Grooved Golf Swing Series: Groove Your Swing For Long Bunker Shots

You need to know what type of sand is below the surface. The only things you can use are your feet.

So you shuffle your feet until you know what the sub soil is like.

If the sand is soft and fluffy, your club head will not bounce much and you will need to hit the ball a little harder.

For more firm san, the club will bounce more and you will need less power.

To get you golf ball to travel further onto the green for those longer bunker shots, make your club head cut more narrowly under the ball.
Just skim it under the ball.

For shorter shots, make your club head dig up to one inch beneath the ball.

Have your club face open to the same degree for all these shots, and swing with the same back swing and power for all.
This way you will develop a grooved golf swing for your bunker shots.
For the fluffy sand where you require a little more power, make your back swing longer and this will allow you to exert more power for the same down swing speed and power.

Grooved Golf Swing Series: Be the Correct Height To Play Your Bunker Shot

When you apply your practiced swing, your grooved golf swing, the one you have developed to play your bunker shots, it is imperative that you think about what you are doing.

The most important thing is that you must not sway, especially to the left (right handers).
So, you must dig your feet into the sand to be sure you are standing on a solid base.

The result is that you are now standing about two inches below the surface of the bunker and your hands are two inches nearer the ball.

To overcome this, move your hands down the grip.

Practice this and see what difference moving your hands down the grip makes to the depth the club head digs beneath the ball.
If you are having the opposite trouble and tend to hit the ball thin no matter what you do, just bend your knees a little more than for a golf shot on the fairway.

The Golfer's Online Handbook

With Bill Maitland

How To Overcome Your Fear Of Bunker Shots.

If you fear your bunker shots and entertain a great number of negative thoughts before you actually make your shot, here are two basic ideas that can fill your mind as you go about getting your ball onto the green.

The first is to believe that if you hit the sand one to two inches behind the ball and hit some of it onto the green to make sure you follow through, the out to in shot that slides or cuts the club head beneath the ball will cause the ball to be exploded out of the bunker with no real thought from you. I guess you can think that this is an easy shot as you don’t even have to hit the ball.

The second mind set is that you must not close the club face as you hit the ball.
Do not allow your right forearm to cross your left,
and do not allow your wrists to flip the club head closed.

Think about being able to balance a glass of water on the face when you reach the horizontal position in your follow through. .

Where You Should Land Your Ball When You Hit It Out Of A Bunker

When you hit your golf ball out of a bunker, take notice of the state of the green near the pin.
Does it slope to the left or to the right or is it level?
When you set up to the left of the hole and hit your ball with an out to in swing, it will fly to the right.
The ball will also break to the right.

So if the slope of the green runs from left to right towards the hole, the ball will move more to the right than it would if there were no left to right slope.

Similarly, if the slope slopes from right to left, the ball will break less to the right.
So, by looking at the state of the green before lining up and hitting your golf shot, you can line up in such a way that you can compensate for the extra or less break to the right that will occur.

Golf Swing Series: Go Into Slow Motion Mode When You Play Your Bunker Golf Shots.

When you go into a bunker to play a bunker shot, think slow motion.

Have a couple of practice swings before entering the bunker.
Take your time preparing for the shot.

Go through your check list as you prepare.

Take up your stance and line up with care.
Push knees together to prevent sideways movement of your body.
Look at the sand where you intend to hit it, about one inch behind the ball.
Think you will take a furrow of sand under the ball.

Then prepare to make your swing.
In slow motion.
An out to in swing and a slow back swing.
Even pause briefly here if it suits you in your technique.

Then execute your down swing letting the club head do the work.
Little force is required on most occasions.
Make sure you hit some sand onto the green.

All this will result in a well executed shot and a well controlled club head.

Golf Swing Series: Fast Bunker Play Is Fatal

When you go into a bunker to play a bunker shot, think slow motion.

Have a couple of practice swings before entering the bunker.

Take your time preparing for the shot.
Go through your check list as you prepare.

Take up your stance and line up with care.
Push knees together to prevent sideways movement of your body.
Look at the sand where you intend to hit it, about one inch behind the ball.

Think you will take a furrow of sand under the ball.

Then prepare to make your swing.

In slow motion.

An out to in swing and a slow back swing.

Even pause briefly here if it suits you in your technique.

Then execute your down swing letting the club head do the work.

Little force is required on most occasions. Make sure you hit some sand onto the green.
All this will result in a well executed shot and a well controlled club head.

Golf Swing Series: Hit the Sand in Bunker Play

You have not been playing golf very long, and now you are in a bunker. You are probably experiencing fear and uncertainty.

The ball is lying nicely, and you think it would be better to pick the ball off the sand with a careful swing making sure all you hit is the ball.

You know the idea is to hit the sand first but how can you get the ball out of the bunker if you do this.
You do this and take some sand, leaving the ball in the bunker, or you do manage to pick the ball off the sand but hit it too hard and it flies over the green.

Certainly no control of the golf shot.

No, you must hit the sand first.

So, line up a little to the left of the target (right handers) as the ball will fly to the right a bit.
Dig your feet into the sand to get stability (and to test the consistency and depth of the sand),
place the ball off our left heel,

and swing with an out to in swing.
Keep your head still and make sure there is no sideways movement of the body.

Pushing your knees together will prevent sideways movement. Make sure you follow through by hitting some sand onto the green.

The idea is to remove about six inches of sand under the ball.

Forget about the ball, it will look after itself.

Golf Swing Series: Which Sand Wedge For Your Home Course?

Don’t you hate those bunkers? Or do you?
There is no need to hate them really.

If your technique and club type is correct, then going into a bunker can be a plus when it saves you from going into long grass or worse type of hazard.

The correct club is the key to good bunker play around your home course.

What type of bases do your bunkers have? Is it made up of nice fluffy sand where the
club knifes under the ball nicely resulting in a good shot, or is the sand a bit hard, even going to hard pan just deep to the sprinkling of loose sand on the surface?

When you know this, and know what is the type of base normally met in your bunkers, you can order the correct club.

The rule is that the wider and deeper the flange on the sand wedge, the more it will bounce and not knife under the ball too deeply. This is what you want for those nice deep fluffy sand bases.

For the hard pan and harder bases, you need a club with a narrow and shallow flange. However, this will dig too deeply under the ball in the softer sand.

So go to your club professional and obtain from him a sand wedge with a medium flange.
This will be suitable for all bunker surfaces.

Don’t forget the lob wedge is also useful for those hard pan type bunkers.

Stand Closer To The Golf Ball

If you are having trouble hitting the delicate chip shot sweetly,
try standing closer to the ball.

Experiment with different distances from the ball
and note that which suits you and produces the best results.

Standing closer to the ball and choking down will
produce a firmer shot and a squarer club head.

Stand coser to the golf ball.

If you are having trouble hitting the delicate chip shot sweetly,
try standing closer to the ball.

Experiment with different distances from the ball
and note that which suits you and produces the best results.

Standing closer to the ball and choking down
will produce a firmer shot and a squarer club head.

How To Hit Those Delicat Chip Shots

For the delicate shots around the green, choking down on the grip
allows for much more control and feel of these shots.

Don’t forget you can use any club to make these shots, and the one to use is
usually the one that will place your ball on the green and allow it
to run from just on the green to the hole.
This is much more accurate than trying to loft the ball to the hole and hope it will
stop.
It takes a little practice to hit say, an 8 iron five feet
onto the putting surface just beyond the fringe.
However, an 8 iron may be needed
to get the amount of run that you want.
So, you need to practice with several clubs so that
you have the feel for each and know what each will do.
So many of us take the normal grip,
but choking down on the grip will give you much more control.

As before, if you can go out onto the course and practice with a
real green, you will benefit greatly.
Practice for hours from different distances from the putting surface
and note the method used, that is,
the type of swing, the amount of swing to get the ball to the target and the amount of roll each shot will produce.