• 7 months ago
In this video, PGA Professional Nick Drane explains the keys to playing the bunker shot
Transcript
00:00 (dramatic music)
00:02 - Hi, my name's Nick Drane.
00:06 I'm a PGA professional and a master fitting specialist
00:09 here at the Titleist Performance Center at Woburn.
00:11 In this video, we're gonna talk about
00:12 the green side bunker shot.
00:14 The green side bunker shot, typically we're gonna use
00:16 our most lofted club in our bag, our sand iron,
00:19 anywhere from 56, 58, or 60 degrees in loft.
00:22 It's the only shot in golf
00:23 where we're actually not trying to hit the golf ball.
00:25 We're actually gonna hit the sand behind the ball,
00:28 and I'm gonna demonstrate to you ways that we can do that.
00:31 A lot of common mistakes that I see golfers make
00:33 in the bunker is that, again, they are trying to help
00:36 the ball out of the bunker through an incorrect setup,
00:39 which doesn't allow them the best opportunity
00:41 to get the ball out of the sand.
00:43 Quite often, I see golfers trying to
00:45 move back on the golf ball, so too much weight
00:49 on their back foot, trying to lift it.
00:51 As I mentioned earlier, we're actually gonna hit the sand,
00:53 not the ball.
00:54 That's what's gonna propel the ball
00:56 into the air, onto the green.
00:57 Here's an example of how I see a lot of golfers
01:00 make a few mistakes in the bunker.
01:02 They don't shuffle their feet into the sand.
01:05 The ball is too middle of the stance,
01:08 and with regards to the grip, they take their grip,
01:11 and then they open the club face,
01:13 which in theory isn't actually doing anything,
01:15 and then they try and lift the ball out of the bunker.
01:18 You can see there, I didn't actually contact the sand
01:26 behind the ball and lift it out.
01:28 Too much golf ball, and it's gone way too far.
01:31 Couple of key things in your setup
01:33 you need to pay particular attention to
01:34 to allow you to be successful out of the bunker.
01:37 Firstly, let's talk about the stance width.
01:39 So, a nice wide base, shuffle the feet into the sand.
01:43 That's gonna lower you into the ground.
01:47 One of the key things, so I've already got
01:48 a very lofty golf club in my hand.
01:50 What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna open the club face slightly,
01:54 and then take my grip, okay?
01:57 The leading edge of the golf club
01:59 is gonna point towards my left toe.
02:01 One thing you'll see in my setup
02:03 is that my left foot is turned out slightly.
02:06 That's gonna allow me to put a little bit more weight
02:08 on my left side, maybe 60/40, favoring the left,
02:11 and make it easier as I turn through.
02:15 My ball position, okay, as I mentioned earlier,
02:18 this is the shot where we're gonna hit the sand,
02:20 not the golf ball.
02:21 So, in theory, I'm moving the ball a couple of inches
02:24 ahead of where I would ideally have the ball in my stance
02:28 if I was playing off the grass,
02:30 and I'm gonna draw a nice line about a club head width
02:33 inside my left heel as a reference.
02:36 I'm now gonna focus on hitting that line in the sand,
02:39 not the golf ball itself.
02:41 My swing itself, I'm gonna make a three-quarter backswing,
02:45 and then make sure that I have all my weight
02:47 finishing towards a target.
02:49 (gentle music)
02:51 And hopefully, it'll come out like that.
02:58 (gentle music)
03:02 (upbeat music)
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03:07 (upbeat music)
03:09 (upbeat music)
03:12 (upbeat music)