Get Out Of The Sand The RIGHT Way (Bunker Basics)

Today we attack and simplify the scariest shot in golf for many: the BUNKER shot! Follow these steps and I guarantee you will get out of the bunker with ease every time! Enjoy!

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hey guys this Josh here and today we’re going to attack one of the strangest shots in golf that is the bunker shot and we’re just going to give you the basics of how to hit this bunker shot so we’re going to start with an overview of what is so different about the bunker and then we’re going to get into three steps as to how you’re going to successfully get out of this every single time so to start the biggest thing about the sand that makes it so difficult is that there is much less friction in the sand than there is in Grass that’s why when you watch golf on TV and you’ll see someone hit a bunker shot like this one you won’t actually see them hit the ball first at least not intentionally they’re actually hitting the sand and the sand is moving the ball I know it’s a very strange concept but that is why the swings are so big when they hit bunker shots so how do we start doing that successfully well step number one as always it is the fundamentals it is the setup so when you watch someone hit a bunker shot their setup will be very very low you’ll see them take a much wider stance they’ll start to lower themselves like this now why are they doing that well they want to make sure that the swing is much more around them we say that’s flatter and why do they want to flatter well because it’s more like a baseball swing what is different about a baseball swing well a baseball swing isn’t so down so if you set up like a normal shot like you’re hitting an iron shot or a driver and then you try to hit a bunker shot like this what’s going to happen you’re going to dig down into the ground too much and you’re going to do that too often that works on grass because grass has more friction it bounces back better and you’re able to create a lot of power that is the opposite in the sand in the sand you want something more like this where you’re just kind of shoving sand out of the way and then from there in order to do that you want to make sure you set up nice and low step number two you want to make sure and I’m going to zoom close into you Simon that you use the back of the wedge right here we call that the bounce you see how much there’s almost scratching that actually just happened right now from these few bunker shots and you can see how much sand I have to dust off of the back of the club we call that the bounce now how do we Engage The Bounce all we need to do is open the face once you open the face if you look right here you actually eliminate the front edge of the club we call that the Leading Edge you eliminate that by opening up the face and again the sand is moving the ball so that is a setup you want to make sure you get nice and low I know this feels weird get a wider stance and then that will allow you to swing more around last step is to open the face a ton it’s very nerve-wracking it’s very scary it feels like you’re making too big of a stance for such a little shot but remember you’re about to make a big swing so we need a big stance to support that now step number two is the contact point in the sand you’ll see very often when people are teaching bunkers they’ll draw line about 3 to 4 in behind the ball that is the point we want to enter the sand and we could take some practice swings just making sure if we set up to an imaginary ball right about there that we make sure we hit the sand and then right on that line and then we could hit a couple trying to hit that sand now you can see right there ooh I hit it right on that line now I’ve been doing this a long time you’re probably looking at me going you crazy how am I supposed to hit that well we’re going to talk about how to successfully hit the ground in the proper spot going and get in there setup draw a line about four or 5 in behind it and now here’s the key is that you have to go on and set up and get your body the middle of your body the chest lined up with this line that’s four or 5 in behind that is why the width of stance really matters you can see my chest is right on top of the ball when my stance is too narrow if I widen my stance now I can get my chest behind it from here here we are lined up behind the golf ball and all you have to do is trust that that is the way you have success in the sand so go on a setup like that get your chest behind the ball and from there make a swing back and through and trust me you will hit the ground where you’re supposed to that is how you are able to catch the ground in the same spot every single time but here’s the thing what if you don’t catch the ground every single time that is number three where the swing starts to matter this is where we actually talk about the motion of what we do in the bunker and this will be what we talk about the most so we’ll go on again in here we’ll draw our line four or 5 Ines behind and you could see these lines that I’m drawing on purpose purposely I’m making these lines very literally blurry very kind of just generic this line I drew further back behind than the one before but as you’ll see if I set up right I get nice and low in my setup and I hit way behind the ball I’m okay I hit that right where that I drew that line and that bunker shot ended up just fine so why is that well it’s because of my swing so when I do this swing what we’re going to do is we’re going to make sure that we swing around as we talked about in the overview so what is the key to success in doing that well I believe it is doing the opposite of the golf swing so in the golf swing we go up to the top then the first thing to move down is the hips then it’s the shoulders then the arms straighten out and then the wrist go through and you look something like this on the follow through where the hips are leading the rest of the body and the body catches up in the bunker it’s the opposite it’s the club it’s the hands then your shoulders go then your hips go a little bit at the end so you see bunker players they look something like that whereas when you hit a driver you look something like this so it’s the opposite order of what you normally do in a regular swing what does that do for us it eliminates the power it allows us to shallow out the club a ton cuz the more Body Action you use the more you take the ground and take a divot and allows us to use the sand to get the ball out of the bunker and that is basically the mechanics of what we do we draw that line we get nice and low and when you finish going through I want you to feel like the club stays in the sand and swings around you for a really long time you see this big slug like divot pattern I make that is the feeling that you have in the sand I’m not sticking the club down into the sand I’m raking it through it’s ni B and shallow is staying the same level but staying on the ground for a long time and I’m sending sand through go and draw that line again make some PR swing swing around yourself try to keep that club down and low on the ground as much as you can and when you do that watch this demonstration so that was if the ball was right here it probably an inch or two behind it I’m going to hit another one I’m going to try to hit way behind it way back here I’m serious I’m going to hit way back there and so I’m going to have to tilt my body more to get in line with that back one right I’m going to try to get way more behind it but as long as my body keeps going through my hands keep going through I could hit way behind the ball or hit a little behind the ball and I can get away with it I can get away with a lot and that is the key to Bunker shots and that is why actually in my opinion bunker shots are some of the most I’m not going to say easiest but most forgiving shots a lot of times when you hit an iron shot you have to make sure you hit it it ball first then ground pretty much at the perfect spot when it comes to a bunker you could hit 2 in behind it 5 in behind it and no matter what you’re generally going to be okay as long as one you get your set up nice and low so your swing can be more around with the face wide open with your chest lined up a little bit behind the ball two you start getting the club down and around on the fall through keeping the club in the sand for as long as you can if you do those things you’re going to be just fine try to hit a little behind the ball with where your chest is lined up going in trying to fly these in right now but if you do that you’re going to have success in the sand every single time and the last step is do not be afraid you do these steps remember the club is not hitting the ball I know it’s a big swing for such a little shot but the key is to keep keep hitting the sand and the sand will move the ball the very very very last step is make sure you always rake your bunkers once you are done these rakes are here for a reason it is so that the competitors that you play with can have a good good experience just like you so make sure you rake the bunkers every time and if you enjoyed this video make sure you like make sure you comment make sure you subscribe and comment what you want to see me talk about next next time I am going to cover more bunker shots this is just a basic bunker shot we’re going to do long bunker shots fried eggs or buried lies whatever you want to call it plug lies yeah whatever other bunker shots I can think of and uh yeah so if you like this please like please comment Please Subscribe love you guys and I’ll see you guys next time thank you a [Applause]