Bunkers Can be Easier Than you Think

I have seen and reported on many techniques to escape sand traps, but I really believe that this approach is the best of them all. If you are in a sand trap next to the green, you want to get your ball over the lip and to settle on the green. This blog gives you the easy way to avoid 2 or 3 extra strokes wasted in the bunker.

I have shared some recommendations by Danny Maude in the past but this time he has come up with a very SIMPLE solution. The closer your get down to your ball the easier it is to make a consistent swing to lift it out of the sand. The closer your hands are to the ball the easier it is to guide your club through the sand at the right spot and to swing on a level plane through the ball.

This method is for sand shots out of soft sand
1/ Slide your hands down to the bottom of your grip and take a wider stance with bent knees so that your hands are much closer to the ball than your normal bunker stance.
2/ Use your normal grip with the ball forward of center in your stance and the club face wide open to use the bounce on the leading edge of your sand wedge.
3/ Take a 3/4 swing on a more horizontal than vertical swing with a good club speed so that your club will enter the sand 2-3 inches before the ball and exit 2-3 inches after the ball position and lift you ball on a carpet of sand.
4/ Finish your swing by swinging freely and throwing your ball and a spray of sand on the green.

Grip down and take a wider stance to get closer to your ball to take sand before and after your ball.

For hard packed bunkers
1/ Select a club with less bounce than a sand wedge and grip down on your club (similar to the soft sand setup above). Practice with different clubs to understand the impact and rollout on the ball.
2/ Stand with the ball slightly behind the center of your stance and your weight forward on you leading leg.
3/ Take a full pitch swing. Practice with GOLFSTR+ on your trailing wrist to limit wrist lag and take less sand than you would in a soft sand trap.

In both cases you are playing with a shorter club grip for better control to take sand with your shot and avoid fat or thin shots to at least get your ball up and on the green. These are not flop shots so you should be practicing with GOLFSTR+ on your trailing wrist to minimize your trailing wrist bend. Buy one today at www.GOLFSTR.com

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Golf Truism #91: Golf’s a hard game to figure. One day you’ll go out and slice it and shank it, hit into all the traps, and miss every green. The next day you go out and for no reason at all you really stink.