At some level, the difference between an opening round 65 and a closing round 75 may not have been all that much. First find your 'mostability', I *finally* learned how to escape deep bunkers thanks to this short-game expert, What's the proper footwork in the golf swing? The greens may be faster, the rough may be longer, the pace of play might be slower, and your adrenaline may be through the roof. I like my lo. Sometimes, these players set up to the ball with their upper bodies too far ahead of the golf ball. The normal sand wedges try to dig under the ball too much to throw the sand and ball out of the bunker, with heavy wet sand all you throw out is some heavy wet sand and no ball. It doesnt matter if that personal goal happens to be winning your weekend match, winning the club championship, breaking 80, or qualifying for the US Open. Step 4: Put 80 percent of your weight on your lead leg. The key, for me, is driving the club into the sand behind the ball, with force, so it does not bounce/glance off the hardpacked sand. The more willing you are to put it all on the line, the more youll accomplish in the long run. I use a 58 with low loft and do exactly this. Play the ball a bit forward in your stance . We Played Golf at Sea Island for the First Time! If the ball is positioned off the inside part of your lead heel, you are in a good spot. For many amateurs, sand traps and bunkers are intimidating and present a true challenge. I treat it like a chip from a really tight lie. on Instagram: "Here's a great look at Tiger practicing hitting bunker shots before a round in 2020. It's a really good all-round club and will work well from the bunker. Pros, on the other hand, have mastered shots from the sand, and often prefer landing in bunkers than rough around the green. Tour players don't fear bunker shots the way most amateurs do, but only a handful of the pros get up and down from the sand more than 60 percent of the time. There's some amount of bounce on every modern wedge and iron. All three holes cost my a bunch of strokes it was so aggravating. I can promise you that a double bogey in a tournament round feels much different than a double bogey while drinking beers with your buddies on a casual Saturday afternoon. Play the ball a bit forward in your stance and then aim a bit to the left of your target. If your kids have a sandbox, that could be an option! The big key during the swing is to follow through, and turn your body to the target. In fact, you will typically want to avoid doing this on a fairway bunker. Pasted as rich text. The lob wedge made it easy for me to get out and continue play without the cost of excessive strokes, hit behind the ball with quiet lower body. Holding your sand wedge in front of you, turn the face open about 20 degrees, then take your grip. As I alluded to earlier, the best form of practice comes through experience. I'm not going to disagree with anyone here since this is just based on my personal experience, but i've never seen anyone do anything with a more square or even shut face in a bunker that didn't end in tragedy, regardless of the sand consistency. Opening the face and exposing the bounce just skips the club into the ball. Tiger Woods Downswing Rehearsal: What Exactly is he Doing? The more open you play the blade, the more you need to aim to the left. Tip #1: Move the ball slightly back towards the center of your stance. So it is almost as if the ball is plugged - place a . There are a few factors that impact sand conditions on a golf course: Some courses fill their bunkers with soft, fluffy sand, and they refresh that sand regularly. Achieving a more-neutral ball flight involves learning how to produce the mirror image of your preferred miss. By moving the ball back, we are giving ourselves less room to hit behind the ball, which is ideal in this situation. I have a drone shot of me casting a beast fleye and it getting eaten, but not eaten enough. The right set up is the key to hitting an effective shot from the bunker. This will help you come in a little bit steeper and negate some of the bounce. Can I cherry pick loft? The essence of a good bunker shot is the clubface sliding under the ball, creating a cushion of sand to send it high into the air so it can . Golf Podcast 473: Golf Ball Rollback: What You Need to Know About Bifurcation, Bad Hole or Bad Round? 2. If a course has the staff and equipment needed to regularly care for the bunkers, the sand will usually be soft. On the downswing, aim for a spot about an inch or two behind the ball in the sand. I didnt look at bounce when i grabbed my wedges. How do we engage these muscles on the downswing? Lately, theres been a lot of buzz surrounding the use of distinctively unique swing rehearsals. Obviously, in an increased effort to use the ground while minimizing excessive lateral movement, dont move your head up and down drastically. Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'4Ltqd4kiSBRSwuVO3lBKrQ',sig:'ezy-CPqhss1ofESgr8R43DQlCFnFYUecVW_hvfHnpFk=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1448233525',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); Countless mid-to-high handicappers struggle to contact the ball consistently solid (in the center of the face) while also demonstrating these inadequacies in a variety of unfavorable kinds of shots (fat, thin, heel/toe misses). I get a lot of these at courses I play where the sand is really compacted or almost no-existent. Would be problematic to pop this out high though. On the golf course, especially under tournament conditions, you want to be hyper-aware of your surroundings. Here's how it should look, Here's how to hit up on your driver to produce big distance gains, How slow play messes with your mind, according to Top 100 Teachers, Don't have time for pre-round practice? Have you ever hit a ball in the bunker and got excited about the shot you would get to hit next? So far, Paddy has dished out quality lessons on chipping, breaking 80, and incorporating your hands, arms and wrist into your swing (although that one went haywire). If this is you, you need to learn, at a bare minimum, how to neutralize your ball flight. The sand carries the ball with it. If the clubface is open like you would do for a blast shot, the bottom of the club . A more powerful punch is often made visible in ones more draw-biased ball flight. 1,036 likes, 2 comments - Darin de Lelys Golf (@darins_wedge_work) on Instagram: "Better Out Of The Bunker!!! and note the landing and roll out distance and write it down. The fairway bunker shots will play differently than the how to hit a greenside bunker shot. Step 5: Set your hands low and cock your wrists early. Too often, players hit weak slices because they fail to transfer their weight optimally during the swing. Watch 'The Golf Fix' Mondays at 7PM ET. If you can remember your steps and the checkpoints, you will be able to repeat the shot. Make sure you get out of the bunker and give yourself a chance at a one-putt, but for the most part be satisfied with getting down in three. Feel as if youre pushing off the ground on the downswing and using the upper body to cover the golf ball. If it's a longer shot, go with a pitching wedge or 9-iron. Heres the easiest way to stay behind the ball more effectively with your upper body: FEEL as if your hands and arms are outracing your upper body on the downswing. If we dont have goals, its easy to practice without a purpose, to accept mediocrity, and to never feel the satisfaction that accompanies success. Approach your shot with soft arms and a weak grip. Most of the time, golfers overthink bunker shots. Secondly your wedge is equipped with an angle called the bounce. Lateral movement or weight transfer is an important move during the golf swing thats often applied improperly or excessively, even by the best players in the world. Here are five tips for playing from the sand. If the sand is literally nonexistent then its a hardpan chip shot, but i've personally run into very few bunkers actually like this, and the ones that are are literally clay. Like hitting off a dirt road. No one has taught me about the functions of bounce. A 2019 rule change allows you to take a two shot penalty and drop the ball out the back of the bunker. Slow down, take a deep breath, pick a target, and make an aggressive swing on that conservative line. Download our instruction app from iTunes or . Chances are, youll be best served by alerting your mental approach. In the absence of that maintenance, however, the bunkers will get hard and playing shots will get tricky. The ball should explode out of the bunker with the sand you hit and settle safely on the green. Golf Podcast 477: Is this the Future of Golf? ^^^^^ This x 100. Use a Decent Lofted Wedge. Check out Monte's "Use the Bounce" video series for some great info on this technique. Don't Look Up! Bounce does NOT make the club bounce off the turf. 3H: Titleist 910H 19 * Diamana Kai'li 80HYB Mid R Im more of a shallow swinger, and I constantly have to remind myself in a bunker that the club needs to come a bit more upright to get the ball out of the trap. Unfortunately this is a dicey way to make this shot. On holes like the dogleg-left par 5 13th at Augusta National, righties hoping for a shorter approach into the green will opt for a draw-biased swing/setup off the tee. There are various ways to get more yardage from your tee shots, or any other shot on the golf course. Again, this is a point that has more to do with budgets than anything else. We hope that our comprehensive guide on how to hit a bunker shot has helped you feel a bit more confident in your abilities. Typically, you want a sand wedge (56 degrees) or higher. But that doesnt mean there isnt a way to successfully navigate bunkers with too much sand. Some golfers prefer the lob and others the sand, but they are both capable of doing what you need them to do. Dont dig your feet in quite as much, and you can hit almost any club out of a fairway bunker as long as you have enough clearance. Paste as plain text instead, Players who struggle with a line drive bunker shot took the club back too shallow. Here are a few of our favorite sand shot tips. Make bunker practice a regular part of your routine and you should gradually gain confidence and see improved results. Pick a target, pick a ball flight, step in, and fire. After a heavy rain, bunkers will often be packed down and youll struggle to play a traditional explosion shot. THE MATERIAL ON THIS SITE MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED, DISTRIBUTED, TRANSMITTED, CACHED OR OTHERWISE USED, EXCEPT WITH THE PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION OF DISCOVERY GOLF, INC. 2023 DISCOVERY GOLF, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. How do they differ when hitting from the fairway? This reduces the effective bounce on the sole so you can dig into the firmer surface. The big fat sole resists entering the sand and skims the surface which means the ball flies unpredictably, to your dismay. Get your weight into your trail foot during the backswing, back into your lead foot on the downswing before striking the ball and ultimately finishing with the clubs shaft wrapped around your shoulders as part of a proper, balanced finish. Amazingly, Rahm doubled his first hole of the tournament thanks to a four-putt on the 1st green. With more loft on the clubface when it slides under the ball, you get more height and more spin to keep the ball on the green. Now, as many of you are probably wondering, how should I apply these principles to my own golf swing? Honestly, the only way to really know how your game measures up is by putting yourself in those situations. Also, a very high percentage of mid-to-high handicappers hit weaker fades or even nasty slices. Titleist 917F3 15* VA Composite Drago 75-X At the same time, Tiger wants to feel his front/back leg muscles in both the upper/lower thigh area doing whats required in an effort to use exactly what were supposed to. Understanding the Importance of Ground Force in Your Golf Swing, WATCH: This Vintage Payne Stewart Drill Is Still Relevant Today. Once the club digs it wants to stop, and 9 times out of 10 that is how folks end up leaving it in the bunker. But setup the same for everything, except put a little more weight forward. Depending on your course and previous shot, your lie could be on an incline or a decline. However, you will typically have a much more open club face and stance with a flop shot. Takes some practice to get the timing right but it will stop that tail arm/hand doing crazy stuff. However, those are the rounds that we learn the most from. FOLLOW THROUGH to the finish like any other shot. This makes it hard to clear the lip of the bunker and to get the ball to spin and check up on the green. Definitely takes skill as these are tougher shots specially when you're not used to them. Get into your stance with the ball way forwardopposite the heel of your front foot. What's the lesson in this? You would only have your stance and clubhead quite as open in a bunker if there was a very high lip in front of you. Review the general bunker shot guidelines below in order to correctly execute the shot. I know youve heard this line before, but have you really approached your game in this manner in all environments? You want to hit behind the ball to splash it out on a patch of sand, so play the ball forward in your stance, up by your left foot. Rotating the trail foot open will help you get your weight where it needs to be in order to deliver a more powerful punch at impact. 2I: TourModel III True Temper S Now that youve evaluated what the condition of the sand is, you need to set the clubface. Obviously, this is a lot of information to consume in an effort the digest what Tiger is doing and trying to accomplish with this drill. 3-PW: Mizuno MP 60 True Temper Dynamic Gold S300 S But if you're in a bunker, usually in a place/lie you don't think you can get out of without a lot more trouble, e.g. While there are no shortcuts in this game, there are ways to practice and play smarter. I was using a full swing but my mindset was that I would open the face so much so the ball wouldn't travel too far if I didn't get much sand. When hitting a greenside bunker shot, it can help to put a little extra weight on the left side. This will ensure that the leading edge will make contact with the ball below the equator of the ball (see picture below). Or, theyll make the above change/changes and still struggle. Very true. In order to strike the ball solidly without losing your balance, youll notice how fast youll need to get your arms and hands down and thru the golf ball. If the club face is square to your stance line the club will often dig into the sand resulting in a shot that does not travel far enough or fly high enough to exit the bunker. Lots of bunkers like this in Arizona. Giving lessons, I often witness the same these inconsistencies among my students. The GROUND. The key to hitting out of hard sand, the easier of the two options, is to lean left and make sure you dont open the clubface. Here's a tip I got from our pro. Although exaggerated, Tigers body position is a reflection of a proper setup position when we address the golf ball. You should feel your feet pushing off the ground as you simulate the downswing with your arms and hands, as Tiger is doing here. The fluffier the sand is, the more you will open your stance. In other words, Tigers upper body is too far ahead of his arms/hands and, ultimately, the golf ball at the point of attack. Most of the time in golf, we want to hit the ball first and then take a bit of grass with us. Padraig Harrington reveals the secrets to hitting out of hard and soft sand, Phil Mickelson alleges world ranking collusion taking place, What is a PGA Tour Special Temporary member? King-of-Plebss 5 mo. Turn your brain off and fire your arms and hands thru the hitting area. After firing a disappointing 75 en route to a runner-up finish, Brooks was gracious in defeat during his post-round press conference. If the bunker is firm on top and compact beneath, square up the leading edge of your wedge (do not open up the face). Keep in mind that the digging in of your feet helps with greenside bunkers, but it is not necessary with fairway bunkers. embedded in the sand directly under the front lip, you can now (as SG said, since 2019) take it out of the bunker for a 2 shot penalty, "back-on-the-line" - dropping in a relief area outside the bunker keeping the spot where the ball was directly between the flag and where your relief point is. I used to struggle with these types of bunkers until an old guy I play with told me to keep the face square and let the wedge do the work. Today Britt plays more golf than ever with her husband and two children and still loves connecting with golfers worldwide. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account. Often, proper posture at the setup position is confused with standing in a similarly vertical position to your current position up against the wall. Despite entering the final round of the Masters with a two-shot advantage over his playing partner, Spaniard Jon Rahm, Brooks failed to capture his first green jacket and struggled in virtually all facets of his game, as was evident in his final round score of 3 over par, 75. Re member: Use a 56 or 58 sand wedge. Like Rahm, Koepka is willing to put the bad golf behind him. Srixon ZX4 4 iron Take a page out of Koepkas book in how he internalizes a bad day on the course. In order to jump off the ground, golfers use the exact same method of pushing off the ground to transfer energy, create club-head speed, and create more power/stability/distance. The next time you play a bad hole/round, try not to overreact to its existence by making a physical swing change. Simple things such as paying attention to the lie you have can help you save shots in the rough. Here's how you can do it: Set up slightly open to the target. Golf Podcast 476: These Three Guys are Changing the Long Drive Game, Golf Podcast 475: Scottie Schefflers Rise to Success: His Trainer Reveals the Secret. Zephyr Melton is an assistant editor for GOLF.com where he spends his days blogging, producing and editing. I might think about this. "We'll try the K-grind which has a wider sole and works best in soft sand. Is Phil Mickelson Actually About to Go on a Tear? Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'VKjSygTIQvdkKaP4wCziMA',sig:'1F9U_yCyztFYqjqS2YzwXVTxtRVd90Krl-ulcwUrdFI=',w:'478px',h:'359px',items:'102285666',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); Rest assured that most golfers arent even willing to go to that level in order to review or take stock of their game in a straightforward, honest, objective manner. If the new claw grip helps you putt better, great! In order to guard against his club head lagging too far behind his body (commonly known as getting stuck), Tiger knows he must mitigate the use of his arms/hands rotation. A weak grip doesn't mean you hold the club with less pressure, but it actually refers to the release of the hinge in your wrists. From there, make an aggressive swing and the ball will come out high and soft. So, lets get back to the aforementioned rehearsals used by Tiger. To get out safely, open the clubface so the club can bounce off the sand instead of dig. Approximately speaking, your body is now at a 90-degree angle in relation to the ground. | Sea Island Seaside Course. I always move a ball out of a footprint, rake it and try and drop it as I think it landed in the bunker. SW: TourModel III True Temper S 4. Explaining Akshay Bhatias status, This rising star and long shot is primed for a breakout win: 2023 Wells Fargo Championship odds, 2023 Mexico Open at Vidanta: How to watch, TV schedule, streaming, tee times, Meet the new GOLF Top 100 Teachers of America, These sleek and stylish golf carry bags are just what your game needs. It helps the club glide through or on top of whatever you're hitting from (turf, sand, hardpan, a mat or whatever). Instead of trying to address the mechanical or technical aspects of your swing/stroke/game, commit to a mental change. All golfers should know how to hit bunker shots, so lets break it down into simple steps. Ball: Ksig 3 piece. Why cant I just be happy with my driver? Is it thick or soft sand? But Paddys latest lesson isnt about learning bunker basics (which hes covered before). Might take a little less sand or even use the leading edge. What I will say, however, is that putting comes down to confidence. But in reality, wet sand sometimes offers a better chance of success. Jon Rahms surge of birdies My friends and I do this when we play matches against each other. Many people like moving the ball up/forward slightly in their stance (closer to their target) in order to hit a draw. We must hit behind the ball in the bunker and launch some sand up into the air. When chipping near the green Im thinking mostly about how much I want the ball to roll out, but if the lie is really tight Ill go with the lower bounce wedge. In many ways, that process for one great player is very different than another great players process. How do we get there? Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'sxB0VfKgRyRlHBwDqDTwjA',sig:'igfJFD2-EyHNoBofQzjv5KgrDHkojiDPQ-Br8uLF4X8=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'941130414',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); Most obviously, Tigers body is situated in a very angular fashion and not straight up and down in relation to the ground. Low expectations, just get it out and putt twice -> go next hole. Plus, they're fearful, so they tend to lock their bodies in place and just wave at the ball with their arms. Many golfers automatically grab their sand wedge, but you should give it a bit more thought than that.