I consider myself a pretty good bunker player. You have to be on the US PGA Tour, because American courses are always heavily bunkered. If you’re not getting up and down, you’ll get left behind.

But if I were to be picky, I’d say my tendency for a poor bunker shot is to lead with the handle and not allow the technology in my wedges to do the work for me. Maybe it’s because I’m a good ball-striker, so my muscle memory is to lead with the handle of the club leaning forward and compress the ball. But that’s the opposite of what you want during a bunker shot, and I’ll find my poor bunker shots are a little heavy because the leading edge will dig into the sand too early.

In Wednesday pro-ams on the US PGA Tour, I see a lot of amateurs take a small swing and stop at impact. But bunker shots are all about swinging through the sand with a consistent rhythm to get the height and the spin required for this type of hazard.

Drill

I like to practise one-handed bunker swings with just my right hand. You should, too, and really aim to feel that you’re letting the club release past the hands.

You don’t even have to hit the ball – you can just develop the feeling of taking a bigger swing and letting the club pass you as it slaps the sand. If you do that, the club will enter the sand at the proper depth, before the bounce on your wedge propels the sole through the sand.

Once you’re comfortable with that feeling, try and replicate that in the proper shot. You’ll start to look at bunkers as another opportunity to make par.                 

Adam Scott Sandman

Why Augusta’s bunkers are different

Augusta National’s bunkers don’t get talked about much but they do require some homework. It’s an odd kind of sand; it’s a heavy, wet kind of sand that we don’t often play in. It’s hard to spin the ball from and it’s heavy through impact.

– written with Evin Priest