Pete Finch – PGA Teaching Pro
Now that we understand what the bunker shank shot is, we need to understand where it comes from. Now, if you're hitting the heel, there are generally two recognized facts. You're either coming too steep or you're swinging too much from in to out. Now what I mean by that is if you're coming into the ball with a very steep angle of attack, so the club is moving downwards into the sand like this, you could be the hosel of the club to the ball before the club face gets there. That's because the steeper the angle of attack goes, the more the club is going to be traveling left. And if that club face is set open as you want to have it in a bunker, the heel of the club is going to be presented first to the ball.
So if you're getting set up with a normal bunker stance, a little open stance, wanting to open up that club face and slide the club underneath. If you're coming very, very steep, the heel of the club is going to be contacting the ball first, and it's going to shoot off to the right-hand side. The other option that you have generally is when the club moves too much from the inside and you're pushing the hands out towards the ball. Again, that is going to encourage that first heel contact. So it's getting set up, it's moving the club in this direction so the heel of the club contacts and then again, it pops out to the right-hand side. If you are suffering from this shot, if you are seeing that ball flight suddenly shoot off to your right-hand side, you need to identify correctly what is the cause. If you are swinging too steep, and you did misdiagnose yourself you’re swinging too much from the inside and you continue to try and swing steeper and steeper onto this ball, obviously, the problem will persist and it will probably get worse. So first of all, you need to identify what your problem is, and then hopefully, we can help you correct your technique and hit more successful bunker shots. 2016-10-05Now that we understand what the bunker shank shot is, we need to understand where it comes from. Now, if you're hitting the heel, there are generally two recognized facts. You're either coming too steep or you're swinging too much from in to out. Now what I mean by that is if you're coming into the ball with a very steep angle of attack, so the club is moving downwards into the sand like this, you could be the hosel of the club to the ball before the club face gets there. That's because the steeper the angle of attack goes, the more the club is going to be traveling left. And if that club face is set open as you want to have it in a bunker, the heel of the club is going to be presented first to the ball.
So if you're getting set up with a normal bunker stance, a little open stance, wanting to open up that club face and slide the club underneath. If you're coming very, very steep, the heel of the club is going to be contacting the ball first, and it's going to shoot off to the right-hand side. The other option that you have generally is when the club moves too much from the inside and you're pushing the hands out towards the ball. Again, that is going to encourage that first heel contact. So it's getting set up, it's moving the club in this direction so the heel of the club contacts and then again, it pops out to the right-hand side.
If you are suffering from this shot, if you are seeing that ball flight suddenly shoot off to your right-hand side, you need to identify correctly what is the cause. If you are swinging too steep, and you did misdiagnose yourself you’re swinging too much from the inside and you continue to try and swing steeper and steeper onto this ball, obviously, the problem will persist and it will probably get worse. So first of all, you need to identify what your problem is, and then hopefully, we can help you correct your technique and hit more successful bunker shots.
