Sand Shots 101: Playing From A Hazard

Admit it. Even your sandy surroundings sound menacing: “bunker” and “trap.” But you’re not trapped. Hardly. All you need to do is advance your ball a few feet, and you don’t even have to make contact with it. Sound simple? It should. After you eliminate the fear of being in a bunker, getting from the sand to the green is relatively easy.

Hitting from a bunker requires a different technique, alignment and swing than most shots. The most obvious difference is that the greenside bunker shot is the only one in which your clubface is not supposed to contact the ball. This is different from a fairway bunker, where the idea is to hit the ball with an iron as cleanly as possible for maximum distance.

The key is swinging the wedge through the sand, beginning 2 or 3 inches behind the ball. Imagine the ball sitting on a small magic carpet. You want to scoop the carpet without hitting the ball so that the carpet and ball lift off at the same time. Regardless of how far you want to hit the ball, your piece of magic carpet (or impact area) should remain constant: about 6 inches long and 3 inches wide.

One mistake many golfers, new and experienced, make is slowing down their swing as the club enters the sand (fearing they will hit the ball too far). Another mistake is hitting more ball than sand (fearing they won’t hit the ball far enough). Keep in mind, the sand wedge is designed to bounce or glide through the sand, so trust the club to do its job.

The first time you step into the sand, either at a practice range or on a course, you will get a sinking feeling. Widen and open your stance and squiggle your shoes into the sand until you have a solid foothold. The ball should be a little farther away and more in the middle of your stance than normal; your hands should be a little lower on the handle. Open the clubface. This is the ideal set-up position.

The bunker shot is unique for another reason. You may not ground your club before the shot. As you address the ball, make sure the club hovers above the sand, just behind the ball. Touching the sand with the clubhead as you address the shot is a one-stroke penalty.

Practice these tips and techniques. Soon you will understand why the pros don’t feel trapped when their ball lands in the sand.