Bunker shot -- Do you all encounter this?

I can hit a chip / pitch shot pretty accurately .. but when it comes to a bunker shot, I can only hit it cleanly or either that my club "eats" too much sand and I end up not lifting the ball completely ...

This makes the bunker just in front of the green extremely hard for me and it is just killing me softly ...

Anyone of you encounter this as well?

Use putter in bunker
It works wonder

you need stability in bunker. it's not about how hard you hit, believe in the club loft it'll get the ball fly by default if you hit it right.
My setup is open my leg wide (like driver stance), ball in the middle of the stance and do a wide arc swing (just like driver /wood again) to hit the sand thin and send the ball flying..

If you play marina bay, 60 degree and open club face works wonders..

skybobo wrote:

Use putter in bunker
It works wonder

This is an interesting idea. Will give it a shot.

But dun think it will work in soft sand as well, is it?

If your bunkers have no lip, by all means, go ahead.


It also helps if u are usin a $20 putter.

If you are using an expensive putter, I suggest u think of something else.

Great thinking S70B.

Was planning on using my ping putter to try. hehe

No way I am putting my Zen to such a test, not even if I taped it up.

zixter wrote:

I can hit a chip / pitch shot pretty accurately .. but when it comes to a bunker shot, I can only hit it cleanly or either that my club "eats" too much sand and I end up not lifting the ball completely ...

This makes the bunker just in front of the green extremely hard for me and it is just killing me softly ...

Anyone of you encounter this as well?

Try this. works for me.
1. Ball aligned to left feet.
2. Griped down on shaft.
3a. use 60degree and take sand (for short distance)
3b. use sand wedge and take sand (open club face, for average distance)
4. FOLLOW through.
5. I repeat Follow-through.

Faults happens when on the down-swing, you slow down. (happens alot when you are thinking too much)
All else fails, grab a beer, finished half a can, try again.
Still cannot, finished up the can of beer, use 5 irons (your right hand).

Thanks folks! will try it out this week end =)

The problem for me is that I always forget to follow-through, either because I'm too scared or too anxious. Either way, I end up trying to chop the ground and the ball inches forward or flies into the next tee box.

Follow-through is key. It gets the ball out and while the ball may not go the exact distance, at least it has a good chance of landing on the green.

Chop ground oso can get ball out lah....
If you kenna the hor-pau dan.. or sunny side up, fried egg lie in the bunker..take straight back and chop down, no follow through.. better chance of coming out of the bunker...

hahhaa.. my uneducated way of golfing lah....

the key to bunker shot is to make sure one can get the ball out of the bunker.......tats very important...ideally on first try.







hahahah,,,,,GSLNS

open stance, open face and slightly more of an upright posture works for me

Sand shots are much easier if your sand wedge has lots of bounce (12 - 14 degrees).

bkll wrote:

Sand shots are much easier if your sand wedge has lots of bounce (12 - 14 degrees).

A word of caution on bounce, more bounce works for soft to medium textured sand. In harder textured sand, the club will not dig in enough, bouncing off the sand instead. You could end up topping the ball.

Medium bounce works best, since you have the option of opening the face for more bounce.

Bunker my favorite shot as I always slice my shots!

asahi wrote:

Great thinking S70B.

Was planning on using my ping putter to try. hehe

No way I am putting my Zen to such a test, not even if I taped it up.

when trying such shots.....always borrow putter from your opponents

This is another good idea.

For the lo hei game......if (touch wood) go bunker, will borrow from MC.

Birdman wrote:

bkll wrote:

Sand shots are much easier if your sand wedge has lots of bounce (12 - 14 degrees).

A word of caution on bounce, more bounce works for soft to medium textured sand. In harder textured sand, the club will not dig in enough, bouncing off the sand instead. You could end up topping the ball.

Medium bounce works best, since you have the option of opening the face for more bounce.

two ways around it. 1 close the face and dig it with the sharp edge.
if you have no green to work around it, just hit it clean (like chipping). as long as your lies is not too bad this is doable.

skybobo wrote:

Use putter in bunker
It works wonder

why not wood ?

cenbale wrote:

Seriously, you need more than just an emoticon. It reflects rather poorly on you if you're just building 20 posts based on silly emoticons.

Birdman wrote:

smallhorse wrote:

zixter wrote:

I can hit a chip / pitch shot pretty accurately .. but when it comes to a bunker shot, I can only hit it cleanly or either that my club "eats" too much sand and I end up not lifting the ball completely ...

This makes the bunker just in front of the green extremely hard for me and it is just killing me softly ...

Anyone of you encounter this as well?

Try this. works for me.
1. Ball aligned to left feet.
1a. Weight on left leg
2. Griped down on shaft.
3a. use 60degree and take sand (for short distance)
3b. use sand wedge and take sand (open club face, for average distance)
4. FOLLOW through.
5. I repeat Follow-through.

That right there is the textbook on bunker shots, don't think anyone can summarise it better than this quote already. Appreciate this great tip.

I got 4 simple tips for bunkers:

1. Open clubface.... way open. It should be facing waaaaaaay right of the target.
2. Open your stance.... waaaaay open again.
3. Hit the ball fat
4. Don't be shy, swing down hard.

If you have a very high lip to clear, like a pot bunker, be really extreme. Address the ball way in front of your left toe - just like you are addressing ball with a driver, just that your stance & clubface is way open. You still have to hit it fat, the idea of addressing the ball so far in front is you want to hit the ball high.

Again, you cannot be shy with this shot. Just wack hard, the whole point is to get out of the bunker.

I think most of the time the problem is with the follow thru as wat birdman has said.... if you committ to your shot and follow thru, getting out of the bunker is not so difficult... once you have no problem getting out of bunker, you can start thinking how to get it close to the hole...