By getting our arms/hands/club out in front of our body on the downswing. 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. (@scratchgolftips) on Instagram: "Here's a great look at Tiger practicing hitting bunker shots before a round in 2020. But, if your ball position is too far back, get it further forward. Join InsideGOLF for only $20 - includes instant $20 Fairway Jockey credit! At some level, the difference between an opening round 65 and a closing round 75 may not have been all that much. Without the bounce you'd have to be much more precise. Also, a very high percentage of mid-to-high handicappers hit weaker fades or even nasty slices. In other words, a bad round can quickly follow a good round and vice versa. First, open the face, then take your grip . In addition, starting with a little weight on the left ensures that you are hitting down and through the sand. Give it your all, no matter what. To hit a low golf shot, take a shorter backswing and follow through to minimize the height of the shot. He left a bunker shot in the sand on the sixth hole and . If a course has the staff and equipment needed to regularly care for the bunkers, the sand will usually be soft. Brands Explained. I like my lo. For the average bunker shot, you will need your clubface open slightly. Hank Haney: How To Hit The Basic Sand Shot | Instruction | Golf Digest Players who struggle with a line drive bunker shot took the club back too shallow. If the sand is soft, your club is almost certainly going to sink down into that sand as you swing through the ball. It's hard because it's in between how to play a greenside bunker shot and not long enough to hit like a fairway bunker shot. You can still hit behind the ball like a normal bunker shot and the square face will allow the wedge to dig into the hard sand and pop it out on a nice cushion. Often, proper posture at the setup position is confused with standing in a similarly vertical position to your current position up against the wall. Easy to have club bounce off sand and skull ball way over green or into lip of bunker, been there done that . Wedges: Understanding Bounce - Plugged In Golf Its as simple as that, make bunker shots routine, and you can pull it off every time. I might think about this. The sand wedge is the most common type of club for a golfer to use out of the bunker. First, lets talk about why you should care about the firmness of the sand. A club without any bounce would act like a shovel when it hit the dirt. Michael Breed, host of 'The Golf Fix,' improves your sand game, with tips on bunker shots with little sand. Pick a target, pick a ball flight, step in, and fire. If it's a longer shot, go with a pitching wedge or 9-iron. For a typical sand shot where the sand is dry and a bit fluffy, the bounce helps the club slide under the ball at a predictable depth in the sand and come out the other side. The steeper swing in a bunker may feel a little as though you are taking the club back with your hands and arms, more than your core and legs. GOLF.com and GOLF Magazine are published by EB GOLF MEDIA LLC, a division of 8AM GOLF. The GROUND. "We'll also try the S-grind which is one of our popular grinds. Playing Bunker Shot Technique Out of Compact Sand. If you hit the ball first in the bunker, expect your shot to fly over the green. You want to hit behind the ball to splash it out on a patch of sand, so play the ball forward in your stance, up by your left foot. When a bunker has been hardened by rain or irrigation, the golf ball will spin more coming off the clubface. Most of the time, golfers overthink bunker shots. ! If you exhibit solid fundamentals with respect to both ball position/shoulder tilt, and youre still not neutralizing the flight of your ball/hitting a draw, its time to keep digging. All golfers should know how to hit bunker shots, so lets break it down into simple steps. Don't ask me how it comes out so high, but it does. Low bounce 58 or 60, square face, I'm not going to disagree with anyone here since this is just based on my personal experience, but i've never seen anyone do anything with a more square or even shut face in a bunker that didn't end i, I get a lot of these at courses I play where the sand is really compacted or almost no-existent. Watch 'The Golf Fix' Mondays at 7PM ET. For a greenside bunker shot, that's too far back. As you play a course a few times, youll get familiar with the sand conditions, and you can alter your technique accordingly. After becoming a Class A PGA Professional, teaching professional, and golf membership director, she decided a career in golf writing was the perfect fit. I hit it like a bunker shot. 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. When you're trying to escape the bunker, the key is to focus on throwing sand. You want the leading edge to dig a bit. After hitting my shot out of the bunker on the first try, I might add McLachlin reassured me that the main reason was due to my setup and my . Im more of a shallow swinger, and I constantly have to remind myself in a bunker that the club needs to come a bit more upright to get the ball out of the trap. There's some amount of bounce on every modern wedge and iron.