Being able to hit a shot over the bunker is crucial when having ambitions of shooting a good score. It will all depend on what lie you have. If you have a good lie, you could go quite high with the shot. If not then you may be forced to play more conservatively.
If you have a decent lie, the first thing you want to do is get your most lofted club which will most likely be your 56 or 60 degree wedge. With all chip shots and short shots around the green, including bunkers ensure you place 60 percent of your weight on your front foot. The goal when hitting these shots is making sure you don't move off your front foot.
The second part is putting the ball more forward in your stance and having the club open to ensure you get even more loft from the club. With the clubface being open, you will also need to aim the feet the same amount to the left. The stance will also be quite wide as the swing will be longer than normal.
When understanding how to get the ball high, visualise the image of a semi circle. The circle in itself represents your wrist hinge and swing arc. The more acute the semi circle, means greater wrist hinge in the backswing which invariably makes the ball go higher. If you wanted the ball to go lower, then only hinge the wrists a small amount.
Therefore when hitting the ball higher, hinge the wrists a lot more than normal as well adding slight hip turn on your back and through swing. How long you should take the swing back will depend on how far you want to land the ball onto the green.
With practice you can become quite good at this shot and start minimising any 'blow out' holes that you may incur particularly if they're lost around the green.
If you need any further help on how to play high shots over the bunker, just book in for a lesson and we'll apply some simple steps for you to follow.
Comments