Pete Styles – PGA Teaching Pro
How can I spin my bunker shots more? It’s a question that a lot people ask me. When they get in the bunker, they’re hitting nice shots out but it lands on the green and rolls too far. One of the reasons why your bunker shots won’t spin is you get too much sand trapped between the clubface and the golf ball. And when you hit down as we’re always told hit two inches of sand and lift the ball out on a cushion of sand. If that cushion of sand is too big, the ball doesn’t really feel the club. It just feels the sand pushing the ball out and therefore, it’s not imparting any spin. But if I click the ball away from the turf, the club makes contact with the back of the ball. It skims the back of the ball nicely, imparts all the spin.
So, when you’re in a bunker to create more backspin, you actually need to take less sand. Now, generally speaking, when you take less sand, the ball is going to go further. So, you actually need to take less power, less sand. The other thing to really make sure your bunker shot spin an awful lot would be to take you most lofted club. To be looking and taking a lob wedge or a sand wedge if you don’t carry a lob wedge, open the face really nicely. So, point the face vertically, twist it over to one o’clock then grip hold of the club. That face is now quite a long way open. I would now aim my body weight down the left hand side so my body alignment down the left hand side to keep the club face nice and square to target. So, the face is open. I move around to the left. I then make a nice shallow swing and I want to just grace onto the ball, just maybe half-an-inch to an inch of sand. If it was a normal bunker shot, I might be a little bit squarer, taking two to three inches of sand. But here just half-an-inch to an inch of sand, let the club just slide underneath the back of the ball. I was talking about chopping his legs off, just chop his legs off. And unload the backspin but it may go quite a long way so you don’t have to be too aggressive because the sand is working like the big cushion. Just slide underneath it, when that bunk shot lands on the green, see how it reacts by stopping a little bit more quickly. 2014-05-06 Pete Styles – PGA Teaching Pro
How can I spin my bunker shots more? It’s a question that a lot people ask me. When they get in the bunker, they’re hitting nice shots out but it lands on the green and rolls too far. One of the reasons why your bunker shots won’t spin is you get too much sand trapped between the clubface and the golf ball. And when you hit down as we’re always told hit two inches of sand and lift the ball out on a cushion of sand. If that cushion of sand is too big, the ball doesn’t really feel the club. It just feels the sand pushing the ball out and therefore, it’s not imparting any spin. But if I click the ball away from the turf, the club makes contact with the back of the ball. It skims the back of the ball nicely, imparts all the spin.
So, when you’re in a bunker to create more backspin, you actually need to take less sand. Now, generally speaking, when you take less sand, the ball is going to go further. So, you actually need to take less power, less sand. The other thing to really make sure your bunker shot spin an awful lot would be to take you most lofted club. To be looking and taking a lob wedge or a sand wedge if you don’t carry a lob wedge, open the face really nicely. So, point the face vertically, twist it over to one o’clock then grip hold of the club. That face is now quite a long way open. I would now aim my body weight down the left hand side so my body alignment down the left hand side to keep the club face nice and square to target.
So, the face is open. I move around to the left. I then make a nice shallow swing and I want to just grace onto the ball, just maybe half-an-inch to an inch of sand. If it was a normal bunker shot, I might be a little bit squarer, taking two to three inches of sand. But here just half-an-inch to an inch of sand, let the club just slide underneath the back of the ball. I was talking about chopping his legs off, just chop his legs off. And unload the backspin but it may go quite a long way so you don’t have to be too aggressive because the sand is working like the big cushion. Just slide underneath it, when that bunk shot lands on the green, see how it reacts by stopping a little bit more quickly.
