Golf Bunker, How Can I Escape From The Down Slope (Video) - by Peter Finch
Golf Bunker, How Can I Escape From The Down Slope (Video) - by Peter Finch

How can I escape from the down slope of a bunker? Now if you find yourself in a tricky situation where you’re on the down slope of a bunker, it is one of the most difficult shots to hit. However it can made a lot easy by using the correct technique but more importantly the correct setup. Now with a bunker technique you pretty much whatever the shot unless it’s a plug lie you will be using a similar technique. Namely the club face will be slightly open; the body will be slightly open to the target to compensate until the leading edge points to where you want the ball to go.

They’ll be a little bit of weight on the front foot and you want to be contacting the sand about an inch before. And if you can do that it will come out in a nice carpet of sand lift up into the air and it should land relatively softly on the green. However that’s on a flat line. As soon as that slope starts to go in this direction, so it’s on the down slope and you are hitting towards the pin, things will change. The thing that changes first is your body position. If you’re on a down slope like this, rather than having the weight even and the spine kind of perpendicular to the ground we need to be tilting it towards the target to actually match the slope. If you can do this your swing will now flow down the slope rather than into it. If you are to use the same set up the use of a flat line, the club would bottom out a long way before the ball, you’d skid up through the sand and you normally thin the ball. So if you’re playing off a down slope in a bunker, use a solid bunker technique with a slightly open club face, the weight slightly forward to make sure that the spine angle tilts towards the target. And if you can do that the swing will flow down the slope catching the sand just before, and lifting the ball out on a decent trajectory down towards the pin. So it’s a tricky shot to play but if you use the correct technique, it can become a lot easier. 2014-11-13

How can I escape from the down slope of a bunker? Now if you find yourself in a tricky situation where you’re on the down slope of a bunker, it is one of the most difficult shots to hit. However it can made a lot easy by using the correct technique but more importantly the correct setup. Now with a bunker technique you pretty much whatever the shot unless it’s a plug lie you will be using a similar technique. Namely the club face will be slightly open; the body will be slightly open to the target to compensate until the leading edge points to where you want the ball to go.

They’ll be a little bit of weight on the front foot and you want to be contacting the sand about an inch before. And if you can do that it will come out in a nice carpet of sand lift up into the air and it should land relatively softly on the green. However that’s on a flat line. As soon as that slope starts to go in this direction, so it’s on the down slope and you are hitting towards the pin, things will change.

The thing that changes first is your body position. If you’re on a down slope like this, rather than having the weight even and the spine kind of perpendicular to the ground we need to be tilting it towards the target to actually match the slope. If you can do this your swing will now flow down the slope rather than into it. If you are to use the same set up the use of a flat line, the club would bottom out a long way before the ball, you’d skid up through the sand and you normally thin the ball.

So if you’re playing off a down slope in a bunker, use a solid bunker technique with a slightly open club face, the weight slightly forward to make sure that the spine angle tilts towards the target. And if you can do that the swing will flow down the slope catching the sand just before, and lifting the ball out on a decent trajectory down towards the pin. So it’s a tricky shot to play but if you use the correct technique, it can become a lot easier.