How to hit Sand/Bunker Shots

[saevel25]

A video from Utley on the bunker shot.

I tend to play bunker shots with the ball forward of center. 

 

[mvmac]

17 hours ago, saevel25 said:

A video from Utley on the bunker shot.

The shot he hit sounded good.

[b101]

On 07/04/2016 at 6:57 AM, mvmac said:

1. Yeah move the ball up and widen your stance.

2. For a bunker or pitch shots, that's fine. You want the arms to be "soft" and for the club to swing past the hands.

3. Yes, for now I'd just make a longer backswing, swing the arms further back.

Hi @mvmac,

About a year on now and wondered if you'd cast an eye over my bunker play. I've tended to struggle with low point, hence the first drill, but am trying to force myself to make the longer swings - hopefully that's helping! My main issue is controlling distance, which I imagine is still because of the poor control of low point. Is there anything obvious that you'd suggest? 

Huge thanks in advance!
Ben

Edit: Forgot to add, but I tried with both a GW and LW today. My lob wedge just isn't coming out anywhere near as high or soft as I feel it should - has a very similar trajectory to the GW... I didn't try the SW today. Both SW and LW are Edels and therefore have lots of bounce - the LW has more, I think. Might that be an issue?

 

Edited August 1, 2017 by b101

[p1n9183]

Normal: Open the face according to the amount of sand i think it´s under the ball. Then hit the sand with confidence that i won´t blade it or chunk it.

Buried: depending on how much buried it is and how much sand i think it has i set the club face from close to open. Just trying to put the ball on the green.

Long: Same as normal but stronger, if i can reach the flag i club up. If i have a clean lie or sand it´s wet(firm) i could try to hit a pitch like if it were on the fairway catching it clean.

Long buried: Same as Buried and hoping to get lucky that the ball finish close to the hole.   

 

[David in FL]

26 minutes ago, b101 said:

Hi @mvmac,

About a year on now and wondered if you'd cast an eye over my bunker play. I've tended to struggle with low point, hence the first drill, but am trying to force myself to make the longer swings - hopefully that's helping! My main issue is controlling distance, which I imagine is still because of the poor control of low point. Is there anything obvious that you'd suggest? 

Huge thanks in advance!
Ben

Edit: Forgot to add, but I tried with both a GW and LW today. My lob wedge just isn't coming out anywhere near as high or soft as I feel it should - has a very similar trajectory to the GW... I didn't try the SW today. Both SW and LW are Edels and therefore have lots of bounce - the LW has more, I think. Might that be an issue?

 

I'll leave it to Mike to give a thorough analysis, but want to mention one quick item.  Take care that you're not hitting the sand in your backswing, as you do in a couple of these.  Doing so is a violation of rule 13-4 and subject to a 2-stroke penalty.

Other than that, to my eye, it looks like you're doing well!  

[b101]

23 minutes ago, David in FL said:

I'll leave it to Mike to give a thorough analysis, but want to mention one quick item.  Take care that you're not hitting the sand in your backswing, as you do in a couple of these.  Doing so is a violation of rule 13-4 and subject to a 2-stroke penalty.

Other than that, to my eye, it looks like you're doing well!  

Thanks - it's a practice bunker, so I'm not paying too much attention to it (it also hasn't been raked as well as others and used more, so there are lumps all over the place), but will be more careful of that in the future.

[mvmac]

2 hours ago, b101 said:

About a year on now and wondered if you'd cast an eye over my bunker play. I've tended to struggle with low point, hence the first drill, but am trying to force myself to make the longer swings - hopefully that's helping! My main issue is controlling distance, which I imagine is still because of the poor control of low point. Is there anything obvious that you'd suggest? 

I'd recommend,

- Widening your stance
- Anchoring more weight on your left foot
- Rotating the left foot open more
- Taking the club head less "low and in". You tend to go shallow to steep so that's going to mess up contact. I'd feel or imagine the club head working straighter back and a little more "up". This will help you not contact the sand on the takeaway and not roll the right hand at impact. Right hand should work more "under", back of the hand points to the ground.

Good reference for the setup stuff

 

[b101]

20 minutes ago, mvmac said:

I'd recommend,

- Widening your stance
- Anchoring more weight on your left foot
- Rotating the left foot open more
- Taking the club head less "low and in". You tend to go shallow to steep so that's going to mess up contact. I'd feel or imagine the club head working straighter back and a little more "up". This will help you not contact the sand on the takeaway and not roll the right hand at impact. Right hand should work more "under", back of the hand points to the ground.

Good reference for the setup stuff

 

Thank you - much appreciated and will get to work tomorrow!

[Vinsk]

@mvmac I have set myself up exactly as you demonstrate in your bunker side shot technique ( left handed). My constant error is hitting way too far behind the ball with the club coming up out of the sand and skulling the ball. What are common reasons for this? I've tried weight way forward and neutral and still seem to hit too far behind.

[mvmac]

54 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

@mvmac I have set myself up exactly as you demonstrate in your bunker side shot technique ( left handed). My constant error is hitting way too far behind the ball with the club coming up out of the sand and skulling the ball. What are common reasons for this? I've tried weight way forward and neutral and still seem to hit too far behind.

What I see a lot with golfers that struggle in the bunker is a lack of body rotation and speed. They use their hands and arms to hit down into the sand to get the ball out. You're basically making a pitching motion and the sand just gets in the way.

Couple examples, look at how their chest is facing the target on the followthrough, not pointing down towards the ball.

[Vinsk]

2 hours ago, mvmac said:

lack of body rotation and speed

This is great Mike! Just reading that and I realized my rotation was poor and I've been decelerating on the downswing.

[Rsuslow]

I had an instructor teach me your #6, thumping the ground with the bottom of the club and it changed my bunker game for the positive.  I'm no longer afraid of bunkers and can get an up and down out of a bunker much more than before I learned this.

[mvmac]

30 minutes ago, Vinsk said:

This is great Mike! Just reading that and I realized my rotation was poor and I've been decelerating on the downswing.

Cool. You want to make more of a "thump" than a "thud" with contact. Use the speed of the body and club to splash the sand out.

[Vinsk]

3 hours ago, mvmac said:

Cool. You want to make more of a "thump" than a "thud" with contact. Use the speed of the body and club to splash the sand out.

Will do @mvmac! I'm headed to Cancun tomorrow....gonna hit the sand in a better way for a few days...lol....thanks again Mike!

[Vinsk]

On 8/1/2017 at 7:58 PM, mvmac said:

Cool. You want to make more of a "thump" than a "thud" with contact. Use the speed of the body and club to splash the sand out.

Just wanted to let you know your advice really, really helped Mike. I've had two sessions of just bunker work and the improvement was excellent. Feels much more controlled and really had the ball coming out nicely. Several of my shots actually danced pretty good on the green too. Thanks again!

[mvmac]

3 hours ago, Vinsk said:

Just wanted to let you know your advice really, really helped Mike. I've had two sessions of just bunker work and the improvement was excellent. Feels much more controlled and really had the ball coming out nicely. Several of my shots actually danced pretty good on the green too. Thanks again!

Great news, happy to help.

[mvmac]

Good post here from Jeff Smith. Interesting idea he shares about the weight distribution being 50/50 at address. It's never been something I've done but I'm going to experiment with it. My initial reaction is that most amateur golfers are probably better off setting up with more weight forward. But what do I know, one of his players won in New Orleans and another finished second last week 😉

Love the cue of "set up like you are on a down slope". 

 

[iacas]

I like the weight forward at setup - sometimes well forward - and then just staying there throughout the swing, with a much further forward ball position.

I see what he's saying, but the way I've described has some advantages, too: IMO less weight shifting around, easier to pivot over the front ankle/leg, a shallow AoA, and a few other things.