by the end of second month I gained confidence playing off the bunkers, I also developed my own style because of that. Now I dont sweat it anymore when I go to the bunkers. So the key is Lottsa lottsa Practice....

definitely need to do that

**golf_junkie27** · June 5, 2008

This sounds like really good advice to me. I am not sure if this is the same as the OP, but my problem is I either take way too much sand or little to none and hit a pitch shot over the green or occasionaly thin it. I don't have the deceleration problem. I think my technique is ok, I just can't figure out how to take the proper amount of sand. I am 1/20 in sand saves for my last 13 rounds....hatin' it and I know some of it is a mental block, because I have 0% confidence in a trap.

Your feet should tell you how much sand to take. By walking through the trap, you can feel for softness/firmness. We're not allowed to take a practice swing so this is our only real test. For me, when it's average, I take about two inches behind the ball. When it's really soft, about an inch and a little steeper swing, knowing that the clubhead will get through with ease.

**Craig Mac** · June 5, 2008

Your feet should tell you how much sand to take. By walking through the trap, you can feel for softness/firmness. We're not allowed to take a practice swing so this is our only real test. For me, when it's average, I take about two inches behind the ball. When it's really soft, about an inch and a little steeper swing, knowing that the clubhead will get through with ease.

I think I just need to climb in a practice bunker and draw the line 2" inches behind the ball and begin from there. The worst part is the one range with the good practice bunker faces the big glass window of the pro shop, I can hear it calling me everytime I am in there.

**Avid Golfer** · June 5, 2008

I chip well and drive the ball well and have a good iron game but bunkers are ruining my game and starting to drive me to the point of giving up - can anyone here help?? I hear so many things that conflict about set up and swing. keep your weight forward- keep your weight back - have a steeper swing - don't have a steep swing - hit behind the ball - just chip it out - open the face - DONT open the face ....I play bunkers with normal no too hard not too soft sand.. I am loosing my mind - the ball either stays in or blades out into no mans land or even worse another bunker! - anyone have tips or know a good book?

Based on the sand you discribed here is my recommendations:

Do open the club face, but most importantly open the face before you take your grip (I recommend you stand outside the bunker and lay the club open, so the face is pointed at the sky, and while the club is pointed that way take your grip and then walk into the bunker). Dig your feet in the ground to establish a solid base (so your feet will not slide around), and to determine how deep the sand is in the area you are in. The amount of sand you displace to get a stable footing should tell you how far behind the ball you can hit before the club bounces into firm ground. Position your hands above the spot in the sand where you want the clubhead to enter into the sand. The higher and softer you need to hit the shot the more you should open your alignment and play the ball forward, but if you want to hit it lower with more run then open your alignment less and have the ball slightly father back than normal.

**Ben** · June 5, 2008

Find a copy of Power Golf by Ben Hogan and read the chapter called "Bunker Shots are Easy." After reading that myself I holed my first shot, hit the pin with my second, and left myself inches on the third. The chapter is no more than a few pages long and is quite easy to read, and makes great sense.

An extra piece of advice that I've developed through my own practice is to not look at the ball. pick a spot an inch behind it and concentrate on that spot.

**RX Phoenix** · June 5, 2008

And then ask the ball, "why did you go in the bunker?". I think learning to hit out of bunkers is much more helpful than learning how to avoid them. technique and practice always helps.

Being just a so-so bunker player, after practicing a lot I found that I still was so-so and probably will never be real good at it, however by focusing on staying out of bunkers my game has improved to the point where I rarely go in them. No matter how good a bunker player one is (excluding some a few great bunker players), hitting out of a bunker is never a good thing for scoring well and if you go into a lot of them in a round it is going to bite you big time. It's fine to practice and improve in sand shots, but more important to look at your entire game and course management.

For example, in my last 3 rounds: Round 1: 1 bunker (fairway) made par Round 2: 1 bunker (1st hole) double Round 3: 0 bunkers If you can do that then the entire issue of bunker play is pretty much a non- issue and whatever practice you do will only make things even easier when you do find one.

**Joe92385** · June 5, 2008

I don't have any practical advice for you, but I wanted to chime in because I was terrible out of bunkers until last weekend - I don't know exactly what I changed, but I managed to knock a couple close from the sand. It's a wonderful feeling, after struggling with it for a long time. Just be confident and practice, it'll come to you.

**Craig Mac** · June 5, 2008

Being just a so-so bunker player, after practicing a lot I found that I still was so-so and probably will never be real good at it, however by focusing on staying out of bunkers my game has improved to the point where I rarely go in them. No matter how good a bunker player one is (excluding some a few great bunker players), hitting out of a bunker is never a good thing for scoring well and if you go into a lot of them in a round it is going to bite you big time. It's fine to practice and improve in sand shots, but more important to look at your entire game and course management.

I hear where you are coming from, and I am glad this strategy works well for you. But, you can tip toe around the course all you want but you eventually are going to hit in to a bunker. I can aim 50 yards right of a bunker to avoid it and snap one right in to it. This method you bring up would require me to strengthen my entire game to avoid a weaker part, which doesn't make sense to me, I would rather improve my game as a whole. I am going to miss greens, and some of those are going to be bunker shots. So I need to be prepared to get up an down, just like any greenside situation.

**Laxplayer201092** · June 5, 2008

ill drop my .02

my bunker play has gotten alot better this year, as i quit caring. I used to fear bunkers, and everytime i stepped in one, i would freak out, becasue i had convinced myself that i couldnt hit the shot. i finally realized that golfs just a game, and i quit caring about hitting bad shots, and my bad shots quit.

While that is purly mental, i have started to add some mechanical stuff to my game,
-dig my feet in deep
-take a swing like i would take to hit a slice, taking the club way outside of the regulare swing path
-NOT trying to hit X amount of inches behind the ball, i try to land the sole of the club just behind of the ball.
-Most importantly, following through the shot. even if you hit it fat, if you can accelerate your hands you can still pull any shot onto the green.

Hope this helped,

Bakke.

**RX Phoenix** · June 5, 2008

I agree with that Craig Mac, I just want to be sure the poster doesn't overlook course management and put all their efforts into bunker play practice. Why . . . because if you play at a lot of different courses the bunkers will differ greatly, and even on one course the bunkers will differ one from another. You will get plugged lies, lies under lips, wet sand, hard packed sand . . . there are so many variables. If when you went into bunkers there would always be the same conditions, then practice would result in much better results, unfortunately that's rarely the case. So often the best one can do isn't very good.

I hate going into bunkers because so often the conditions there are not as good as should be expected, like an inch of wet sand on dirt.

If the pin is near a bunker I'll play away from the pin, or the pin is in front behind the bunker I'll intentionally play to the back of the green.

**Jack_2251** · June 5, 2008

When I am playing bad out of bunkers, I just practice by drawing a line 2" behind the ball, and focus on hitting the sand there with a good pace and good acceleration.

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bunkers are ruining golf for me pls help!

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