Bunker Stance

Video Transcript

Hi, I am Brent Franklin with McGetrick Golf Academy here in Denver, Colorado. What I want to talk to you today about is set up in the bunker. A problem I see a lot of people have is they just don't set up right to make the shot easy. They set up and make it hard. They either stand with their feet to close together, the face of the club is closed and they try to hit it like a chip shot or a normal pitch shot and that is really not correct. What we want to do is get nice and wide with your stance. Because it is a big swing you need a wider stance to keep the swing stable. We don't want you moving around, we don't want your body moving that much. A wide stance where you can make a big arc. The other thing is you want to keep the face of the club open. The reason for this is that as the face closes down it actually tends to dig through the sand. If it opens up less of it goes through the sand and it can drag and bounce through the sand a lot easier. Wide stance, a little left of my target because I am trying to basically stay open through this shot. I don't want the club to close on me or release or turn down, I want it to actually work with my body and keep my body actually turned to hit the shot. So wide stance, weight is going to be pretty much evenly distributed. The ball can be pretty much slightly forward or even in the middle of your stance, it really depends on where you keep your weight. If your weight is a little forward you can move it forward. If your weight is back, which I don't ever agree with, you can move your weight back unless you are on some sort of a slope. But the main thing for a bunker shot is weight slightly left, ball just slightly forward of center, wide stance, aiming a little bit left. Let's try to hit one. As you can see my body turned through the shot to get the club going through, not my hands. Try that stance and set up the next time you have trouble with your bunker play.