As easy as the pros may make it seem, shots from the bunkers aren’t easy. When a recreational player hits into the sand, most are praying they can just get it out in a single shot. There’s a reason the sand is considered a hazard.
Shots from the sand require a special technique, and most weekend warriors are clueless about how to execute it. It’s why you’ll see so many of your playing partners take two (or three or four) shots to escape the bunker. When they get in the sand, they have no idea what they’re supposed to do to get it out.
That goes for greenside bunker shots and fairway bunker shots. Worse yet, lots of them don’t realize that these techniques differ depending on if the bunker is next to the green or bordering the fairway.
At the GOLF Top 100 Teacher Summit a couple of years back, instructor Kellie Stenzel broke down the key differences between these shots — and explained how to execute each.
Fairway and greenside bunker techniques
When hitting fairway bunker shots and greenside bunker shots, the biggest difference is how far you want the ball to travel. Out of fairway bunkers, you want the ball to travel a lot farther than you do from greenside bunkers. So, how do you change the distance? It’s all about where your clubhead enters the sand.
When you are hitting from a fairway bunker, you want the clubhead to make contact with the ball and then the sand, while in a greenside bunker, you want the clubhead to enter behind the ball in the sand which will splash the ball out. And the easiest way to make this change is by altering your setup.
Greenside bunker
From a greenside bunker, you want the ball position to be in the forward part of your stance. If you need a reference, try thinking of where the ball would be when you line up to hit a driver.
“What would happen there is that when I make my natural golf swing, the club will enter the sand before the ball,” Stenzel says. “I’ll also dig my feet into the sand. What that does is that it lowers the swing arc and allows you to take enough sand so that the club never contacts the golf ball.”
Fairway bunker
With a fairway bunker shot, you are going to take a setup that is similar to what you’d have with any other stock shot.
“I want to hit is just like it’s a normal golf shot,” Stenzel says. “I want to put the ball right in the middle of my body. Then you want to wedge your trail foot into the sand with the weight on the inside of your foot. This will help your weight stay forward so that you are sure to make solid, ball-first contact.”
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: golf.com
