Bunker Shot: How To Handle Impossible Steep Bunker Shots

One of the toughest bunker shots I ever faced was on a small golf course in my home town. It was my 20th high school reunion and since I was in town a few days early I was able to enjoy old times on the course with a few buddies.

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The course had been revised over the years. It's an old course, owned and taken care of by a local farmer who was now passing the land down to his son. One of the first differences I took notice of was the steepness of the bunkers. And of course the change dawned on me when my ball made its way to the sand!

Facing Steep Bunker Shots

You probably have run into this same scenario. The bunker shot is tough enough but when you are literally facing a shot where your ball is lying right under a steep lip, such situations may cause serious doubt in even the best of golfers.

Trust me, it is so easy to look up and think right away that it would be physically impossible to get the ball over the lip and onto the green. The lie may even be so bad that there would be no way to launch it at the right angle. So what do you do? Here are a few tips:

Go For Broke

Sometimes you just gotta take risks, even if it means suffering a bit. Look at it this way, if the steep bunker shot is impossible at first glance, then what do you have to lose by trying? So just go for broke and swing away!

But be warned, you do run the risk that the ball will hit the lip and end up in the same spot or possibly in a more disastrous position, or worse yet – getting too much speed and bouncing back only to hit you – thus causing a two stroke penalty.

Declare The Ball Unplayable

Your second option is to simply take your losses and declare the ball as unplayable. As you know this choice automatically gives you a two stroke penalty and you must drop the ball within two club lengths of its original spot. However, the ball must say in the sand so hopefully a more easier bunker shot can be made after the adjustment.

Move Backwards

Your first choice was to make a go of it and see what happens. Second, you could just take your penalty and mark the ball unplayable. Now the third option, which is not too smart, but could possibly work, is to play the ball backwards out of the bunker.

This by far is the easiest way to get the ball back into a positive situation but boy can this be tough on the ego! No golfer ever wants to consider moving backwards in a game. But the choice could possibly be the smartest option in such a defeating situation, so swallow your pride and get to it! It's only a game after all.

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Bunker Shot: How To Handle The Swallowed Ball

If bunker shots weren't tough enough to rescue yourself from during a challenging round of golf, worse yet is when the ball lands in a bunker and is practically buried whole by the soft sand. This type of scenario happens all of the time and is quite tricky to deal with when you only have the top surface of the ball showing itself, otherwise known as the “swallowed ball”.

A Word Of Attitude

Before we move on with advice on how to deal with the swallowed ball scenario, I want to quickly remind you not to get frustrated and upset when these types of shots happen. Remember that golf is supposed to be challenging. Golf is supposed to be unpredictable. Golf's beauty is that the game always throws you a surprise or two (or three, or four, or...) so have fun with it! Don't get caught up with a bad attitude. This will only make your game worse.

Dig Your Stance Deeper Than Usual

When the sand has swallowed your ball and you can only see the top surface, you are going to have to adjust the standard stance you use. Remember that the ball is literally resting a couple of inches underneath the sand so you must start from a lower level.

Your goal is still to cause the clubhead to hit below the ball, as in any standard bunker shot, but since it is lower than usual, you have to adjust the same distance into the sand. Perhaps the ball is only down a couple of inches in the sand but those two inches make it harder than you think, so dig in and get ready to swing!

Lower The Club

Another tip is to get the club lower so that you can send the leading edge of the blade to dig in more. Simply close the clubface up slightly during address, while at the same time delofting it so that the club will more easily dig up.

Give Your Swing More Speed

When you play a buried lie like this, the club must ram through added inches of sand, splashing with more resistance. This obviously slows down the club to a large degree and calls for extra speed on the swing. I'm not talking about making the swing harder, just faster.

Golf is a difficult game to master; the beginner golfer needs a lot of instruction and tips to get started. I believe that it is best to start of looking for reliable free golf tips to begin your golf education. That way, you can learn about the different golf equipment options, grip styles, swing techniques, and other things like course management - all without spending a penny.

One-On-One Golf Lessons

When you have learned as much as possible from free golf tips, take a few one-on-one golf lessons. After that, you will need to practice at the range and on the course. By this stage you should be at a more consistent level where you can play some decent shots, and not so many bad shots. But to take your game to the next level, you should continue with your golf education.

Online Golf Lessons

With golf lessons online, you can go from shooting scores over 100 to being able to break 90 or even 70. You will learn how enjoy the game of golf as you will be able to play with more consistency and accuracy.

Some benefits of taking online golf lessons are time and cost. The first benefit is that you can fit the program into your schedule by practicing the lessons at home or in your office anytime you want. For the same amount of money that you would pay for a 1 hour lesson, you will get 2 or 3 months worth of online golf instruction.

A Complete Golf Education Each Month

The top golf lessons online that you can find are programs run by professional and competent instructors. For a really low monthly fee, you will receive a ton of information that will take you from a beginner to an advanced golfer. These types of programs give you all this information in an extremely organized way that is easy to follow.

Every month, you will get lessons on just one area of golf. So, by the end of the month, you will perfect and master that area - whether it is chipping, putting, driving, or bunker shots. Every single aspect of the game is covered, from the different types of shots to learning the mental game of golf, stretching and flexibility training, different training aids you can use in-doors, and how to choose the right golf equipment.

Many Types Of Golf Resources

The best golf lessons online have many resources for you to learn from. Things like DVD clips, breakdown sessions and practice drills on online video, live teleseminars, worksheets and assignments, evaluation of training aids, tracking worksheets, and access to a private apprentice forum.

A Master Of The Golf Game

Therefore, if you want to become a better golfer and master the game, I would suggest that you check out one of these golf lessons programs. You will receive expert help to lower your scores in a convenient and very affordable way. Remember, you can go at your own pace so that there is no excuse that you don't have time to practice.

The Number 1 Reason Why Your Score Is Not Improving

What does practice mean to you when it comes to improving your golf game?

Most of you probably never practice outside of the actual course. Others spend the entire time on the driving range hitting long drives. Either way, the truth is that you are doing very little to actually lower your score and improve the shots that really count at the end of a game.

So what is it about hitting those powerful long drives that make us happy? Some of these shots will slice, while others will actually fly straight and hit the target. While this makes us happy at some level, deep inside we know that spending all day hitting long balls at the range is not the best use of our practice time.

Most of you reading this are interested in living up to your fullest potential at the game. Becoming the best we can, within our abilities, is what separates those that improve from those that just drudge along, hitting the same low score year in and year out. We want to have our best score, we want to hit those impressive shots that make our friends look on with envy.

Perhaps your goal is to shoot 90, or how about 80? Maybe you are trying to reach a score of 75 or 70. Whatever your new goals are, there is no way to get there without making the short game a priority when it comes to practice. Some people of course get a rush from hitting all of those repetitive, ego-driving long drives, but then their scorecard never dips below 100, they are not so happy anymore.

The Value Is Around the Green

More value comes from the shots that are made around the green. The accuracy and technique needed to make these shots into a winning strategy is far more important than what is needed for a drive. A hole may be as far as 390 or more yards away, and a long drive may get the ball to the 200 yard mark, which is great, but what will get the ball into the hole are your tougher shots – the pitches, the flops, and the chips.

I've seen scores drop from the high 90s down to the mid-to-low 80s just from players who shaved off a few points by spending extra moments each week on chipping, or a few 15 minute sessions during the week with putting. Such improvements may seem minor but your handicap can be dramatically reduced.

Planning Your Practice Sessions

Not everyone has the luxury of planning out long practice sessions to improve their golf game. Most of us have very busy schedules, long work hours, and family commitments - so even a 30 minute window is a welcomed opportunity. You must use your time wisely.

Regardless if you only have 30 minutes, or a half day to practice golf, the key is to properly plan your sessions. It would not be wise to spend all of your 30 minutes hitting drives.

Always include small increments of your time to hitting specific shots - five minutes on chipping, another five on pitching, maybe ten minutes on bunker shots, another five minutes on your fifty yard shots – are all examples of a plan of action towards practice with the time you have.

How To Become An Expert In The Bunker

The best shot to take out of any sandy situation is the splash shot. However, there are times when exploding the ball, although a common shot for golfers that are unskilled in the splash shot, is actually the better strategy.

Such examples when the explosion shot from the bunker is the best choice include: the classic fried egg landing, when the ball is completely buried, and of course, those front bunker shots where the hole is too close on the other side.

Here are the basic, fundamental moves to playing the explosion shot:

1) The number one goal and primary focus of the explosion shot is to dig the club down into the sand. For those of you that have practiced the splash shot, you will notice that this goal of digging the club down with the explosion is the exact opposite motion.

Think of the clubhead like a shovel, digging underneath (and behind) the ball for a quick, forward-traveling amount of sand to help lift the ball up and towards the green.

2) Always do your best to play the explosion shot from a square stance. You want the clubface to be square to the target line, therefore, if you open up your stance as you would when initiating a splash shot, you may end up leaving the ball in the bunker or yanking it wildly to the left.

3) When playing this shot you want to lean your body in towards the target. When you set up to the ball, place most of your weight on the left leg. You should feel as though your head is ahead of the ball. Keep these two feelings throughout the entire swing.

4) Forget the follow through. When playing the explosion shot properly, and in the right circumstances, you really should not have the room for a follow through due to the angle of the club when it strikes the sand.

5) Position the ball as far back as you can right along the inside of the right shoulder. This tip is important because you want the club to come into the ball at a very steep angle. And the deeper buried that the ball is, the farther back in your stance you will want it during address.

6) Choose the right club. The best club to use for the explosion shot is a personal choice on your part. Keep in mind that the deeper the ball is buried in the sand, the harder it is to get the sand wedge far enough down in order to bring it up. Some players choose the pitching wedge. You could even give the 8 iron or 9 iron a go, depending on how far you want the ball to roll once it lands on the green.

How To Become An Expert In The Bunker (5)

With only two key shots available to golfers when trying to get the ball out of a sand bunker (the splash or the explosion), the splash shot should be used at all times possible. And because the splash takes skill and practice, most players try to explode the ball without giving the shot a second thought.

The good news is that there are times when exploding the ball will be necessary, even for those of you who have taken the time to practice and become good at the splash.

But in order to fully master the sand bunker when you face these shots, it is important to understand the methods behind your options. So let's talk more about the explosion shot and when it is wise to use it.

Deep In The Sand

The explosion shot is a completely different animal than the splash. There is more than one situation where you may want to opt for this shot. The obvious situation is when your ball is buried deep in the sand. You really have no choice here – you have to use the explosion shot.

The Fried Egg

A second scenario is the “fried egg”. As the description suggests, this is when the ball is deep enough in the ground with no sand behind it for the club to enter. Although a highly skilled professional may be able to use the slash here and make it work, it is usually best for you and I to choose the explosion.

The Front Bunker

A third situation where the explosion shot should be used is when you are set up in a front bunker at a large and deep green, with the hole in the back of the green. In this scenario, it can be almost impossible to splash the ball flying up at the exact point you need.

The end result will probably have you over-swinging, hitting up too much sand, and sending the ball over the green. Since the explosion shot runs a bit when it hits the ground, it makes better sense in use it here.

How Far Will The Ball Roll Once It Hits The Ground?

Whatever situation you fall into that warrants an explosion shot, how far the ball lands and how far it will roll after exploding out of the sand depends on several factors:

1) How hard you swung the club.

2) The type of club used (the sand wedge is not always used in the bunker).

3) How close to the ball you slam the club into the sand.

4) And finally, the type of sand that is laying in the bunker.

How To Become An Expert In The Bunker (4)

If you are having trouble hitting your ball out of the bunker with the right direction and control needed, I would be willing to bet that you use the explosion shot just about every time.

Most golfers do, because the other alternative is the splash shot which takes quite a bit of skill and patience to successfully make it work. But the end result of the splash is always a benefit to lowering your score.

Why Are Most Golfers Scared Of The Splash Shot?

So what is it about the splash shot that new and intermediate players are scared of? Why do so many golfers consider every ball that lands in the sand one that needs to have a sloppy explosion shot to get it out of the bunker?

The are basically two reasons why the splash seems more difficult to golfers not currently utilizing it:

1) The first reason is due to the path of the swing.

2) The second is due to the length needed for the follow through.

The swing path issue is not all that different than that used for pitch shots. You just swing your club along the lines of where your body is aiming. In just about every situation where the splash is played, that will be a point to the left of the target.

The second problem with the splash shot, as mentioned above, is dealing with the length of the follow through. This is probably the biggest issue all golfers deal with before becoming a great sand hitter – they are scared to continue with the full speed of the club when hitting through the sand.

This fear is, to some notion, logical. Your instincts are telling you that if you make the swing with too much speed then the ball may move too far. But that will not happen.

Another reason why golfers have trouble with the length of the follow through is because the very nature of the splash is that it is a gentle shot, one where the distance is actually controlled largely by the length of your backswing.

Step Away From The Driving Range

There is only one way to overcome these fears and use the right shot in the game when needed to strategically get your ball out of the sand – Practice!

Take time away from the driving range and practice these splash shots until you are comfortable with the unbalanced swing length and the closeness of the clubhead to the ball during impact.

How To Become An Expert In The Bunker (3)

To become a better bunker player, and not just your everyday golfer that explodes the ball up and out of the sand, you need to focus on the skill of properly executing the splash shot.

This is the type of shot that separates the good players from those that obviously do not put forth the effort into improving their short game, thus showing no improvement in their score.

Those players that treat every sand shot like an explosion can be seen every day on golf courses around the world. These are the players who, every time their ball lands in the bunker, choose to explode the ball out of the sand without even a thought to the most effective (yet harder to master) splash shot.

Setting Up & Swinging For A Successful Splash Shot

One of the primary mistakes golfers make when gearing up for a shot is using the feet as a reference point. On just about every shot in golf this is the wrong thing to do, and this rule is no different when setting up for the splash. This is because the width of your stance varies according to the type of shot you play, so you should continue to use your body as the main reference point, not the feet.

In the case of today's lesson in executing the splash shot, you will want to specifically use your chest as the main reference point in addition to playing the ball forward in your stance. A great starting point would be somewhere about equal to the left armpit. Adjustments can be made as you go along.

Once you have this position set, open up your body to the target line while maintaining the clubface aimed directly at your target.

Now it's time to make your swing. Once you move your club, swing it right along the straight lines of your body instead of the target line. This vital technique will create the effect of the club cutting across the golf ball.

Important: On the backswing, be sure to focus on keeping your lower body as still and quiet as possible. One way to do this that helps many golfers is to keep the majority of your weight on the left leg and keep it there all through the entire swing. Even when your shoulders start to turn away from the golf ball on the backswing you still must maintain as much weight on that left leg as possible.