Hit Consistent Bunker Shots By Doing This

Golfers often fail to hit consistent bunker shots. One bunker shot will go way long and the next will barely get out of the bunker. There’s a big reason why this happens to golfers and in this article I’m going to reveal why it happens and what you can do to stop it.

Ok, you should know that to hit good bunker shots you must NOT hit the golf ball first. There are a few exceptions to this rule but for your average bunker shot you should not hit the golf ball first.

So you must hit the sand first for good, consistent bunker shots. But how far behind the ball should you contact the sand?

Well, the distance will be different depending on the sand in your bunkers but here’s a great drill that will show how to get more consistency from your bunker shots and how far you can expect your average bunker shot to go.

To do this drill go to a practice bunker with 10 balls. Then line up your 10 balls all in a line so you can hit one after the other towards your target. Before you try and hit them to your target however get the butt end of your sand wedge and draw a line about 1½ inches behind the balls.

Once this is setup then setup to the first ball and set the goal of striking the sand directly on this line you have drawn in the sand.

When you first start doing this bunker drill you’ll quickly learn why you are so inconsistent out of bunkers. You will probably very rarely strike the sand 1½ inches behind the ball.

Set a goal of contacting the sand 1½ inches behind the ball for each of the 10 shots. When you can do this see how far your balls are going. To hit the ball either further or shorter from the bunker you should still hit the sand in the same place you just need to alter your swing length and pace.

You should also experiment with drawing the line either further away from the ball e.g. 2 inches or closer to the ball e.g. 1 inch to see your bunker shot results.

Who knows, for your local bunkers it might be better for you to try and hit the sand 2 inches behind the ball.

The important thing for bunker shot consistency is that you can consistently enter into the sand at a specific point you want (e.g. 1½ inches behind the ball). When you can do this your bunker shot consistency will rise dramatically and so will your confidence.

So do this bunker shot drill the next time you’re at the golf course to see if it’s the reason why you lack bunker shot consistency and then you know what to do to fix it.

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2 Comments

  1. Gayle on December 3, 2011 at 12:21 am

    I have always feared bunkers due to not being able to get the ball out right. I knew you’re meant to hit the sand first but I could never really tell if I actually was hitting the sand first or not. This drill has shown me that a lot of the time, although I was trying to hit the sand first, I really wasn’t much of the time. Practicing this has been great to get me used to the feel of hitting the sand first and it has been helping me to get the ball out of the bunker more easily and on the first attempt more often. I’m so excited and I don’t fear my ball landing in the bunker so much now. I will keep practicing and I’m sure my bunker shots will keep improving. Thank you for what you’re doing with this blog.

  2. Brian Scholl on December 5, 2011 at 1:06 am

    Like Gayle I’m seeing a great improvement from this advice. I also couldn’t tell if I was actually hitting the sand or the ball first, even though I knew what i should be hitting. I practiced this again yesterday and I can say that i think i’ll be uping and downing the ball out of bunkers consistently if i keep practicing. I usually would take more than one shot to even get out of the bunker before, and then it would ge nowhere near the hole. Now it’s getting out of the bunker first time most of the time and it’s ending up closer to my target

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