I frequently hit a greenside bunker as I am new to the game. Should I be conceding to the largest swathe of green for shot out or should I still be going for risky pins. Being conservative makes it feel worse than hitting OB somehow!
High risk high reward?
Or not accepting my limits?
As a new golfer, youāre probably going to have a pretty wide dispersion of where the shot out of the bunker ends up. Iād say have the center of the green in your mind, open up the club face, swing hard into the sand behind the ball, and make sure it gets out. Just by random chance, the ball will sometimes wind up near the hole, but at the very least you should be putting.
And FYI - Iām not a new golfer (and not that bad at it) but my dispersion out of the greenside bunker is still pretty large!
If youāre a new golfer anywhere on the green is good. My guess is you miss short/long more so than right/left out of the green side bunker. If there isnāt much green to work with around where the pin is located, playing for the fat part of the green is probably correct.
āthe very least you should be puttingā- Really hard to argue with that!
And yes it is the bladed miss or the too soft hit that seems to hurt me the most.
I perhaps should play smart and be happy just to be moving to a nicer club, though sometimes you catch it just right and it makes your week!
For new golfers, my advice would always be, āget out in 1ā and go from there.
My dad always taught me: Get out, Get On, Get Closeā¦
Make sure you get outā¦ from there, make sure you are on the greenā¦ once you are confident in those two things, get close.
What are you using to get out of the bunker? Have you seen / watched anything on bunker technique? Itās a fairly unique shot, in that you want to hit behind the ball and drive through, basically throwing the ball into the air in an explosion of sand. Bounce is a friend for thisā¦ confidence is also a friend for this! It also is significantly harder in wet or packed sandā¦
āGetting out and onto the green is your main objective from bunkers.ā Hank Haney
I am currently a 4.2 index and I struggle mightily with bunkers. Itās a shot you have to practice to get good at, and so many courses donāt even have places for us to practice bunker shots.
My 2 cents is, if you canāt practice your goals in the bunker should be:
Donāt worry about getting it close, just make sure youāre out of the bunker in 1 shot and on the green if you can be.
Just started out, always remember that any ball out of a bunker is just like an airplane landing. Any one is a good one.
My only other suggestion is to make sure you finish through the sand. I canāt tell you how many times I see people stop their swing at the sand and then wonder why they canāt get out.
Practice, practice and practice, cliche obvious statement sorry.
There are tons of tutorials for wedge play out of bunkers to learn the fundamentals.
I like the K grind Vokey wedge, high bounce and a ton of forgiveness out of the sand. I use a 60* and love it. I am making a quick edit to include that bounce is relative to how you swing the club and this works for me, but getting fit is a good idea!
I have been swinging a 56 taylormade that has been treating me well.
I can only get out once a week and only had pointers from other golfers at this point, swing confidently and open (terrified of blading it!).
I play out in the mountains of Revelstoke, so I think I am so inconsistent (skill aside!) because the bunkers are always a different texture from of the weather.
I have had an outing since, taking the advice and it definitely shaved a couple of 8ās into 6ās.
Next year I will focus on missing the bunkers all-together.
Thanks everyone, I appreciate it.
If the sand is wet and feels really firm/compact beneath your feet then keep the clubface square, more weight on the front foot, and hit the sand a little closer to the ball (maybe an inch or so behind) than you would with the soft sand shot. This shot should prevent the club from bouncing off the compact sand. It will be lower with more roll out as well, so can plan for that.
Amazing, did not know that. I have been really swinging at it to try and get underneath!
What loft do you tend to play for these shots? I found the 60 too problematic but am really trying to get that 56 my āswiss army knifeā around the green.
For the bunkers, it tends to be mostly about the bounce of the wedge. In the soft, fluffy sand, laying the club open adds bounce and thatās what helps really explode the sand out. When the sand is wet and compact, the bounce creates more surface area to, well, bounce off the hard surface. Keeping the clubface square with the 56* should still be good, but it might be worth trying the 60* as that will give you a bit more height out of the wet sand with less bounce (at least if the bounces on your wedges are relatively standard. Sand wedges are USUALLY fairly high bounce and lob wedges usually pretty low bounce).
I always say I practice not going in bunkers rather than practice bunkers. Have to aim conservative when firing at pins. Hero shots rarely come off. If I do go in a bunker I open the face, aim an inch behind the ball and most importantly small backswing, big follow though. Biggest mistake in bunkers is too taking too big a backswing and then slowing down or stopping on the ball. Our course has heavy sand to stop it being blown away. Also at the pin might not be the best play or the easiest shot. Sometimes it is better strategy to come out over the lowest pointā¦ 11th hole you have to hit a super high bunker shot or it runs back down the slope or go sideways run down to the next tee and have a flat lie to hit to a raised green. 4th hole if the pin is at the front you come out of the bunker onto a downslope and can run off the green into the lake. Have to aim away from the pin
I absolutely love being in the bunker. I honestly believe bunkers are a mindset, one more thing the golf gods invented that knew would eff with us for eternity. However when I put one in the sand I get excited (I know that weird) I really do. The reason is I know I can get creative. I like trying all kinds of things in there, knowing the club is easily going to get under the ball. I can try and shoot it out high, low, or mid, all depending on stance and openness of the face. I approach the shit and find a spot an inch behind the ball and thatās what I focus on. Knowing I donāt have to hit the golf ball really free me up and I swing at the appropriate speed needed and never slow down. Knowing I need the sand to propel the ball and thinking about that reminds me not to decelerate. I guess I love the sand so much because I grew up around the beach. Hahaha
Playing out of the sand is fine, but I hate getting it in my shoes (it always does) and cleaning it out of the grooves.