The biggest issue that many amateur golfers face when playing from a greenside bunker is they struggle to find consistency with where the club enters the sand. If you develop your understanding of how the club interacts with sand in the bunkers, and the appropriate point of entry for different types of shot, your bunker play will improve drastically.
In this video and article, Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach Ged Walters shares his expert tips and three brilliant bunker drills to help you get up and down from the sand more consistently...
1. The Line Drill
As you can see in the video, I have scraped a line in the sand and placed a golf ball at the end furthest from my feet. The purpose of the line is to help me measure, and practice hitting, the point where I want my club to enter the sand.
In set-up, you want the front line (and therefore ball position) to be more towards the inside of your lead foot. Wriggle your feet slightly to get a nice steady base, and to help lower your centre.
Sit into your knees, add more pressure to your lead leg, and slightly roll the clubface open to use more of the bounce. Offset that by lowering your hands, which will point the club back towards your target.
Take a few swings and look at where the club hits the sand. Ideally, you want to see it breaking the line, with the club entering just before. Once you have identified a consistent point of entry, you can then try hitting a few shots with the golf ball while still imagining you are striking through the line in the sand.
2. The Mound Drill
Generally, the reason you might not hit the sand in the correct spot is because you hit too far behind the ball. Another way to work on this fundamental aspect of bunker play is by using the ‘mound’ drill. Create a mound of sand in the bunker (as shown in the video) and place the golf ball on top.
Take your set-up position as outlined in the line drill, and using your normal swing simply remove the mound of sand from under the ball. The sound, and the visual element of the drill, will help you to understand what it should feel like to interact with the sand and produce a shot where the ball pops up nicely.
3. The Gate Drill
The final drill focuses on how we deliver the club, as we don’t want to swing too much across or from the inside. If you swing too much around your body, you will enter the sand too early and likely need another shot to get out of the bunker (at least).
Create a rectangle of four tee pegs, with the ball in the middle between the front two tees (as shown in the video above). Take your set-up, with your weight forward and your ball position just inside your lead heel, then try to swing through the gate and miss the tees. This will allow you to get through on a more target-related line, and is another great way to practise those crucial par-saving bunker shots.
