Bunkers for a lot of people when first learning golf, can be quite challenging. When I coach students to exit successfully out of a bunker, I ensure we work on their basic swing first before attempting bunker shots. We will firstly work on the fundamentals of the game including grip, stance, ball position and posture as well the basic motion of the backswing and downswing. Once this starts to get quite proficient, we will then start looking at bunker shots. The reason being is that because there's another element being sand, you want to make sure the basic swing is fairly embedded so that you can adjust to the new set-up positions in the bunker.
It sounds obvious but the biggest goal when trying to exit the bunker, is getting out in one shot. Even the Tour Players are making sure of this every time they attempt a sand shot. Now since the basic swing is somewhat embedded, we want to use the same swing but now we want to hit the sand first. We ideally want to hit around 1 inch behind the ball. What people don't realise is that the club doesn't make contact with the ball through impact. Its the sand that propels the ball out. If you try and take the ball first, then the ball will either sail over the green or dribble in front of you.
Now along with hitting the sand first, we want to also build a stance that gives us the best chance of success. When aiming for a target, the first element is aiming your feet quite left of the target followed by aiming the clubface right. We do this because we want to use the bounce of the club when impacting the sand. The bounce is simply the middle section of the sole of the club. If we open the clubface, we are more likely to use the bounce which enables the clubface to slide under the ball. One of the biggest mistakes people make is aiming the clubface straight. When we do this, the club will tend to dig too much in the sand causing the ball to not move very far. This is because you will be using too much of the font part of clubface which tends to dig into the surface.
Also with your stance, you want to ensure that your stance is quite wide with around 60% of weight on the left foot. The objective then is to swing back and hinge your wrists gradually to 90 degrees once you reach the top of the swing. On the downswing you want to accelerate right through the sand so your hands reach about shoulder height on the follow through. You want to always finish at shoulder height because you need speed through the sand to ensure the ball exits the bunker.
If you'd like any further help in playing bunker shots, just contact myself at David Waters Golf located at Emerald Lakes Golf Coaching Centre.
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