The Basics of Bunker Shots in Golf

I’d like to introduce you to the basic concepts of the bunker shot. The first thing I like to get my students to do is work there feet into the sand. The purpose of this is not really for a solid base, it’s to feel the texture of the sand; the more packed the sand, the more you reduce bounce on the club. The fluffier the more you open the sand wedge to increase the bounce angle.

Then position the ball about an inch ahead of the center of your stance, kind of right under your sternum being a point about an inch behind the ball. Weight fairly balanced, club shaft straight up and down. I know a lot of you have heard that your suppose to aim left and make a cutting motion, that is a way to play bunker shots, but not the way I teach it. I teach it as just a normal golf swing. So my aim would be if anything, maybe, just slightly left of target.

I’m going to let the club swing to a vertical and vertical position, I’m going to swing more in line and underneath the ball and the critical aspect is that my body rotates as I swing the club in a very relaxed fashion.

Your distance control really comes from how much sand you knock out of the bunker and where you splash the sand, so that’s really where I want your focus. Once you get set-up, just practice knocking an area of sand out of the bunker. Make a few swings. Try and feel how the clubs working through the sand, and then at the ball, again, the ball is in the area of sand, I’m going to knock the area of the sand out of the bunker. That is going to get you hitting some good bunker shots.