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When playing a greenside bunker shot, the amount of sand you take will have a huge role in how the ball will fly and how far the ball will travel. If you can become consistent at controlling the strike of the sand then you can become consistent at controlling the distance you hit the shot.

So how much sand should you taking when playing a greenside bunker shot?

As you approach impact, you want the club head striking the sand a couple of inches prior to the golf ball. The club head then slides under the ball and exits the sand a few inches after the ball, almost like you are trying to remove the ball sat on a piece of paper. A great vizual is to imagine the golf ball is resting on top of a dollar bill and you are trying to take the dollar bill out from under the golf ball.

A great drill for working on the amount of sand you should be taking is to draw a box in the sand the size of a dollar bill. Then place the golf ball in the centre of the box. Address the ball and your goal is to then play the bunker shot and remove only the drawn box from out of the sand. If you remove only the box of sand then you should be making the desired contact and removing the correct amount of sand when playing the shot.

Trying to pick the ball cleanly off the sand is a very difficult task. Most of the time when the golf ball comes to rest in the bunker, the lie will be slightly sat down due to the weight of the ball settling amongst the grains of sand. Taking a couple of inches of sand before the ball gives us control from most lies.

If you take too much sand when playing a bunker shot, you will find it very difficult to get the ball out of the bunker and also struggle to hit the ball very far. The club head entering the sand a couple of inches before the ball and taking a shallow amount of sand the length of a dollar bill is ideal for a standard bunker shot.

The amount of sand you take in the bunker is a huge factor in determining the shot you hit. If you can control the clubs point of entry into the sand and also the depth of sand you take, then you can control the flight and the distance the golf ball will travel.