This crafty bunker tip will help you hit cleaner strikes

Who says getting up and down from the bunker can’t be easy?

If you want to get it closer on the golf course, and watch your scores tumble, you should probably try this genius bunker tip, especially when you find yourself in that tricky longer bunker shot range.

Lots of golfers lean into their trail side in bunker shots in an effort to help the ball into the air, but that’s absolutely not what you want to do here.

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Usually, the last thing you want to see in the bunker is a plugged ball. It’s time to change that mindset.

For this tip, you want to make a plugged lie by placing a ball under your lead foot at address, as pictured below.

Don’t apply too much pressure at this point but still make sure you are favouring your lead side with 60% of your weight.

When coming into impact, push into your lead foot, which stops you from falling back. It’ll lead to better, more crisp strikes from the sand.

The method behind the madness is pretty simple. By keeping your weight forward in the bunker shot, you’ll stop getting too much sand and hitting the ball heavy.

The drill is great because you’ll get instant feedback on where your weight is during the swing.

Even on short bunker shots, you need to keep the majority of your weight on the front foot. So, if you see the ball going slightly into the sand, you’re doing a good job.

When we combine this with data from Shot Scope, it’s easy to see how so many players lose shots from the sand.

Of course, scratch players lead the way in sand save percentages by handicap, at 37%.

But if you look at a five handicap, that drops to 23%, while a ten handicap makes a sand save 20% of the time and 18% for a 15 handicap.

Ailsa Murphy is a PGA Professional at Peebles. You can book a virtual lesson with her through Skillest and follow her on TikTok.