Bunker Shots, Why Do I Leave The Ball In The Golf Trap (Video) - by Pete Styles
Bunker Shots, Why Do I Leave The Ball In The Golf Trap (Video) - by Pete Styles

Now leaving a ball in a bunker is probably one of the most frustrating parts of being in the bunker as a golfer. You know, we’ve hit a decent shot towards a green, unfortunately it’s rolled down this – it’s rolled into the bunker. A little shot out to the white and black checkered flag here shouldn’t be too difficult. We set up to it; we line everything up perfectly, we do as Pete told us to do on all those videos and the ball either gets out of the bunker, but only just and potentially could just roll back in; stays in the bunker, or we set up to this next one we definitely going to – we’re definitely going to hit this one better; and this one stays in the bunker as well. So two shots there that haven’t come out of the bunker. Maybe the first one came out but I probably got a bit lucky with that, I wasn’t trying to get it out.

So we’ve got to question well, why do those balls not work? What do we do differently on those shots and why didn’t they work for us. Well the first shot -- and this is probably one of the most common reasons for people leaving a golf ball in a bunker, as I simply took and hit too much sand, I really dug the club in aggressively, took too much of a divot before the ball. Therefore the club head slows down way too much before we got to the golf ball. Because it was travelling too slow the sand on the club face didn’t hit the ball far enough; it hit the lip and could have rolled back in to leave me in the bunker. Then I over correct, I instinctively over correct. I feel I was too low, too aggressive. So I think at this time, I’ll be a bit taller. I stay up too tall on the second shot, I hit not enough sand I hit too far up the ball. Hit the middle of the golf ball, no height no loft, just top the ball forward straight into the face and comes back to you. And if that second one ever does get out of the bunker, generally it will get out of the bunker and roll away too far. So too much sand and too little sand; there’s some fairly serious issues with not getting the ball out of the bunker. If we can accurately and confidently hit the right amount of sand, we should at least bail to get ball out of the bunker each time. So this time, I'm just going to draw a little line into the back of the ball here just two inches behind the ball. This time taking my set up as before trying to hit a line. And if I hit the line correctly, the ball splashes out, rolls down there towards the white and black flag. And if we look down here, I’ve hit exactly into the back of my line. So two inches of sand should get the ball out nice and close; too much sand, the ball is hit fat; won’t go far enough, could stay in the bunker. Too little sand, the ball is thin, could hit the leading edge, roll back into the bunker. Hit the right amount of sand to hit your golf ball close to the flag. 2014-11-11

Now leaving a ball in a bunker is probably one of the most frustrating parts of being in the bunker as a golfer. You know, we’ve hit a decent shot towards a green, unfortunately it’s rolled down this – it’s rolled into the bunker. A little shot out to the white and black checkered flag here shouldn’t be too difficult. We set up to it; we line everything up perfectly, we do as Pete told us to do on all those videos and the ball either gets out of the bunker, but only just and potentially could just roll back in; stays in the bunker, or we set up to this next one we definitely going to – we’re definitely going to hit this one better; and this one stays in the bunker as well. So two shots there that haven’t come out of the bunker. Maybe the first one came out but I probably got a bit lucky with that, I wasn’t trying to get it out.

So we’ve got to question well, why do those balls not work? What do we do differently on those shots and why didn’t they work for us. Well the first shot — and this is probably one of the most common reasons for people leaving a golf ball in a bunker, as I simply took and hit too much sand, I really dug the club in aggressively, took too much of a divot before the ball. Therefore the club head slows down way too much before we got to the golf ball. Because it was travelling too slow the sand on the club face didn’t hit the ball far enough; it hit the lip and could have rolled back in to leave me in the bunker.

Then I over correct, I instinctively over correct. I feel I was too low, too aggressive. So I think at this time, I’ll be a bit taller. I stay up too tall on the second shot, I hit not enough sand I hit too far up the ball. Hit the middle of the golf ball, no height no loft, just top the ball forward straight into the face and comes back to you. And if that second one ever does get out of the bunker, generally it will get out of the bunker and roll away too far. So too much sand and too little sand; there’s some fairly serious issues with not getting the ball out of the bunker.

If we can accurately and confidently hit the right amount of sand, we should at least bail to get ball out of the bunker each time. So this time, I'm just going to draw a little line into the back of the ball here just two inches behind the ball. This time taking my set up as before trying to hit a line. And if I hit the line correctly, the ball splashes out, rolls down there towards the white and black flag. And if we look down here, I’ve hit exactly into the back of my line. So two inches of sand should get the ball out nice and close; too much sand, the ball is hit fat; won’t go far enough, could stay in the bunker. Too little sand, the ball is thin, could hit the leading edge, roll back into the bunker. Hit the right amount of sand to hit your golf ball close to the flag.