Tips to Solve your Bunker Miseries

Getting out of any bunker with a short or long shot is every golfers dream. A recent blog by GOLF Magazine gave us the 10 steps for success. These steps may not guaranty that you make more SANDIES (a bunker chip plus 1 putt) but they should at least help you reach and stay on the green.

1/ Balanced Stance: Setup with equal weight on both feet.

2/ Forward Ball Position: Your club must contact the sand before it slips under the ball so place the ball a few inches forward of the center of your stance and aim for your club to enter the sand directly in the center of your stance.

3/ Shuffle Into the Sand: You want to lower the height of your body to ensure that you club will power through the sand. Dig your feet down so that the soles of your shoes are below the level of the sand.

4/ Swing to Take Sand the Length of a Dollar Bill: Your swing needs to enter the sand just before the ball but more important it needs to take sand under the ball and well after the ball. Imagine that you are placing a quarter after the ball and that you have to clear the ball and the quarter out of the trap.

5/ Practice Pounding the Sand (without a ball): For short bunker shots open your club face and swing by pound the flat back of the club through the sand to practice taking sand out of the trap.

And For Longer Bunker Shots
6/ Practice Swinging with a Square Club Face (without hitting a ball): Swing with more power but make sure that you are throwing sand out of the trap.

7/ For Longer Shots Use Less Loft: Test your Gap Wedge and your Pitching Wedge to learn how far you can blast them out of a bunker for longer shots.

8/ Longer Bunker Shots Need a Full Swing: If you are not getting enough distance when you use less loft, add more shoulder turn with a shallow backswing to power through the sand.

9/ Finish your Swing: Never decelerate when you are hitting short or longer bunker shots. For shorter shots use an open face and finish with the same distance as your backswing. For a longer bunker shot use a square face and finish with an aggressive long divot to a high finish.

10/ Long Bunker Shots Need Speed: Don’t forget that you are still taking sand under your ball so it steals energy from your shot. Take a full swing with energy to make sure that you power both the sand and your ball to reach the green.

GOLFSTR+ can be used on your trailing wrist to limit your wrist bend for short bunker shots. It should also be used to practice 5 other swing fixes. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

Golf Truism #80: The inevitable result of any golf lesson is the instant elimination for the one critical unconscious motion that allowed you to compensate for all of your many other errors.