Getting Up And Out Of The Bunkers

Bunkers can be the bane of any golfer’s round of golf, hitting the ball into the sand could mean endless hacking away whilst the ball sits mockingly in the sand trap adding unnecessary shots on to your score. Not many golfers understand the bunker shot and so can approach it all wrong, this will often mean the ball smacking the back wall of the pit and rolling back to its original position.

To help lower your score and your handicap it is important to practice every shot type so there are no surprises when you take to the course. Bunker shots are obviously not a place we want to be but for the skilled golfer whether it’s a fairway or a green side bunker they should be able to get themselves out of trouble in one shot and not have to worry about it hurting their score.

Fairway Bunkers
Fairway bunkers are obviously annoying as they tend to be as a result of a misplaced tee shot, this means your next shot will be much shorter than originally planned and in some cases you may have to make a small shot back on to the fairway to have any chance of saving par. Taking one shot to the side to get safely back on the grass may be your best option especially if you’re confident in your pitching shots to get the ball on to the green and make it stick in place.

Green Side Bunkers
A lot of course designers relish in making the putting surface a small target for golfers, this is often achieved by a surrounding chain of bunkers or worse – water hazards. Landing in a green side bunker is entirely salvageable as you typically won’t have to knock the ball a long distance so most of your bunker shots will land near to the flag anyway, setting you up for a one putt for the hole.

Bunker Shot Techniques
Most bunkers are actually pits, some with much steeper walls than others and so your shot arc needs to be more up and over than straight towards your target. The club that gives you the most loft is your sand wedge and with a large club face and greater angle you should be able to get right under the ball and lift it out of the sand.

When taking a bunker shot you aren’t necessarily aiming for your ball but rather the area of sand just before your ball, depending on how soft the sand is you should be able to cut through the sand blasting the ball upwards. You shouldn’t be afraid to send a large cloud of sand flying as this is a good indicator that you have gotten under the ball and more likely to boost it up out of the sand and avoiding the back wall of the bunker.

Learning your bunker shots should help lower your golf handicap, take care when taking bunker shots not to damage your clubs, having golf insurance can help cover any loss, damage or theft of your clubs.