Bunker play

[Imurg]

My bunker play is one of 2 things.....
Spectacular
Or
Spectacularly bad.
There's very little in between.....
Holed one, dead weight, for a birdie today - next hole flew the green......

 

[srixon 1]

You need speed under the ball. At the bottom of the swing I try to get the club head to overtake my hands. Can go spectacularly wrong though if you catch the ball clean. How many of you practice plugged lies or balls in the face? You’re not going to get them close but at least you’ll know what to do to get them out.

 

[Springveldt]

You need speed under the ball. At the bottom of the swing I try to get the club head to overtake my hands. Can go spectacularly wrong though if you catch the ball clean. How many of you practice plugged lies or balls in the face? You’re not going to get them close but at least you’ll know what to do to get them out.

Those are easy, I just shut my eyes and smash the club into the sand and then blame everything but me.

 

[Red devil]

Any tips for a course where they seem to use cheap builders' sharp sand and rarely rake them? Think Southport beach when the tide is out.

Tide never comes in to go out at Southport! But I know the type of lie you mean

 

[DeanoMK]

I think part of the reason people have problems is they watch the guys on TV playing from perfectly prepared bunkers and it's easy. A little flick with half an inch of sand and watch it dance.
In reality it's nothing like that.

There are different techniques for different shots but I use one technique for all shots...
Hands down the grip
Open the face then aim your body left so the face is pointing at your target (RH)
Ball well forward
Hit the sand hard, 3-5in behind the ball and go 3-4in deep.
Finish with a high full follow through.
The only variation is in fluffy sand don't go too deep.

Here's an old man getting it out with a 56 SW (I think)

The 'open your face and aim left' advice isn't taught much these days, most people - even the pros, are playing square to the target.

Dan Grieves's (Woburn head pro) book has some brilliant advice for bunkers, or just look at his instagram page for hundreds or videos that give a lot of great advice.

 

[sjw]

The 'open your face and aim left' advice isn't taught much these days, most people - even the pros, are playing square to the target.

How does that work then? Shape of golf clubs changed? A physics update that I'm unaware of?

 

[Wabinez]

How does that work then? Shape of golf clubs changed? A physics update that I'm unaware of?

Just an evolution of teaching. Ball flight laws changed too. And the realisation that the ball tends to start where the face is pointing, which wasn't believed to be the case many moons ago.

Also, if you lower the handle of a wedge, then it will straighten the face up.

 

[jim8flog]

Any tips for a course where they seem to use cheap builders' sharp sand and rarely rake them? Think Southport beach when the tide is out.

As others have said have a wedge best suited to the sand where you play
There was a time when our bunkers were like this and the most lofted club I carried was a 52 wedge with low bounce.
You want something that digs in to sand rather than bounces off it.
Then as per usual aim to bring out a wedge of sand with the ball on top of it.

 

[clubchamp98]

Pardraig Harrington did a great masterclass out of bunkers at one of the British Masters comps on Sky. Think it was one at Close House. Google it, it was excellent.

Yes but we all don’t have bunkers like Close House.
I usually find at a lot of courses the practice bunkers bear no resemblance to the ones on the course.

 

[clubchamp98]

Possibly. I'm off 2, and bunkers can be really inconsistent, so having to try and change the way I play the shot every time. What's annoying is when you dig your feet in and feel a load of sand, but the ball is sat on hard pan, but there were no real visual clues.

We have that very problem with liners in the bunkers there horrendous to play a splash shot,
The bounce hits the lining and the ball rockets over the green.

 

[Billysboots]

Yes but we all don’t have bunkers like Close House.
I usually find at a lot of courses the practice bunkers bear no resemblance to the ones on the course.

Both our practice bunkers are renovated eco bunkers, with high quality sand.

We have none of those on the course. Not one.

 

[clubchamp98]

Both our practice bunkers are renovated eco bunkers, with high quality sand.

We have none of those on the course. Not one.

Never seen a course where the bunkers on the practice area are better than the course.
strange priorities.

 

[BiMGuy]

How does that work then? Shape of golf clubs changed? A physics update that I'm unaware of?

There are quite a few pros trying to hit more of a draw out of bunkers.

Like many things in golf, conventional thinking gets challenged and people start doing things a different way.
Turf and sand conditions change. Balls are different, grooves are different so techniques adapt.

 

[DeanoMK]

How does that work then? Shape of golf clubs changed? A physics update that I'm unaware of?

Just because 'it's the way it's always been done' doesn't mean it's the right way.

Plenty of new information out there on why but here's a couple of good examples of pretty good golfers not aiming left...

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[Lord Tyrion]

Yes but we all don’t have bunkers like Close House.
I usually find at a lot of courses the practice bunkers bear no resemblance to the ones on the course.

That's a fair point but the principles will be the same. You have to have a starting point for technique. Then swing and hope for the best

 

[Jason.H]

Yes but we all don’t have bunkers like Close House.
I usually find at a lot of courses the practice bunkers bear no resemblance to the ones on the course.

Our practice bunker resembles them on the course, full of stones . No way am I buying a new Vokey sand wedge

 

[Jason.H]

Hit a bunker shot really well today but it came out a bit long. The sand has dried out and is like crusty on top, I kept the face square as I knew the bounce wouldn’t let the club get into the sand.

 

[DeanoMK]

Our practice bunker resembles them on the course, full of stones . No way am I buying a new Vokey sand wedge

My brand new wedge has already been ruined by the bunkers at my course, apparently though there's nothing wrong with them!

 

[Billysboots]

My brand new wedge has already been ruined by the bunkers at my course, apparently though there's nothing wrong with them!

When one of our roll up took a stone the size of half a brick, which he had just struck whilst playing out of a fairway bunker on our 8th hole, ruining his new 8-iron in the process, into the pro shop after his round, the manager agreed to replace the club free of charge.

 

[clubchamp98]

When one of our roll up took a stone the size of half a brick, which he had just struck whilst playing out of a fairway bunker on our 8th hole, ruining his new 8-iron in the process, into the pro shop after his round, the manager agreed to replace the club free of charge.

What about his wrists ?
that must of hurt.