Bunker drills

[SaintHacker]

Hoping someone can give me some advice.
Basically my bunker play is shocking. I understand about setting up with an open stance and clubface, and hitting through the sand about 3 inches in front of the ball, I just can't do it. If I swing somewhere near normal speed the club gets bogged in the sand and the ball goes about a foot. If I try to swing harder I either hit the sand too far in front and get the same result, or I catch it thin, the ball pops out but carries on into the next county.
Anyone got any good drills that may help?

 

[Lump]

What type of bunkers are we talking about? Greenside or fairway?

 

[SaintHacker]

Greenside.

 

[Lump]

For me its:
shaft straight up (no forward lean at set up)
Very open stance and club face
Swinging across myself with the ball nice and forward in my stance.
Make sure your knees stay nice and flexed during the swing aswell.

Don't quit on the shot, you want splash the ball out and not hit it out. You really want to use the bounce of the club

 

[RGDave]

3 inches sounds a lot to me, unless you are trying a really short shot.

Although I can't help a great deal, why not try the exercise Nick Faldo recommends in one of his books.

Draw a long line in the bunker, line up a load of balls a little to the left of that line (for a right hander) and walk down the line concentrating on hitting the line, not the ball.

OR, try something else altogether.

t.b.h. I don't bother with either the open stance or open face method. I can do it, but it's only 75% reliable.

I just stand almost square, stand wide(r), set up with my hands marginally *behind* the ball and the make sure the ball is not centre, but the equivalent of a ball or two forward.

I got the idea from this....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xeADahxxrE

 

[Foxholer]

3 inches sounds a lot to me, unless you are trying a really short shot.

Yep. Far too far from ball imo.

Google 'Luke Donald Bunker Play' or 'Nick Faldo Bunker'. Plenty of vids and drills there.

 

[full_throttle]

i think this tip was in a golf monthly issue a few months back,

draw two lines in the bunker about 3-4 inches apart, place 6-8 balls between the lines, your objective is to enter then sand on the first line and exit on the second line. it worked for me on the practice ground, (if only i could draw a line in the bunkers on the course)

if you execute the shot correctly the ball should pop out, obviously the further the ball has to travel then the harder your shot

 

[SocketRocket]

Rake a practice bunker and draw two lines in the sand around six inches apart. Setup and swing through so that you take a divot that starts at the first line and exits at the second. Don't hit any balls until you can do this. When you can do it repeatedly then do it again but place a row of balls in the centre of the two lines, carry out the drill again and the balls should pop onto the green along with the sand divot.

If you start going wrong do the sand only drill again. Once you have worked out how to make the correct divot then its just a case of experimenting with different clubs and ball position to create longer or shorter shots.

Happy bunkering :whoo:

 

[RGDave]

Rake a practice bunker and draw two lines in the sand around six inches apart. Setup and swing through so that you take a divot that starts at the first line and exits at the second. Don't hit any balls until you can do this. When you can do it repeatedly then do it again but place a row of balls in the centre of the two lines, carry out the drill again and the balls should pop onto the green along with the sand divot.

That sounds good.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Plenty of online videos. I had a bunker lesson a few months back and the ball position was too far forward and I wasn't using the bounce properly. Might be worth getting a lesson so you have thr right technique and then working away to hone this