A bunker shot is something just about every amateur fears. For some reason they just can’t seem to get it right. They are either sculling it way over the green, possibly into another bunker, or hitting the ball five feet and still in the bunker.
But sometimes you do get it out, the ball just doesn’t go where you want it to, or you can’t get the ball to stop, or get the ball to roll out, or just do anything you want it to.
But why is the bunker shot one of the most feared shots in golf by amateurs? I’m not really sure, because it should be one of their favorite shots in golf.
In fact, the professional golfers would much rather be in the bunker than in the rough? Why? Because the bunker shots are so much easier to predict and hit than a golf ball out of the rough. You don’t have to guess how much club you are going to get on the ball. Or how much grass is going to come in contact with the ball. How wet the grass is, how much more is the ball going to roll. Is it sitting up on the rough so will it go higher or lower. Is the ball buried in the rough, so now do you hit the ball higher. Where do you want the ball in your stance depending on the lie. How much green do you have to work with. And the list goes on and on and on.
This is all what the professionals go through before each shot. But you can see why they prefer to have bunker shots instead of shots from the rough.
But exactly how do you hit a bunker shot?
Well it is actually really simple.
There are just two different things you have to focus on really.
Is the sand dry? Or is it wet?
These are the two main things.
If it is dry then you want the ball to be in the front of your stance. If the sand is wet; then you want the ball to be in the middle of your stance.
To set up what you want to do is open your club face, and then grip the club like you normaly do. After this you open stance.
Now this is the only confusing part. You don’t want to hit the ball. You want to hit the sand about an inch behind the ball, and the let the sand carry the ball.
You always want to take a full swing just change the swing speed based on the distance you need to carry the ball.
Now that you know how to hit a bunker shot, the only separating you from the professionals is practice. You need to practice, practice, practice, practice. And then in no time you’ll be excited instead of pissed that you are in the bunker.