Beginner Golf: Correct Way To Hit a Bunker Shot (Video) - by Pete Styles
Beginner Golf: Correct Way To Hit a Bunker Shot (Video) - by Pete Styles

Undoubtedly, one feature that you will get quite accustomed to as you’re learning to play golf is the bunkers. So, there are sand pits out on the golf course. They’re what we call the bunkers. Now bunkers are generally considered to be hazards. They are there to kind of give it a bit of difficulty to make the golf course have some protection.

So we need to try and avoid going in bunkers because when the ball is in a bunker, it is harder to hit and it’s harder to hit with the right control to get it near to the flag. So the first tip is avoid going in bunkers, if you can. The next tip when you do go in a bunker, try and go in there with a little bit of confidence that it’s a nice challenge. They’re not impossible to get out of, they are more difficult but they’re not impossible. When you go in a bunker it stands to reason that the sand wedge is the necessary club you would use to hit out of the sand.

And certainly all of the bunkers that are near the green, the green side bunkers, I would encourage you to use a sand wedge. If you’re further back away from the green in the fairway, what would class as a fairway bunker, you don’t necessarily need your sand wedge, but it’s a good tip if there’s a big face in front of you and you need to hit the ball high over the bunker so always use your sand wedge. When we set up the golf ball here, we play the ball around about the center of the feet. We point the golf club slightly right of target, so I’ve twisted the golf club in my hand, so the club is now pointing to the right of the target; I point my body to the left of target to compensate for that.

So, as a right handed golfer, effectively I’ve opened my golf club one way, and I’ve opened my body the other way. I now need to make quite a confident swing, hitting the sand behind the golf ball by about two inches so a little bit behind the golf ball. I’m going to dig in. I’m going to slide the club underneath the golf ball, taking out a divot, the nice sort of size of a bank note, underneath the golf ball and then flicking the ball out of the bunker with a big puddle of sand coming after it. So I take my swing, nice big swing, hit underneath the golf ball and you can see here that I had a nice big follow through as well. And it’s quite important that when you play that shot off sand, when you hit into the sand, the club will try and slow down in the sand and it’s really important you follow through.

We see a lot of beginners, when they’re playing they hit and they stop straight away and the club just dies and the ball would generally stay in the bunker as well. So try and make sure, when you’re in the bunker, you have the club face pointing to the right, you have your feet pointing to the left and you make a nice confident big swing and a big follow through and you should get out of the bunkers first time, every time.

2012-08-02

Undoubtedly, one feature that you will get quite accustomed to as you’re learning to play golf is the bunkers. So, there are sand pits out on the golf course. They’re what we call the bunkers. Now bunkers are generally considered to be hazards. They are there to kind of give it a bit of difficulty to make the golf course have some protection.

So we need to try and avoid going in bunkers because when the ball is in a bunker, it is harder to hit and it’s harder to hit with the right control to get it near to the flag. So the first tip is avoid going in bunkers, if you can. The next tip when you do go in a bunker, try and go in there with a little bit of confidence that it’s a nice challenge. They’re not impossible to get out of, they are more difficult but they’re not impossible. When you go in a bunker it stands to reason that the sand wedge is the necessary club you would use to hit out of the sand.

And certainly all of the bunkers that are near the green, the green side bunkers, I would encourage you to use a sand wedge. If you’re further back away from the green in the fairway, what would class as a fairway bunker, you don’t necessarily need your sand wedge, but it’s a good tip if there’s a big face in front of you and you need to hit the ball high over the bunker so always use your sand wedge. When we set up the golf ball here, we play the ball around about the center of the feet. We point the golf club slightly right of target, so I’ve twisted the golf club in my hand, so the club is now pointing to the right of the target; I point my body to the left of target to compensate for that.

So, as a right handed golfer, effectively I’ve opened my golf club one way, and I’ve opened my body the other way. I now need to make quite a confident swing, hitting the sand behind the golf ball by about two inches so a little bit behind the golf ball. I’m going to dig in. I’m going to slide the club underneath the golf ball, taking out a divot, the nice sort of size of a bank note, underneath the golf ball and then flicking the ball out of the bunker with a big puddle of sand coming after it. So I take my swing, nice big swing, hit underneath the golf ball and you can see here that I had a nice big follow through as well. And it’s quite important that when you play that shot off sand, when you hit into the sand, the club will try and slow down in the sand and it’s really important you follow through.

We see a lot of beginners, when they’re playing they hit and they stop straight away and the club just dies and the ball would generally stay in the bunker as well. So try and make sure, when you’re in the bunker, you have the club face pointing to the right, you have your feet pointing to the left and you make a nice confident big swing and a big follow through and you should get out of the bunkers first time, every time.