Best Bunker Drill: Where to Aim Your Club
Hello, my name is Christopher Toulsen and I am the Director of Instruction for the Jim McLean Golf Schools. Today I am going to give you some advice on greenside bunker play.I am here on the famous Blue Monster course, and this particular course has over 126 bunkers, so it is imperative when you are playing a championship-caliber course that your bunker game is such where you can get out in one shot.
Common Bunker Shot Mistake
Ideally in a good bunker shot, in a greenside bunker, you want to hit about two or three inches back behind the ball, which I have noted here with a line in the sand. What we see a lot of times with most of the amateurs coming to our golf schools is hitting too far behind the golf ball, actually hitting back where this second line in the sand six or seven inches behind the ball is.
They enter the sand and then when the club comes out the ball is still there or they will catch the ball and it is the dreaded drop kick across the green.
Drill: How to Hit a Bunker Shot
What we are trying to do is hit about two or three inches behind the ball. A good drill would be to put a line in practice about six inches behind the ball and see if you can have your club land somewhere between the back line and the ball. I will demonstrate here.
You can see that I erased that line two inches behind the ball but still left the back line intact. If you have a greenside bunker at your home course this would be a great drill to practice where you can get into the habit of having your club enter about anywhere from two to three inches behind the ball using an open-face club so that it will skim through the sand utilizing the bounce on your club. Thank you very much.