Use a sharpie to keep smiling in the bunkers

I’m always looking for inventive ways to help golfers. This is something that might look unusual, but it’s a great visual tip to hit better bunker shots.

The idea behind this drill is that, when you take your address position for a bunker shot, your own face and the clubface are facing each other. To really emphasise this, I sometimes get my younger students to draw a smiling face on their wedge. That can work for them, but also for older students who need that reminder too.

I should stress that this is a drill and you shouldn’t be doing this while you’re on the golf course in a competitive setting, but in the practice bunker, it can really help.

The face drill: How to do it

The clubface, with its smiley face, should be pointing towards your face. The important point comes at impact, as you want to repeat that. This will encourage your body to turn through the shot and keep plenty of loft on your sand wedge.

How can this help?

This will keep loft on the wedge and you won’t get the leading edge digging in. You’re maintaining loft through impact. If you do this properly, you’ll utilise the bounce, which is going to stop you duffing the shot and leaving yourself in the bunker, because you’ve got the back of the club where it should be.

Although you have loft on your wedge already, to get that face to really point at you, you’re going to need to open it up. Some golfers get scared of this but opening the face helps you use the bounce better. It will also encourage you to lower your hands, which again helps you to use the bounce better.

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This works in the bunker but it’s also great for a flop shot. Again, it stops the hands getting too active through impact. If we roll the hands over and the leading edge digs in, you’re not going to see the shot you want.

When you’re trying this out, all I want you to focus on is getting the face looking back at you. If you do that, then the rest of the shot will fall into place.

Steve Johnston is a long-time member of the bunkered Performance Panel and is Scotland’s leading golf YouTube star. He is also the founder of Loft and Lie | Premium Golf Gloves – find out more here.