Photo: Robert1407/Flickr
When you end up in a bunker, the last thing you want to try to do is pick it clean as you try to get it out. A properly played bunker shot results in the ball being thrown out on a cushion of sand. Typically, you want your club head to contact the sand about two inches behind the ball.
I found a helpful drill from Marty Fleckman over at About.com, called the “Point of Entry Drill“. I’ve done it myself in the past (same principle, different implementation) with positive results. It really helps to condition you to make contact with the sand in the proper area.
The drill is simple. From your setup position, draw a line in the sand perpendicular to your target about six feet long. Using your club, make a series of indentations in the sand about two inches in front of the line and several inches apart from each other, following an imaginary line parallel to the one you drew. These dimples will represent imaginary golf balls. Click on over to the drill using the link above for a photo of the setup.
At that point, assume your setup at each imaginary ball location starting at the leftmost one (or rightmost if you’re a left hander). Make your swing, trying to get your club to enter the sand two inches behind each indentation, starting at the line you drew. Move down the line to each successive indentation and keep trying to start your divot two inches behind the indentation. When you get to the end, rake the area and start again.
It won’t be long before you get a good idea of the feeling of getting the club into the sand at the right point. Remember to not let the club dig in. You want it to enter the sand and scoot under the ball.
After you get good with the imaginary balls, set up and use the real thing. I think you’ll see some good improvement in your sand play.
There are two things I want to note.
First, in the sand, proper set up is important. I’ll cover basic sand setup a little later in the week.
The second thing is that sand play is considered one of the easiest skills to pick up, mainly because the margin of error is larger. While contacting the sand two inches behind the ball may be considered optimal, missing that by a bit either way isn’t necessarily going to lead to a terrible result. For instance, if you contact the sand a little closer than two inches behind the ball, what will normally happen is that the ball will fly further but with more spin and will stop quicker. Conversely, if you hit a little further back, the ball will fly shorter, but will have less spin so it will roll a bit further.
Obviously the margin of error is not infinite. At some point, the shot will become a total failure. But you absolutely have more margin for error than you would have with a shot of the same distance played from the fairway. Next time you’re faced with a 20 yard pitch from the fairway, set up to the shot and make contact with the turf two and a half inches behind the ball and let me know how it works out. Remember that next time you find yourself in the sand. With proper fundamentals and the right frame of mind, sand play will become much easier than you might think.
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Further Reading:
Uphill and Downhill Lies in Bunkers (Life in the Rough)
The Basic Sand Shot (Life in the Rough)
The Buried Lie: A Sandy Grave (Life in the Rough)
Fairway Bunker Shots (Life in the Rough)
Point of Entry Drill (About.com)
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Where do you practice sand shots?
I have never been good out of the sand. When I first started I was trying to pick the ball clean, now I don’t do that, but I am still inconsistent. I think my entry point is pretty good, but I think that I dig down in the sand too much.
Should I be just trying to scrap the sand? How deep?
You definitely don’t want to dig down into the sand. At setup, make sure you’ve got the face of the club laid open (open it prior to taking your grip, don’t just roll your hands open). The rest is done by the design of the club.
You want the face of the club just to scoot right under the ball. With the face opened, the bounce of the club should do most of the work for you.
Make sure you don’t release your hands at impact, like you would for a normal shot. Keep that club face open all the way through. A good mental image you can try: as you swing through, try and imagine the feeling of slapping the back of the club on the sand. Don’t let the leading edge dig in.