How Much Sand Should I Take When Playing A Golf Bunker Shot (Video) - by Pete Styles
How Much Sand Should I Take When Playing A Golf Bunker Shot (Video) - by Pete Styles

I think a lot of golfers with some experience are comfortable with the fact that when they’re a bunker shot they should be hitting some sand. We want to hit a little bit of sand before the golf ball, a little bit of sand after the golf ball. But exactly how much sand should we take? It’s an interesting question because it’s not the same for every golfer. Depending on your club head speed and the way you play your bunker shots can depend on how much sand you want to take. For example, if you take an awful lot of sand that ball could still come out of the bunker, but it would need a lot of power and an awful lot of sand I’d probably be looking at maybe five, six inches of a divot here, so a big divot before the ball, a huge amount of sand, and try and flop the ball out onto the edge of the green. Less sand would look like about two, two and a half inches of sand, taking a little bit of sand before the golf ball.

Now, if you’ve got less power in your stroke and you take that amount of sand that could still come out really nicely as well. And likewise with this last ball, I could take you know, an inch of sand, half an inch of sand, barely any sand at all. But as long as I hit that ball really softly, really gently, that ball could come out and roll onto the green as well. So, it isn’t a case of always taking the same amount of sand. Personally I would advocate taking two inches, but I teach a lot of people that play, a little bit more power and a little bit more sand. And then some golfers play a little bit less power and a little bit less sand. A lot of it of course can depend on the depth of the bunkers that you play in. If you play in big, deep, soft, fluffy sand you might find it very difficult to only take an inch of sand, the club might just dive down and take a lot more sand. Fine take more sand use more power. If you play on a very shallow level of sand, so maybe the bunkers aren’t in great condition, it’s quite hard packed underneath. There’s no point in me then telling you to hit six inches of sand, you drive the club down, and it just bounces off the clay bottom of the bunker and thins the ball out on the other side. In an ideal world, two inches of sand would be perfect for bunker shots. But if you hit more aggressively and very hard and aggressively down, you could take six inches of sand. If you play a normal size bunker shot, you could play two inches of sand, nice and perfectly there. If you play very gently, you might be able to nick the ball almost perfectly and clean off the surface. So, it's three very different size divots for three golf shots that have all gone exactly the same distance. 2014-11-11

I think a lot of golfers with some experience are comfortable with the fact that when they’re a bunker shot they should be hitting some sand. We want to hit a little bit of sand before the golf ball, a little bit of sand after the golf ball. But exactly how much sand should we take? It’s an interesting question because it’s not the same for every golfer. Depending on your club head speed and the way you play your bunker shots can depend on how much sand you want to take. For example, if you take an awful lot of sand that ball could still come out of the bunker, but it would need a lot of power and an awful lot of sand I’d probably be looking at maybe five, six inches of a divot here, so a big divot before the ball, a huge amount of sand, and try and flop the ball out onto the edge of the green. Less sand would look like about two, two and a half inches of sand, taking a little bit of sand before the golf ball.

Now, if you’ve got less power in your stroke and you take that amount of sand that could still come out really nicely as well. And likewise with this last ball, I could take you know, an inch of sand, half an inch of sand, barely any sand at all. But as long as I hit that ball really softly, really gently, that ball could come out and roll onto the green as well. So, it isn’t a case of always taking the same amount of sand. Personally I would advocate taking two inches, but I teach a lot of people that play, a little bit more power and a little bit more sand. And then some golfers play a little bit less power and a little bit less sand. A lot of it of course can depend on the depth of the bunkers that you play in. If you play in big, deep, soft, fluffy sand you might find it very difficult to only take an inch of sand, the club might just dive down and take a lot more sand. Fine take more sand use more power.

If you play on a very shallow level of sand, so maybe the bunkers aren’t in great condition, it’s quite hard packed underneath. There’s no point in me then telling you to hit six inches of sand, you drive the club down, and it just bounces off the clay bottom of the bunker and thins the ball out on the other side. In an ideal world, two inches of sand would be perfect for bunker shots. But if you hit more aggressively and very hard and aggressively down, you could take six inches of sand. If you play a normal size bunker shot, you could play two inches of sand, nice and perfectly there. If you play very gently, you might be able to nick the ball almost perfectly and clean off the surface. So, it's three very different size divots for three golf shots that have all gone exactly the same distance.