How Can I Vary The Distance Of My Golf Bunker Shots (Video) - by Pete Styles
How Can I Vary The Distance Of My Golf Bunker Shots (Video) - by Pete Styles

I’ve had a couple of bunker shots there towards the – firstly the red and white flag, secondly the black and white flag. Both bunker shots have come up a little bit short; maybe five, six feet short on each bunker shot. But I’ve been able to judge the distance, also change in the distance of those two shots quite effectively. Now if you look down here into the sand I’ve got two divots. The divots are exactly the same size within half an inch of each other. So the way I’ve changed the difference or the distance that I’ve hit those shots that changed the length and the power I had in my swing.

The first swing, I had a much shorter – sorry, a much longer swing on the first one, much fuller back swing, much fuller follow through, and the club head speed was much higher, the ball flew higher, flew further, rolled a little bit more. Second one, a lot more delicate, a lot shorter in the swing, the ball came out a bit lower, a bit shorter, rolled a bit less but from the same size divot. So what I’m advocating in my bunker shots there is changing the distance you hit the bunker shot exactly the same way you would change the distance if you were chipping from the grass in that a longer swing produces a longer shot, shorter swing produces a shorter shot. You will however see a couple of different techniques employed by some people when they’re taking their bunker shots. Some golfers suggest they’re going to hit every bunker shot as hard as they can and take more sand or less sand to change the distance of the shot. I think that’s a very difficult preposition, it’s not something we’re particularly used to practicing take more and less sand. So unless you have a lot of time to practice that, a lot of skill to get exactly the right amount of sand every single time that’s a difficult preposition. It works on a throw with a – a full swing with loads of sand produces the short shots and a full swing with very little sand produces a very long shot. For me that’s not the technique you should be using. Every client I teach, I teach the same way I play my own bunker shots. I change the length of my swing for each bunker and I take the same amount of sand which is two inches. I play the same amount of sand, change the power; that will give me different distances to my bunker shots. 2014-11-11

I’ve had a couple of bunker shots there towards the – firstly the red and white flag, secondly the black and white flag. Both bunker shots have come up a little bit short; maybe five, six feet short on each bunker shot. But I’ve been able to judge the distance, also change in the distance of those two shots quite effectively. Now if you look down here into the sand I’ve got two divots. The divots are exactly the same size within half an inch of each other. So the way I’ve changed the difference or the distance that I’ve hit those shots that changed the length and the power I had in my swing.

The first swing, I had a much shorter – sorry, a much longer swing on the first one, much fuller back swing, much fuller follow through, and the club head speed was much higher, the ball flew higher, flew further, rolled a little bit more. Second one, a lot more delicate, a lot shorter in the swing, the ball came out a bit lower, a bit shorter, rolled a bit less but from the same size divot. So what I’m advocating in my bunker shots there is changing the distance you hit the bunker shot exactly the same way you would change the distance if you were chipping from the grass in that a longer swing produces a longer shot, shorter swing produces a shorter shot.

You will however see a couple of different techniques employed by some people when they’re taking their bunker shots. Some golfers suggest they’re going to hit every bunker shot as hard as they can and take more sand or less sand to change the distance of the shot. I think that’s a very difficult preposition, it’s not something we’re particularly used to practicing take more and less sand. So unless you have a lot of time to practice that, a lot of skill to get exactly the right amount of sand every single time that’s a difficult preposition. It works on a throw with a – a full swing with loads of sand produces the short shots and a full swing with very little sand produces a very long shot.

For me that’s not the technique you should be using. Every client I teach, I teach the same way I play my own bunker shots. I change the length of my swing for each bunker and I take the same amount of sand which is two inches. I play the same amount of sand, change the power; that will give me different distances to my bunker shots.