Bunker shots: A golf training aid for the sand hazard

One of the most difficult hazards in golf is a shot from a sand bunker just off the green.

These greenside bunker shots make you ask yourself a lot of questions, and more often than not, the answers are usually wrong.

We all seem to know that we need to hit slightly behind the ball and take some sand; but that is only a fraction of the complexity that goes into making a successful sand-save.

Follow the guideline below and you should find yourself getting out of the bunker in one shot, and placing the ball where you want, every time.

Here's a video you can watch with more information.

Golf Instruction to get out of the bunker

Dig in your feet a little

First, open your stance and dig your feet into the sand a little. The ball should also be placed forward in your golf stance to cause a higher trajectory once the ball is struck. Ensuring that your setup is correct in the sand is critical.

A flattened clubface and a loose grip 

Next, open the clubface to flatten it out a little – this will make sure the clubface slice through the sand. At this point, you should focus on your hands. The grip should be a little looser than the normal golf swing, but still firm enough that the club does not turn upon impact with the sand. A weaker grip should ensure that you do not turn the clubface inward on your swing and close it when you make contact.

Focus on wrists and use a wrist cock

When making the golf swing to get out of the bunker, you should primarily try to keep the body still, and focus on just using your arms, and especially your wrists. A powerful shot is not needed to get the ball out of the sand, but a full wrist cock at the top of the back swing should be employed to make sure you bring the club fully through on the downswing.

If you want more information on that wrist cock, take a look at Dave's "Hit the fairways your way"

A high follow through

For the right-handed golfer, your left hand should just be used to steady the club in your hand and the right hand is really going to be the hand used to apply force to the swing.  This should naturally occur by using the full wrist cock discussed earlier.  After making contact with the sand, the right hand should continue to push through, and a nice, high follow-through should be focused upon.

If you are left handed reverse the above instructions. By the way, if you are left handed there is one book that you can get that has a left handed version. You can see it here The Simple Golf Swing, just scroll down to the very bottom of the page and choose left handed version.

Get the sand flying 

At this point, the ball should be coming out with a fair amount of sand.  One of the mistakes the average golfer makes on the bunker sand shot is chopping down on the ball.  When you chop onto the ball, the angle of the club strikes the sand in such a way that enough sand is not lifted from the bunker to help propel the ball forward.

If you haven't seen the Pure Point instructional golf DVD on getting out of the bunker and bunker shots before, please check out

Hit Your Way Out Of Any Bunker 

This dvd doesn't just have a few tips on it but a complete set of drills and practice routines to follow to overcome this hazard.