how to hit bunker shots out of hard sand
Clear editor. This will help you come in a little bit steeper and negate some of the bounce. Sliding under the ball. With an open stance, and an open club face, and a swing that goes under the ball, youll be ready to hit some excellent greenside bunker shots. Lets talk about hitting draws. The key takeaway is to be open-minded about the golf wedge you use when you hit a bunker shot. I get it, the initial wave of depression that hits after we fail to reach one of our goals really sucks. This shot is more forgiving using the low-bounce wedge because it doesn't tend to bounce up into the ball. If you slide excessively toward the target on the downswing or swing by demonstrating a reverse pivot (back foot finish), this drill is ideal for you. If your toes are pointed in too much, as if youre pigeon-toed, allow yourself more freedom by opening it up. If the ball is positioned off the inside part of your lead heel, you are in a good spot. In many ways, that process for one great player is very different than another great players process. No Quit: Keep your body turning through the shot so your chest is facing the target at the finish. For more great instruction like this, watch Best Lessons Ever Wednesdays at 7 p.m. Most of the rest of the week went like that: just one hit during the day, although I knew many fish were swimming by, and were curiously following my lures right to the beach, over and over. Remember, a good setup position should exhibit the following traits: BENT KNEES, BACKSIDE OUT, LINEAR SPINE ANGLE closer to 60 vs. 90 degrees, and ARMS/HANDS (located) UNDERNEATH our shoulders. This makes it hard to clear the lip of the bunker and to get the ball to spin and check up on the green. Britt has been playing golf since she was seven years old. If you feel a ton of sand below you, then you know you will have to alter your angle . How do we engage these muscles on the downswing? A bunker shot can be very much like a flop shot. When we are playing out wet, compact sand it is important that the club doesn't bounce against the firmness and you end up with a bladed shot. A Golfers Paradise! A little steeper to drive down, smooth that tempo, you do not need a lot of speed. Prior to Augusta, Brooks played really well at the LIV Golf event. These shots need loft. This pro is chipping one-handed in competition. This reduces the effective bounce on the sole so you can dig into the firmer surface. Also, a very high percentage of mid-to-high handicappers hit weaker fades or even nasty slices. Biggest mistake I see on these shots is way too much speed. If you chunked a chip shot into a bunker from a great lie, why not take a stroke and distance penalty and replay the shot? As those bunkers dry out, the conditions will gradually soften. Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com where he spends his days blogging, producing and editing. There are various ways to get more yardage from your tee shots, or any other shot on the golf course. Special Select Squareback 2 w/ SuperStroke Pistol GT 1.0. 3W: Titleist 910F 16.5 * Diamana Kai'li 75 Mid R If the clubface is open like you would normally do for an explosion shot, the bottom of the club will bounce up and hit the middle of the ball giving you a skulled shot over the green. A full swing is completely counter-productive when trying to hit a low golf shot. In this video he addresses the unique challenges presented by different sand conditions. The more willing you are to put it all on the line, the more youll accomplish in the long run. Check out Monte's "Use the Bounce" video series for some great info on this technique. While Rahm and Koepka both play the game under very different circumstances in comparison to the typical amateur, all golfers have goals. Often, Ill witness amateurs spending loads of time on the practice green trying to reinvent their putting stroke after one bad round. With it, you can let the club enter the sand an inch or two behind the ball and exit an inch or two after it and the ball just jumps out with the sliver of sand you carved out with your wedge. We Played Golf at Sea Island for the First Time! Preferably hit to a flat green. Believe me, golf becomes a far more rewarding game after failing/succeeding on the course while we play in pursuit of something. I should be able to draw a line perpendicular to the ground that runs through your shoulders, knees, and feet. Would be problematic to pop this out high though. If this describes your current relationship with bunker shots, you are in the right place. My friends and I do this when we play matches against each other. Prepare to be BLOWN AWAY by this Course! Most golfers hit their approach in a greenside bunker, and the panic of what comes next starts to settle in. Watch 'The Golf Fix' Mondays at 7PM ET. The WHY: In an effort to not get ahead of the golf ball with his upper body on the downswing/impact. Very true. The lob wedge is a bit more open, to begin with, and can make it easier if the bunker has a high lip in the front of it. Ball: Ksig 3 piece. E.g. Here are 7 at-home drills from Ryder Cup captain Padraig Harrington, Padraig Harringtons latest backyard lesson backfired in hilarious fashion, Padraig Harrington reveals the 3 surprising swing keys you need to break 80, Try this drill from Padraig Harrington for more consistent chipping, 7 golf equipment tips that can help beginners improve right now, How to develop the perfect pre-shot routine, according to two of golfs best instructors, Perfect your impact position with this clever swing drill, This pro is chipping one-handed in competition. This is the proper way to hit a bunker shot and the method that results in the most spin and control. You want a wide stance when in the sand for better balance. Do yourself a favor and set a few specific goals for the upcoming season, and dont be discouraged if you fall short of one or all of them. MEMBER REVIEWS: Cleveland Frontline Elite Putters! You dont need to transfer quite as much of your weight back to your right side on this shot. That's why I use the most lofted club I have, and then I pray it's enough to get over the lip! You can't hit a standard bunker shot here. As Harrington demonstrates in the video, the secret to making short work of fluffy lies is to open the clubface and expose the bounce as much as you like, then swing hard to help it get up in the air. Use this excellent drill: Take your normal setup position with a short iron and then drop your trail foot back excessively (a few feet). Like Rahm, Koepka is willing to put the bad golf behind him. Don't worry about the ball. Now that you are eager to head out to the practice bunker to work on your game, here are a few last things to consider and think about. By Tour players don't fear bunker shots the way most amateurs do, but only a handful of the pros get up and down from the sand more than 60 percent of the time. Generally on a full iron or wedge shot you want the shaft leaning a little toward the target at impact to the bounce isn't doing much. Definitely takes skill as these are tougher shots specially when you're not used to them. Unfortunately this is a dicey way to make this shot. At this point, you should have a clear picture of how youll want to approach greenside bunker shots when the sand is soft. The lob wedge made it easy for me to get out and continue play without the cost of excessive strokes, hit behind the ball with quiet lower body. Most of the time in golf, we want to hit the ball first and then take a bit of grass with us. Square face. Public courses in Tucson are the same way. Pro who taught me this technique had me hitting flops off of a wooden board with my 56 wedge with 14 degrees of bounce. You are going to be a bit nervous when playing a bunker shot from behind a tall lip. To do this, turn the toe of the club away from the ball. Most of the time, golfers overthink bunker shots. Have some practice coz many guys are pre-set to fail regardless of the sand, the time of day, the tourney rules etc. 100plus. Feel as if youre pushing off the ground on the downswing and using the upper body to cover the golf ball. Knowing how to hit out of a bunker is important. One of the best things to do when overthinking your golf swing is to come up with a simple tip, swing thought, or trick to help you get out of the sand trap. Tiger flushed an 8 iron to within 3 feet of the cup in Sundays final round after his well-struck ball turned over from right to left, landed pin high at the top of the slope located in the middle of the green, and rolled towards its final destination. I get a lot of these at courses I play where the sand is really compacted or almost no-existent. Harrington begins by explaining that there are two distinctly different ways to play shots from bunkers with a lot of sand and ones with very little sand. But if you're in a bunker, usually in a place/lie you don't think you can get out of without a lot more trouble, e.g. ago. If you aim to get the ball out, finish up high, and go. Dropping the trail shoulder or raising your lead shoulder promotes a sweeping action at the bottom of your swing. Now that youve evaluated what the condition of the sand is, you need to set the clubface. Finau's sixth career PGA Tour victory was worth $1,386,000. If this is you, you need to learn, at a bare minimum, how to neutralize your ball flight. ET. Chances are, youll be best served by alerting your mental approach. If youre able, find any wall and stand flush up against it just as would in an effort to measure your own height. Obviously, theres a lot to love about the guy who makes triple on the first hole, cracks a beer, and accepts failure after hole number 1. Give it your all, no matter what. Top 100 Courses in the U.S.: GOLFs all-new 2022-23 ranking is here! Additionally, keep your hands ahead of the ball at impact to help deloft the clubface and keep the ball low. Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'SXrXsUnLS2Bd_fkY7wkv0g',sig:'RhOO0SFXizoxEkh3-6II-0Prmj41tcPnIiQhy4fST4A=',w:'509px',h:'339px',items:'1398778760',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); Focus solely on your intent and not what you hope doesnt happen as you watch your ball fly through the air. When this clubface opens, it is essential to turn your feet open so that your clubface lines up with the hole again. 3H: Titleist 910H 19 * Diamana Kai'li 80HYB Mid R The More You Open the Clubface, the More You Use the Bounce Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'4Ltqd4kiSBRSwuVO3lBKrQ',sig:'ezy-CPqhss1ofESgr8R43DQlCFnFYUecVW_hvfHnpFk=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1448233525',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); Countless mid-to-high handicappers struggle to contact the ball consistently solid (in the center of the face) while also demonstrating these inadequacies in a variety of unfavorable kinds of shots (fat, thin, heel/toe misses). Prior to joining the team at GOLF, he attended the University of Texas followed by stops with the Texas Golf Association, Team USA, the Green Bay Packers and the PGA Tour. First find your 'mostability', I *finally* learned how to escape deep bunkers thanks to this short-game expert, What's the proper footwork in the golf swing? As is tradition on Sundays at the Masters, the back left hole location on the par 3 16th hole presents players the opportunity to use the slope located in the middle of the green in order to feed the ball closer to the hole. When it is firmer or there is less sand in the bunker than normal, use a low bounce wedge, maybe even pitching wedge, and play it square. Callaway Epic Flash Subzero Driver, 9 degrees, Diamana S+ shaft, Ping G425 Max 7 wood Opening the face and exposing the bounce just skips the club into the ball. Srixon ZX5 irons 5-AW, Nippon N.S. Check to make sure your grip isnt too weak. CBS commentator, Trevor Immelmann, referred to Brookss game in the final round as being just a touch off. In this game, everything can take a turn for the worst after one bad swing, one change in momentum, or one unlucky break. So there's this big chunk of metal that's sticking down into the sand kind of acting like a rudder. Many people like moving the ball up/forward slightly in their stance (closer to their target) in order to hit a draw. In this episode of How to Hit Every Shot, instructor Erika Larkin takes us through the basics of blasting it from the bunker. He hit a lot of fairways, hit plenty of greens, and made enough putts. In order to jump off the ground, golfers use the exact same method of pushing off the ground to transfer energy, create club-head speed, and create more power/stability/distance. Lateral movement is a form of energy transfer that takes place during the swing to create club-head speed and distance. Watch the video above or read below for more. For a typical explosion shot, try to hit on the three points listed below: You dont need to make things any more complicated than that. If you want to turn it over more with the big stick, start by checking your ball position. However, those are the rounds that we learn the most from. Now he has a new helpful tip for golfers everywhere: the secrets to, and differences between, playing out of hard and soft sand. Play the ball a bit forward in your stance . Lots of bunkers like this in Arizona. Slow down, take a deep breath, pick a target, and make an aggressive swing on that conservative line. Golf Podcast 476: These Three Guys are Changing the Long Drive Game, Golf Podcast 475: Scottie Schefflers Rise to Success: His Trainer Reveals the Secret. Here are a few of our favorite sand shot tips. He pounded his high, piercing cut dead down the middle of the fairway and made a lot of big putts inside ten feet. 30 Days with GolfForever: You Wont Believe the Results! You can't hit a standard bunker shot here. Particularly when it's on the firm side. Maintenance. You can post now and register later. By moving the ball back, we are giving ourselves less room to hit behind the ball, which is ideal in this situation. After becoming a Class A PGA Professional, teaching professional, and golf membership director, she decided a career in golf writing was the perfect fit.