The Truth About Bunkers

How many of you suffer in the bunkers? Are you extremely inconsistent? Do you chunk one, then skull the next? First off, don’t worry, it’s very common. I will explain why: There are two laws to greenside sand play that must be abided by for consistency. 1) You must hit the sand first. When hitting …

How many of you suffer in the bunkers? Are you extremely inconsistent? Do you chunk one, then skull the next?

First off, don’t worry, it’s very common. I will explain why:

There are two laws to greenside sand play that must be abided by for consistency.

1) You must hit the sand first.

When hitting a bunker shot properly the club does not even make contact with the ball. The club hits the sand, and the sand propels the ball out of the bunker. Don’t believe me?
Check out this quote taken from The Golf Digest Website.

New players have a hard time believing this, but the club never touches the ball in a greenside bunker shot. It passes under the ball, which flies out of the bunker on a cushion of sand. Here you see my wedge entering the sand about an inch behind the ball and passing underneath it.

Hitting the sand first is what propels the ball upwards and with lots of spin. That means stopping power and confidence guys!

2) You must finish your swing.

By finish, I mean accelerate through the sand and finish your swing. It’s very common for players just to swing and dig their club into the sand. But I’m sure they would even agree, that it’s not a very effective way at exiting the sand. If you dig the club into the sand, the club decelerates; the ball will remain in the bunker 95% of the time. Accelerate and finish your swing, the ball will be out of the bunker every time. If you have to, finish every bunker shot with a full finish if it forces you to complete your swing. This is crucial to bunker consistency.

With this in mind, we’ll move on to a great bunker drill tomorrow!