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Bunker Basics - Guaranteed To Get You
'Off The Beach'
By: Steve Radcliffe
Most high handicap golfers get a real sweat
on when they go into the bunker, even though getting out is
basically a very easy shot. One main thing to remember is that
you’re not actually going to hit the golf ball clean. You’re not
actually going to make contact with the golf ball itself with
the club. The sand is actually going to act as a cushion between
the club head and the ball when you hit the shot out.
Most people when they go in a bunker and they don’t have a good
bunker technique are trying to pick the ball off the top of the
sand with a chip shot action as though they’re on the grass. Now
the problem with that is that the grass is very firm so you’re
not going to dig in with the club. This means you can quite
easily then hit the golf ball first and get a decent strike out
of it, but most people tend to just duff it in front of
themselves when they try this out of sand, because the sand
is fluffy and it breaks up.
So what you’ve got to remember is that you’re actually going to
take out the same amount from underneath the ball. If you put,
let’s say two five pound notes side by side, that’s the amount
of sand you’re going to take out of the bunker either side of
the ball as you hit underneath it.
When you swing the golf club one of the
things you’ve got to think about is your swing. It needs to be a
lot longer and have a better tempo than with a chip shot,
because you’ve got to allow for the sand which you’re going to
take out with your shot. You must allow for that sand to
actually take the power out of the shot. If you did a golf swing
when chipping from just off the green and you used a bunker
swing, you’d hit the ball about three or four times too far, but
in a bunker it wouldn’t be the same. You’re just using the power
of the swing and the sand to take the power out of the shot.
About the author: Brian Hall is a PGA Pro
Teacher with over 25 years teaching experience. He is also
co-author and resident teaching pro of the Simple Golf Made Easy
e-course. For full details see
http://www.SimpleEasyGolf.com |
