Other Varieties Of Golf Bunker Shots (Video) - by Pete Styles
Other Varieties Of Golf Bunker Shots (Video) - by Pete Styles

So you join me in the bunker now with two very difficult to hit shots out. I stressed that very difficult just in case I get them wrong. This first one I'm going to try and chip out of the bunker, taking no sand. Got a little bit far past. But it was very different to a normal bunker shot, took very little sand. And this next one is plugged half the ball has disappeared. It’s a horrible wet bunker and I'm going to have to try and blast this one out. That one has come out quite nicely actually just rolled a few feet past the flag. But you could see there with the way I played those shots and certainly the depth of the divots I took, two very different approaches. So the first ball is chipping the ball out, so it’s almost not played like a bunker shot. And you would utilize this technique, when the ball is sitting on the surface of a very hard bunker, so here I’ve got a bunker that’s very, very wet today, it’s not really been well raked, it’s quite compact, and it would be difficult to get the club underneath the ball and splash the ball out as we would like to and as we see the guys do on TV. This first shot I hit almost came out with barely any divot, just nicked off the surface. So you play it very similar to how you would play a normal shot of grass. You make sure the club doesn’t hit the sand before the ball but hits the sand after. You hit it slightly more gently than a normal bunker shot, you would expect it to run off a little bit when it comes down the lands.

The next shot was a plug the lie. So the ball flies in hard, lands in the sand in one bounce, plugs itself down a little bit, you need to adopt your change and technique for a bit there. We’re going to hit down a lot harder, we’re going to take a lot more sand; we’re going to try and go two inches down below the golf ball and splash the ball out in a big cushion of sand. I would grip that club a lot harder and really make sure that I commit to hitting down to make the ball come out. There’s other opportunities where you have to use slightly different techniques and bunkers as well. One of them might actually be playing a shot from a bunker that’s left handed. You think, well I'm right handed I could never play a shot left handed why would I ever need that option? But let me set you this shot up, we have the ball here, we can't come out of the bunker this way, and if I was to chip the ball this way I'm just going to chip it straight into all over the trees. So my only real option to get this ball out would be to play it that way. There’s a bit of green over there, I could chip the ball out. Now if this was so steep I couldn’t even stand up on the lip of this, I'm going to be really reaching down, that could be very awkward, I would try and play it out left handed. So you’d actually take your golf club and you’d spin it over, so it’s now upside down. Left hand below, right hand on top and grip it like a left hander. And just make a very simple nudging action. Just try and nudge it out. Now if you can get it out of the bunker, brilliant, but sometimes it might just be a case of moving it and moving it back into a position where it’s still in the bunker but I can then get it out with my next shot. But the key to that is just improve the position it is and make sure you don’t have to take a penalty shot on the back of it. One other occasion where you might have to hit a fairly specific type of bunker shot is one where you can stand out of the bunker. Now this is right on the limit where I am here of being able to do this. If I have myself a nice lie, it’s going to be right on the limit like I say because I'm very high here, way up above the top of the golf ball, I’ve really got to bend my knees down and a lot of this will come down to your physical capabilities whether you are able to do this, whether your balance is good enough and whether the bunker is too big for you. But if I can really bend down at my knees here, I can have my hands in between my knees and pretty much just play it with my wrist. I couldn’t really swing back actually because my legs are in the way, so I'm going to drop right down and just try and splash the ball out. I’ve got it back out onto the fairway and then I can chip it back onto the green from there, and that might have been easier than trying to play it out this way, and particularly from fairway bunker shots, pot bunkers particularly you get a few shots like that where you’re on the edge of the bunker, just get the thing out and you’ll be happy with that. So there’s lots of different varieties and different options and bunkers, experience will help you understand which shot is best to play at which given time, but good luck and enjoy experimenting with those types of shots. 2015-11-02

So you join me in the bunker now with two very difficult to hit shots out. I stressed that very difficult just in case I get them wrong. This first one I'm going to try and chip out of the bunker, taking no sand. Got a little bit far past. But it was very different to a normal bunker shot, took very little sand. And this next one is plugged half the ball has disappeared. It’s a horrible wet bunker and I'm going to have to try and blast this one out. That one has come out quite nicely actually just rolled a few feet past the flag. But you could see there with the way I played those shots and certainly the depth of the divots I took, two very different approaches. So the first ball is chipping the ball out, so it’s almost not played like a bunker shot. And you would utilize this technique, when the ball is sitting on the surface of a very hard bunker, so here I’ve got a bunker that’s very, very wet today, it’s not really been well raked, it’s quite compact, and it would be difficult to get the club underneath the ball and splash the ball out as we would like to and as we see the guys do on TV. This first shot I hit almost came out with barely any divot, just nicked off the surface. So you play it very similar to how you would play a normal shot of grass. You make sure the club doesn’t hit the sand before the ball but hits the sand after. You hit it slightly more gently than a normal bunker shot, you would expect it to run off a little bit when it comes down the lands.

The next shot was a plug the lie. So the ball flies in hard, lands in the sand in one bounce, plugs itself down a little bit, you need to adopt your change and technique for a bit there. We’re going to hit down a lot harder, we’re going to take a lot more sand; we’re going to try and go two inches down below the golf ball and splash the ball out in a big cushion of sand. I would grip that club a lot harder and really make sure that I commit to hitting down to make the ball come out. There’s other opportunities where you have to use slightly different techniques and bunkers as well. One of them might actually be playing a shot from a bunker that’s left handed. You think, well I'm right handed I could never play a shot left handed why would I ever need that option? But let me set you this shot up, we have the ball here, we can't come out of the bunker this way, and if I was to chip the ball this way I'm just going to chip it straight into all over the trees. So my only real option to get this ball out would be to play it that way. There’s a bit of green over there, I could chip the ball out. Now if this was so steep I couldn’t even stand up on the lip of this, I'm going to be really reaching down, that could be very awkward, I would try and play it out left handed. So you’d actually take your golf club and you’d spin it over, so it’s now upside down. Left hand below, right hand on top and grip it like a left hander. And just make a very simple nudging action. Just try and nudge it out. Now if you can get it out of the bunker, brilliant, but sometimes it might just be a case of moving it and moving it back into a position where it’s still in the bunker but I can then get it out with my next shot.

But the key to that is just improve the position it is and make sure you don’t have to take a penalty shot on the back of it. One other occasion where you might have to hit a fairly specific type of bunker shot is one where you can stand out of the bunker. Now this is right on the limit where I am here of being able to do this. If I have myself a nice lie, it’s going to be right on the limit like I say because I'm very high here, way up above the top of the golf ball, I’ve really got to bend my knees down and a lot of this will come down to your physical capabilities whether you are able to do this, whether your balance is good enough and whether the bunker is too big for you. But if I can really bend down at my knees here, I can have my hands in between my knees and pretty much just play it with my wrist. I couldn’t really swing back actually because my legs are in the way, so I'm going to drop right down and just try and splash the ball out. I’ve got it back out onto the fairway and then I can chip it back onto the green from there, and that might have been easier than trying to play it out this way, and particularly from fairway bunker shots, pot bunkers particularly you get a few shots like that where you’re on the edge of the bunker, just get the thing out and you’ll be happy with that. So there’s lots of different varieties and different options and bunkers, experience will help you understand which shot is best to play at which given time, but good luck and enjoy experimenting with those types of shots.