Controlling distance from bunker shots

[barrybridges]

Just following up on another thread in this section, about bunker play.

I've booked a specific lesson with the instructor at our club, to tackle bunkers.

I can always get out of bunkers. I've never had a problem escaping them.

The issue is that I have absolutely no control whatsoever out of the shot in doing so.

I'm doing all the right things - opening the clubface, firm base, getting low, following through and being aggressive, but there is absolutely no consistency in my escapes.

Most of the time (60%?) the ball will pop out but no more than a couple of feet (e.g. it'll pop out onto the lip, but won't reach the green for a greenside bunker).

The other 40% of the time I'll catch the ball heavy and it'll fly - normally through the green (and I mean fly - like 50ft through the green and out the other side).

Recently I scored 8 on a par 4 - despite reaching the greenside-bunked in 2 - because I hit it from one greenside bunker to the otherside, back to the other bunker again and then popped it out barely 1 foot.

To be fair, most of the courses I play don't look after their bunkers - most are quite bare, full of compacted sand, hard, stony and the ball sits fully on top of the compacted sand, meaning you can't get under the sand (it just duffs). I'm not using that as an excuse though.

So, two questions - one is really how do you control distance from bunker escapes and two - what's the best approach for tackling bunkers over the course of a season. I mean, what plan should I set out to get to grips with them - lessons? Regular practice?

 

[Region3]

You need to work on getting the same contact each time, then you can control the distance with your length of swing.

It sounds like you're getting too much sand from your description of only popping out a few feet sometimes.
Rather than thinking about driving the leading edge into the sand a couple of inches before the ball I like to think about slamming the back of the club into the sand.
That way you use the bounce and don't take half the sahara with the ball.

Having said that, different strokes for different folks!

 

[bobmac]

To control the distance the ball goes you need to vary the amount of energy that reaches the ball.
You can either

• Keep the swing speed the same and enter the sand closer to the ball to hit it further or
• Keep the entry point in the sand the same and vary the swing speed.

With compacted sand, you need to force the club down and thrrough the sand and commit to a full swing. To help this, you may need to keep the face square to the body and flag to prevent the bounce working. The club WILL go through the sand

 

[Dave B]

If you are aggressive in your swing you will lose controll of the club head which will affect your contact with the ball.

If you watch the pro's they are very smoothly and accelerate through the swing. The biggest problem for amateurs is we de-accelerate just prior to impact and duff the shot. Alternatively we thrash at the ball and hit it clean sending it fifty yards across the fairway