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Journey to Be a Better Bunker Player

I went in the sand traps twice today and saved par both times! It was fun to see OG's expression when he saw me get out so well and then save par. I'm getting more and more confident as long as the sand is somewhat soft. If it's wet and/or hard sand, that's another story. DD - I continue to think about breaking the tee under the ball and it really helps me swing down and through. I think I was trying to lift the ball out of the sand before. What a great tip!
 
KellyBo said:
I went in the sand traps twice today and saved par both times! It was fun to see OG's expression when he saw me get out so well and then save par. I'm getting more and more confident as long as the sand is somewhat soft. If it's wet and/or hard sand, that's another story. DD - I continue to think about breaking the tee under the ball and it really helps me swing down and through. I think I was trying to lift the ball out of the sand before. What a great tip!
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Nice! I had a terrible bunker experience today...A sprinkler broke and flooded it and there was no relief inside the bunker. I ended up hitting needing 3 shots to get out after the first and second clipped the lip and came back in :angry:
 
c0ncept said:
Nice! I had a terrible bunker experience today...A sprinkler broke and flooded it and there was no relief inside the bunker. I ended up hitting needing 3 shots to get out after the first and second clipped the lip and came back in :angry:
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That doesn't seem fair at all!
 
Found this thread using search because like you in 2011 Kelly, I SUCK at greenside bunker shots. It's pretty much a void in my current game, where I'm pretty solid otherwise. I had 3 double bogey or worse (1 triple) holes last round and of those 3 holes, on 2 of them a poor bunker shot was to blame. So yeah, I need to get this squared away.

I'm particularly interested in this thread because it's a case of someone who used to be bad at bunker play who became pretty darn good, rather than someone who always had some touch out of bunkers. Can you (or others in this thread who went from bad to good in bunkers) share maybe what your keys to improvement were? Looking for some inspiration as well as some help! :D
 
I went from bad, to great, to bad. Totally lost the feeling of cutting across the ball and swinging towards my forward foot. Now it feels more like an octopus falling down steps when i get in a bunker.
 
SW said:
I went from bad, to great, to bad. Totally lost the feeling of cutting across the ball and swinging towards my forward foot. Now it feels more like an octopus falling down steps when i get in a bunker.
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Best analogy ever lol
 
My biggest takeaway from the Pelz short game school I attended this past spring was greenside bunker play. The thing I learned there that greatly improved my consistency was playing the ball off the front foot with an open club face. I had previously played bunker shots more back in my stance and got either real good or real bad results with that ball position.
 
Sox Fan said:
My biggest takeaway from the Pelz short game school I attended this past spring was greenside bunker play. The thing I learned there that greatly improved my consistency was playing the ball off the front foot with an open club face. I had previously played bunker shots more back in my stance and got either real good or real bad results with that ball position.
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Off the front foot is way further forward than I play it...see, I'm learning stuff already! The bolded is exactly me.
 
SkiBumGolfer said:
Off the front foot is way further forward than I play it...see, I'm learning stuff already! The bolded is exactly me.
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Worked for me. You actually end up hitting the sand an inch or two behind the ball. In bunkers that are hard with little sand, you have to more it back towards the middle or your wedge may bounce into the middle of the ball.
 
For every bunker shot I just follow the same couple swing thoughts.
1) Hands Low
2) Swing Steep
3) Accelerate (even if it's a short-sider)

I'm hardly a good bunker player, but those 3 steps rarely have me leaving the ball in the bunker or thinning one over a green.
 
Agree w SoxFan. Pelz system of ball off front heel, get weight on left side (for R hand golfers), accelerate and finish w hands high.


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Absolutely perfect timing for this thread to get bumped. I worked on my sand play a lot today after utterly embarrassing myself this weekend in not getting out of a single bunker in less than 2 shots. I've never really learned how to hit a good greenside shot in a hands on way, it's always been via video and 'net postings like this. I'm going to try the ball off the front foot method as well and see how that works for me.
 
Freddie has some really good videos on this, his videos helped me a ton, i'll see if i can post them
 
I ordered the James Sieckmann phase 5 system. Nothing of his really stuck with me except his bunker technique. I get out of the sand every time and can save an up and down a lot. His drills really helped me.


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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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I think the main reason soft sand is no problem for you is because your SW has a lot of bounce so it glides though the soft sand the way it should. When you try with hard sand the bounce of the club bounces up sooner and hits the ball further. Simplest would to use a club with less bounce in hard sand, even your pitching wedge. Just open it up like the SW and see what happens, it still has a lot of loft, enough to get out of a nomal bunker. The best book for me was Greg Normans book on bunker play, his style worked for me. I won't even get into the V or U swing that I use in the bunker. I used to practice without the ball, just draw a line and see how far away the club enters the sand from the line. If its all over the place just keep making adjustments until you can hit in the same spot over and over again, then put the ball where the line was and see how many times you can get out in one shot.
 
Well I'm happy to report that I had two trips to bunkers in my 9 holes last night, and on both I was able to get out cleanly. One I chunked a hair and had a longish putt, but the other one I hit perfectly and left myself about 4 feet to save par and was able to convert!

The other side of the coin is on a second ball I played (didn't count), I had a really tough bunker shot over a high lip, and I proceeded to slide the club right under it trying to get the ball up too fast, and then overcompensated and bladed the crap out of the second one. The third one was fine, because I just relaxed and hit it like the other two.
 
SkiBumGolfer said:
Well I'm happy to report that I had two trips to bunkers in my 9 holes last night, and on both I was able to get out cleanly. One I chunked a hair and had a longish putt, but the other one I hit perfectly and left myself about 4 feet to save par and was able to convert!

The other side of the coin is on a second ball I played (didn't count), I had a really tough bunker shot over a high lip, and I proceeded to slide the club right under it trying to get the ball up too fast, and then overcompensated and bladed the crap out of the second one. The third one was fine, because I just relaxed and hit it like the other two.
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Practice, practice, practice, my friend.
 
Spivey said:
Practice, practice, practice, my friend.
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That's the idea!

Oh, that and using my 54* wedge instead of my 58*, since it has more bounce and therefore is actually a sand wedge. Been using it more lately and having a lot more success than when I was trying to hit every sand shot with my 58*.
 
So I figured out a key to better bunker play today - schedule rounds when the ground is soaked and the sand traps are hard so you can chip out like you would on hard pan :D


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Good thread! I know I'm a scary bunker player. Ask the people I played with in Minnesota the first round. I told them I never play out of bunkers, and have little experience playing from the sand from courses in my province. But my first one was perfect, about 3 feet from the pin out of a bunker 6' below me. They thought I was lying that I'm no good from the sand. Until;
My second one I kinda caught thin, and it ended up on top of the clubhouse.... I thought I was going to break a window ,lol.
May need to practice this!
 
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