GREENSIDE BUNKER SHOTS | Golf Tips from College Golfers

Greenside bunker shots can be tricky for golfers of all skill levels. Getting into the proper stance and executing the correct swing on greenside bunker shots is difficult to navigate, and it’s often difficult to even know what the correct setup is in the first place. Additionally, utilizing the bounce on wedges is key to making clean contact and thumping the ball into the air on greenside bunker shots. Hitting good greenside bunker shots to minimize trouble is an excellent way for golfers to save strokes on the course.

In this video, 2nd Swing’s Drew Mahowald is joined by a pair of college golfers, Avary Johnson and Tori Woytassek, to get their helpful hints and tips for executing greenside bunker shots.

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Hey golfers, I’m Drew Mull, the second swing golf. We’re out here at the Royal Golf Club joined by Avery Johnson and Tori Wasic. Uh we’re going to talk about greenside bunker shots today. Um we got two very talented young golfers here. Um so greenside bunker shots are probably relatively easy for you guys, but uh still a shot like this is going to be challenging. So first I’ll start with you Avery. When it comes to a greenside bunker shot in general, how do you approach it? What is your setup like? Uh, I usually use my 58 out of a greenside bunker just because my bounce on my 58 degree is 10. Yeah. Which on my other clubs it’s an eight. And so I like the higher degree bounce just so that I can kind of thump it out of the sand kind of nicely and hit like a shot that kind of spins more closer to the hole. And how are you approaching it Tori? Is is there I mean obviously aside from the specs or the wedge uh setup when you get in the bunker you have a mindset you’re looking for a goal in mind or is it just you have your you have your technique that you go to every time? Um definitely try to get as low and stable as possible and just try to bl basically blast the ball out and get it within a I mean the goal is a three-foot radius around the hole. Kind of imagine a hula hoop or garbage can. Um, you know, these shots are hard. Shouldn’t be, but they’re hard. Well, it it’s a completely different material. And so, that’s where actually we’re going to start here because this is a difficult shot that we’ve set up here. So, this is very short-sighted. This is hole eight out at the Royal left greenside bunker. The pins kind of on the left side. And so, um, Avery, I’ll actually have you start here. Um, we’ll give you a couple golf balls, get you set up. But just looking at this shot here, what do you see about this that’s maybe different than the traditional greenside bunker shot? Well, it’s definitely steeper like on this side than typical green side bunker shots. And also just like how the green is undulating, you’re definitely going to have to aim more right just to get it to kind of trickle down. For sure. Okay. Well, let’s we’ll have you step in. I’ll get you a couple golf balls. So, yeah. Typically on these shots, I just kind of like to widen my stance, uh, weight on my front foot and then just kind of splash into it. Yeah. Oh, wow. Good shot. Thanks. That’s really good. Yeah. Typically for these shots, I just like to kind of keep it on my front foot, widen my stance a little bit, dig into the sand, and then try and just think about coming a little bit upright and thumping out of it. So, is there anything different that you do in particular when it’s such a short-sided shot, or is it just mainly the only difference is how long your swing is? Mainly I try and swing a little bit more almost and just get like a little bit more quick. Okay. Just so that I can like make sure I’m not decelerating. Right. Make sure it gets up over the lip. For sure. Especially on a lip like this where you want to get it high. Okay. Can I Can I get one more from you? Let’s do that. For sure. There you go. Nice. And on this shot particular, I mean, that’s a really good shot. You have a You’re trying to save your par here, right? Yeah, definitely. So, Tori, you stepping in? Yeah. You think you can do any better than that? Oh, yeah. I think she can for sure. All right. So, now is yours, do you set up differently or have you have a different kind of mindset walking into these ones? This is again really short greenside bunker shot with not a ton of green to work with. Um, similar to what Avery said, I dig my feet in so I get that stable wide base. Yeah. Ball closer to the front and like make sure all my weight and everything is forward, hands forward. And then yeah, just making sure I have more of a vertical kind of like I’m chopping down at the ball to blast it out and get it higher over this lip. Very nice. Yeah, good shot. Very nice. So when in general when it comes to greenside bunker shots when you play with AMS, do you notice anything that’s like a a you know maybe a major concern for them or maybe a reason they struggle with greenside bunker shots like the general golfer? Um definitely I think people don’t realize like how steep you do have to take it sometimes and it is a different type of swing than you are out in the fairway. Um, and you aren’t hitting the ball. Like I envision like an inch behind the ball, like staring at a grain of sand and like you have to be hitting behind the ball to get the ball to go. Okay. Um, which I think like it is a hard thing to do. Yeah. For people. Sure. And it takes practice. Like you don’t get good at bunker shots without practice. Yeah. So, and Avery, last question I got for you is going to be a little bit on like the act the process of getting better at bunker shots. Is it basically just practice? And then as you mentioned a little bit too, making sure you have a wedge in your bag as well that kind of allows you to thump a little bit out of the sand. Yeah, I think having like a higher balance on your wedge definitely helps you get it out of the sand a little bit better. But also, I think like she said, practice and then just committing to your swing. I think like if you commit to it, you’re going to be less likely to decelerate. And just know that bunker shots like you can get it out. And so I think just committing to the shot definitely helps. For sure. You guys did really well on a very difficult shot here. So, I I I uh I that’s very well done. I’ll tell you that. So, so Tori and Avery, thank you so much for your time. Greenside bunker shots, they’re tricky, but we got a little a few pointers from each of them on how to get it done. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. Thanks. [Music]