9 Mar 2011
Q: When I’m in a bunker I panic!
I’m deathly afraid I’ll leave it in there or skull it over the green. Help!!!
This all too recurring scenario, frankly, ruins way too many good days on the course.
Let’s understand the problem: You’ve read or been told to focus two inches behind the ball. Now, you’re already in trouble. Why? Because, when you focus 2″ behind the ball, your club generally enters the sand 4 – 6″ inches behind the ball. So now, you have to “plow a whole field of sand” before you even get to the ball. All this resistance from the sand makes you have to swing much harder and faster than you would for a chip shot of the same distance. Your intelligence kicks in, knowing that if you hit the ball that hard it will go sailing. So you subconsciously slow down as your club enters the sand, for fear of hitting the ball way too far. Now you’re cooked! The sand stops your club. You’re still in the bunker and you have to do it all over again.
Let’s understand the solution: The ball travels out of the bunker on the cushion of sand from beneath and beyond the ball, not the sand from behind the ball. Since that is the case, the deepest part of our divot must be just BEYOND the ball. So, get into a practice bunker, draw a line in the sand that represents the position of the ball. Set up so that your lead foot is 1 – 2″ beyond that line. Tilt your spine so that your tailbone points down into your lead heel and put most of your weight on your lead foot.
Let’s Feel the motion: Now, swing smoothly (as though rocking a baby cradled across your forearms without waking her up), but steeply upward and downward ( a “V” shaped vs. a “U” shaped swing), thus entering the sand on a steep enough angle so that the deepest point of your “sand splash” occurs just beyond the ball line.
Let’s Focus our Attention: Once you learn the feel of swinging downward to that point beyond the ball, you must continue TURNING on through until you can consistently splash the sand from beneath and beyond the ball out onto the green – without waking the baby! So the focus of your attention must be: where do I need to finish to splash the sand from beneath and beyond the ball out of the bunker and onto the green.
Watch the tour players: Notice how smoothly and effortlessly they play these shots. Observe how much they turn their hips and shoulders away and through and therefore how their arms stay soft and in front of the chest (cradling that baby). When you see it in slow motion, note that their angle of attack is steep enough to deliver the deepest point of their divot beyond the ball. Note their finish and their sand splashing up onto the green.
Once you know what to look for, you gain a better understanding for this shot. Now you need to get into that practice bunker and teach yourself the feel of motion that gets you out consistently and confidently. Enjoy!
Golfstruck – Better Golf – Right Now!
