In this video, Neil Tappin is joined by tour coach Liam James to offer some simple guidance on how to escape bunkers and chip it closer!
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00:00One of the fastest ways to improve your game this year might well be to concentrate on
00:10the short game.
00:11Now, we've teamed up with PING and we're here at the London Club to offer you some really
00:14helpful pointers about how to improve, starting, Liam, with bunker play.
00:19Now, I guess the issue that a lot of people will have is that they either are in danger
00:24of filling the ball into the face or fatting it and leaving it in the bunker, so how do
00:27you get more consistent with the amount of sand you take?
00:29Yes, so the most inconsistent thing that you see in the bunker really is obviously
00:33where the club is striking the ground, so as you've just mentioned there, some players
00:37trying to help the golf ball out of the bunker, hitting the sand in the wrong place and then
00:41obviously that fearful thin that goes through the back of the green, but we've got a simple
00:45drill for you here basically that just enables you to obviously make sure that when you're
00:50practising back home and you're practising in the bunker, you are entering the sand in
00:54the right place every time, so it's just a simple line here in the sand and there's a
00:58couple of basic things that we're going to do in your set up just to enable you to ensure
01:02that we're going to hit that ground in the right place.
01:05Ok, so tell us about that set up then, what do you need to do to make sure that you're
01:09in the right place before you hit?
01:10So again, just a little common thing that we start to see quite a bit of is that when
01:15a player's set up here, obviously the first thing that we generally see is the golf ball
01:19gets a little bit too far back in their stance, so this line that I've got here on the ground,
01:24I'm just going to make sure that that's just inside my left heel in the set up and then
01:28obviously when I've got now into my address position, I'm just going to place a little
01:31bit more of my weight onto my left side, so I've got about 70-80% of my weight on this
01:36left side now and as I'm just having a few practice swings, all I'm going to ensure is
01:41that I'm just going to strike that line in the same place every single time.
01:46I guess the temptation, Liam, for people when they're hitting a bunker shot, but any sort
01:52of chip shot, is to kind of lean back on it a bit and feel like you're helping the ball
01:55up in the air, it can feel like the most natural thing to do, but actually that can
01:59hurt you, right?
02:00Absolutely, and that's where you've just got to trust the fact that you've got plenty of
02:03loft in your hands in the first place, I mean we've got 56 degrees of loft here, so there's
02:07no need for me to try and add any more loft at any given point, but there's just a little
02:10bit of a trust thing in there to make sure that you're set up in the right place first
02:14of all, but 80% of this really is your set up, if we get that right, the rest of it is
02:19a lot more straightforward.
02:20Okay Liam, so talk us through the drill.
02:22Okay, so basic drill, obviously I've drawn the line in the sand here, so all that we're
02:26going to do really when we set ourselves up in the practice now, two or three practice
02:29swings before we go ahead and hit the ball, and I'm just going to make sure that this
02:33golf ball is just positioned inside of my left foot here, and now I'm going to place
02:38around 70% of my weight onto that front side as I mentioned, and I'm just going to have
02:42a few practice swings making sure that I'm hitting the sand in the right place.
02:48The big thing to watch out for when you're doing this is obviously making sure we're
02:51not seeing the club enter the sand too far behind that line, because that will refer
02:56to what we spoke about.
02:57So, shall I give it a go?
02:58Give it a go, yeah, let's see.
03:01Okay, so plenty of loft on the golf club in address there, ball's just inside my left
03:05foot, I've got a little bit of weight on that left side.
03:08Perfect.
03:09And then off we go.
03:11Lovely, and if you can do that, then you should be able to eradicate some of those really
03:15poor shots that might be costing you in the bunker.
03:18Okay, so we're moving on to chipping now, and Liam, I guess for whatever level of golfer
03:22you are, getting consistently the distance right is the key, isn't it?
03:28So, how do you go about training that?
03:31How can you practice for that?
03:32Absolutely.
03:33So, I mean, there's first of all a couple of things that you can do, just generally
03:36basics in your setup that offer you a little bit more control kind of when you're hitting
03:41a chip shot.
03:42So, often we see a lot of amateurs hitting golf shots with their hands right at the top
03:46of the grip here.
03:47The club's actually at its heaviest when you're holding all the way up here, so to gain yourself
03:52a little bit more control and again, help you gauge the distance a little bit better,
03:56the first thing to do is just grip down the golf club a little bit, so you can see my
03:59hands are almost covering the golf rod there on that grip.
04:03Right.
04:04Now, the second thing that I've got set out here for when you're practicing is there's
04:08just a towel on the green there, so that's my ideal landing area for this shot.
04:13So, to refer that to your distance control, all that we're going to do now is just have
04:17a few different practice swings and the only thing that I'm trying to do here is just have
04:22a relevant practice swing of how hard I'm trying to hit that.
04:25Often we see a lot of golfers have very irrelevant practice swings where they might be swinging
04:29back too far or they might not even have a practice swing at all.
04:32Yes, so you're really trying to gain a feel for distance just by looking at the towel
04:37and then feeling the left side swing.
04:38Absolutely, so just eyes on the towel, a few different practice swings there, just keeping
04:43my eyes on there and just trying to gauge if I'm taking that golf club far enough back
04:47in order to land it where I want.
04:49And when you're out on the golf course then, are you trying to, how much attention are
04:52you paying to your landing spot when you're on the golf course?
04:54Is that just as important there?
04:56100%.
04:57Identifying that landing area first of all is a really important part and often something
05:01a lot of golfers don't do, so it's worth just taking a little look, having a little walk
05:05around before you hit the chip shot and just trying to identify yourself an area where
05:09you'd like to land the golf ball in order for it to release back down to the pin.
05:13Okay, Liam, let's give it a go.
05:14Okay, so I'm going to make sure that, as I mentioned, I'm just covering the logo on the
05:19bottom of my grip there, I'm going to have two or three practice swings, just keeping
05:23my eye on that landing area, just trying to replicate the swing that I need, and I'm going
05:29to get in there and give it a hit.
05:34Very good.
05:35It's these sorts of drills that if you can use them, it stops you getting too technical,
05:39it stops you thinking too much, but should help improve your feel and that could make
05:43a big difference to your scores.