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Journey to Be a Better Bunker Player

MarcH said:
I think that's your problem. Listen to what your instructor says and don't worry about watching tons of vids and listening to anyone else. :golf:

Have Bobby and you spent time on bunker lessons? The swing will be the same out of Idle Hour's bunkers and your home course's bunker.
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Yep, Bobby and I have spent time on bunkers. He says my main problems are "flipping" my hands and trying to help the ball out. I know the proper technique. I just need to practice until I get it. I can get out of easy bunkers but if it has a high lip, I struggle. It's just a matter of getting out there and practicing. It's just like my chipping/putting woes. You get what you put into it. I've been practicing like crazy on that and it is really starting to pay off. I went to practice bunkers yesterday and it started pouring rain. Ughhh.
 
Here's the best way to be a better bunker player: don't hit the ball in them.

I am not a big bunker fan either. I can get the ball out of them quite well, but I despise them. I don't mind bunkers at nicer courses b/c the sand is consistent but nothing peeves me more than a fried egg or a ball plugged near a lip. It's frustrating. Most bunkering is going to be in the front portion of greens, whether it be in front or on the sides, they typically are designed to force the golfer to carry their approach onto the green as opposed to running it up. I just literally take a club that gets me carry distance to the middle/back of the green, no matter where the pin is. If an amateur is truly honest with themselves, they'll tell you that the bulk of the time they are aiming at the pin, and those are typically set where they are to bring hazards into play.
 
And one other thing, I would highly recommend most amateurs to play out of a bunker with more of a square club face than an open one. The open club face calls for a much more precise swing and impact position. Rule #1 should always be to just get the ball out of the damn bunker.
 
TC said:
Here's the best way to be a better bunker player: don't hit the ball in them.

I am not a big bunker fan either. I can get the ball out of them quite well, but I despise them. I don't mind bunkers at nicer courses b/c the sand is consistent but nothing peeves me more than a fried egg or a ball plugged near a lip. It's frustrating. Most bunkering is going to be in the front portion of greens, whether it be in front or on the sides, they typically are designed to force the golfer to carry their approach onto the green as opposed to running it up. I just literally take a club that gets me carry distance to the middle/back of the green, no matter where the pin is. If an amateur is truly honest with themselves, they'll tell you that the bulk of the time they are aiming at the pin, and those are typically set where they are to bring hazards into play.
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I am getting smarter with course management and I do try to avoid shooting towards bunkers. In my last tournament, we had huge bunkers everywhere. I've never seen anything like it. I only got in one of them in my practice round and got out fine. I shot a good score that day. In the tournament, I must have had a major phobia of them because I would chunk my shots right into them. It was a mental thing, not that I was aiming towards them at all. That's the mental game that I fight so badly. I am definitely not a pin seeker when a bunker is between me and the pin.
 
KellyBo said:
I am getting smarter with course management and I do try to avoid shooting towards bunkers. In my last tournament, we had huge bunkers everywhere. I've never seen anything like it. I only got in one of them in my practice round and got out fine. I shot a good score that day. In the tournament, I must have had a major phobia of them because I would chunk my shots right into them. It was a mental thing, not that I was aiming towards them at all. That's the mental game that I fight so badly. I am definitely not a pin seeker when a bunker is between me and the pin.
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Just take enough club that will easily carry the bunker. Don't get cute, just hit the ball over it. You know? Think about how many people have range finders. What is it that they shoot when they're facing their approach shot: the flag stick. What if that flag is 3 paces on beyond a bunker? Most people pull the club they think is the perfect distance to that flag. What happens when they don't catch it pure? Short and in the bunker, and short sided with no green to work with. Big number coming up. I just take hazards out of play as much as possible. Is it nice to hit an approach shot close? Sure. Would I rather have a long birdie putt as opposed to a treacherous sand save? Absolutely.
 
TC said:
Just take enough club that will easily carry the bunker. Don't get cute, just hit the ball over it. You know? Think about how many people have range finders. What is it that they shoot when they're facing their approach shot: the flag stick. What if that flag is 3 paces on beyond a bunker? Most people pull the club they think is the perfect distance to that flag. What happens when they don't catch it pure? Short and in the bunker, and short sided with no green to work with. Big number coming up. I just take hazards out of play as much as possible. Is it nice to hit an approach shot close? Sure. Would I rather have a long birdie putt as opposed to a treacherous sand save? Absolutely.
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I've taken TC's advice on this and I can honestly say it has dropped my HC by 2 strokes. He said a while ago to pull the club into the green that no matter what covers the front, and no matter what doesn't go over the back, and hit that club, well, I've been doing that and it has been amazing. I can't stress enough how much this has helped my game, my GIR have gone up, birdies have gone up and more imporatantly my HC has gone down. If I have 100 to a flag not near a hazard I will still aim at the flag, but otherwise I listen to wise old TC.
 
Stupid logical TC. Why don't I listen to you more?
 
coolbreeze said:
I've taken TC's advice on this and I can honestly say it has dropped my HC by 2 strokes. He said a while ago to pull the club into the green that no matter what covers the front, and no matter what doesn't go over the back, and hit that club, well, I've been doing that and it has been amazing. I can't stress enough how much this has helped my game, my GIR have gone up, birdies have gone up and more imporatantly my HC has gone down. If I have 100 to a flag not near a hazard I will still aim at the flag, but otherwise I listen to wise old TC.
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Oh Captain, my Captain. Good luck this week Team Hackers, listen to TC and bring home the Cup.
 
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I finally got out to the bunker for a little while and had the same ole problems as usual. I was either flying the ball way too far or not getting it out of the bunker. Then I remembered Dawgdaddy's tip from his recent lesson and pretended there was a tee under my ball and I tried to break it. It worked! I got them out so much better. Still not great but big progress today. So DD, thank Eric for me! I've got to practice a lot more but today I realized most of my problem was trying to lift the ball instead of cutting through the sand.

Went out later and hit at least 50 balls out of the "easy" bunker by #9 green. I learned the feel of hitting the ball out the right distance and put a bunch of them really close. I also put a bunch of them way too far away. :)
 
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This video showed up on my Rock Bottom Golf's FB page this AM and I thought it was worthy of sharing. Phil says that the average bunker shots on tour are played from 10 yards so that is where he practices.

 
get a good stance, low hands, loooong lazy swing, works for me :)
 
Best tip I ever got for bunker play was from One-T at the outing. Get your weight over your front side, and keep it there. Open the face, and do not decelerate.
 
Until I learn how to get out of the bunker the right way, I just try to pick the ball out of the bunker. I just want to get out in one and go from there.
 
Hanks said:
Until I learn how to get out of the bunker the right way, I just try to pick the ball out of the bunker. I just want to get out in one and go from there.
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Been there done that more than once! Oh, I thought you meant pick it up and throw it out. :)
 
Bunker shots depend on the type of sand and the conditions. Best tip : Use the same wedge and the same length backswing every time on short to medium bunker shots and just hit more or less sand to control distance. Wide stance, open face, aim body left of target and not too big a swing will get you out every time. It really helps when you practice this shot to draw a line in the sand an inch or two behind the ball and hit that line not the ball when you swing.
 
DawgDaddy said:
I like the tip I received at my last lesson about teeing the ball in the sand to be sitting even with the sand and then focusing only on trying to break the tee in half, I have been focusing on that since then and it does work. It takes away all of the things to remember and focus' you only on what to do. You must come in steep to hit the tee and you must follow through to be able to break the tee. I have yet to actually break one. I recommend giving this a shot, it works for me and with a little practice distance control becomes easier too.
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DD, I read about this in another post of yours (I think) and this is by far the best sand tip I've come across in a while! The next time I played, I was solid from the sand all day. I was just visualizing the tee, but that was enough! Something about this just clicked with me and my sand play has improved because of it. Still working on distance...

EDIT: TC's course management advice is excellent as well. Like most high handicappers, I tend to flag seek all too often...
 
Played a course with really nice soft sand bunkers today and had no problem getting out. Even went in three different times and out in one each time. It seems it is the hard sand bunkers that are giving me the most problems. I played a course yesterday where the sand was packed and I flew it across the green into the woods and had to take a drop. Uggh. So much for staying out of bunkers TC. That's always my plan but it's hard some days!
 
doc2996 said:
DD, I read about this in another post of yours (I think) and this is by far the best sand tip I've come across in a while! The next time I played, I was solid from the sand all day. I was just visualizing the tee, but that was enough! Something about this just clicked with me and my sand play has improved because of it. Still working on distance...

EDIT: TC's course management advice is excellent as well. Like most high handicappers, I tend to flag seek all too often...
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It makes me very happy for this tip to have helped some of my fellow hackers, I have not left a single ball in a bunker since I received this tip. Sometimes it is just out, but the more I practice this the easier it is to control the distance. I have had several sandys since implementing the visualization of the ball sitting on a tee.
 
KellyBo said:
Played a course with really nice soft sand bunkers today and had no problem getting out. Even went in three different times and out in one each time. It seems it is the hard sand bunkers that are giving me the most problems. I played a course yesterday where the sand was packed and I flew it across the green into the woods and had to take a drop. Uggh. So much for staying out of bunkers TC. That's always my plan but it's hard some days!
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Nice going KB, I agree the soft sand is somewhat easier to play out of when it is green side, we know we must follow through on those and so we don't tend to quit on those as much as the hard type bunkers when we always seem to be unsure of how hard to hit the sand to get the ball out. I agree, I always plan to stay out of the bunkers, but some days I just can't stay out of them.
 
DawgDaddy said:
Nice going KB, I agree the soft sand is somewhat easier to play out of when it is green side, we know we must follow through on those and so we don't tend to quit on those as much as the hard type bunkers when we always seem to be unsure of how hard to hit the sand to get the ball out. I agree, I always plan to stay out of the bunkers, but some days I just can't stay out of them.
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I thought about Eric's tip to break the tee every time! Great tip and I'm so glad you shared it with us.
 
I played in a 2 day tournament earlier this week and got in the sand 3 times. I was in soft sand twice and hit out perfectly to within 4' and 6'. I was shocked and EXCITED. The 3rd time I was in hard packed sand and I hit it too hard, landed on the green and it rolled off and almost into the water. That type bunker seems to give me the worse trouble of all of them.

Making progress!
 
It may be just me KB but I have found in the wet compact sand I can control my shot better with my gap wedge rather than my sand wedge, try that sometime and let me know what you think. Keep up the good work.
 
DawgDaddy said:
It may be just me KB but I have found in the wet compact sand I can control my shot better with my gap wedge rather than my sand wedge, try that sometime and let me know what you think. Keep up the good work.
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Will give it a try DD. Thanks for the tip. I think I just took too big a swing for those super fast greens. I flew the ball almost to the hole which was WAY too far considering the slope and water.
 
One part of it may just be that I realize I don't have to swing as hard, but I really think it is the confidence I have that the club will dig enough in the wet sand to "break the tee".
 
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