Posts Tagged ‘Bunker Shots’

High Soft landing Greenside Bunker Shot

High Soft landing Greenside Bunker Shot

Hi Soft Bunkers

Mark Wood PGA Advanced Professional, has a very easy and effective way in playing a very high soft landing greenside bunker shot. All you have to do is weaken your right hand grip so that the ‘V’ of the right hand is pointing up towards your left collar bone. Keep your left hand as normal but just make this slight alteration in the right hand and watch the results.

Make sure you set the face open a little to add some loft but to also engage the bounce.

Keep your bunker shot swing as normal, coming into the ball nice and shallow, utilising the bounce of the wedge.

Keep the swing nice and aggressive and watch the ball spin.

You can watch the video of the tip here

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From Your Friends at Mark Wood Golf Academy

PS. Come down and tee it up to make some magic moments of your own. Check our website at 

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

 

 

40 Yard Bunker Shots

40 Yard Bunker Shots

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The 40 yard bunker shot is one of the hardest in golf to play. You need to be able to treat the shot more like a greenside bunker shot, not a fairway bunker shot.

I have a great way for you to do this and it does not involve your wedges at all !!

Take a 9 iron and open the face of the club a little to engage the bounce of the club and to also add some loft onto the club. Take your normal regular splash shot stance, ball forward, weight forward, wide stance with the centre of gravity set low. From there just make a fairly full splash shot swing and you will be amazed at the results !!

This is how the pro’s play them.

Go ahead and make someone’s day share this tip with a friend!

From Your Friends at Mark Wood Golf Academy

PS. Come down and tee it up to make some magic moments of your own. Check our website at 

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

Greenside Bunker Shot Swing Technique

Bunker Shot Swing Technique

Once you have established a good solid set up for this bunker shot your focus now turns to executing the swing.

Firstly I want to briefly describe the bounce of the club and what it does. The bounce of the wedge is there to help you and it will guide through the sand if used correctly.

As the bunkers have become better over the last few years, with the quality of the sand and drainage, manufactures have improved there wedges with varying degrees of loft’s and bounce angles. With this in mind you have all the correct tools to be playing this shot well. The only thing that is still “old school” is the way golfers set up to these shots, so I am going to explain the modern way of escaping the sand with ease.

“If the leading edge digs in, poor bunker shots will be the result. Remember the bounce of the wedge is your friend, so please use it”

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Hinging the wrists to much in a good greenside bunker lie creates a steep angle of attack and this can lead to the leading edge to dig in. Remember we are using the bounce of the wedge in this situation.

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Swing back to a position where the left reaches parallel to the ground (a 9 o’clock position) and keep your wrist set to a minimum. The backswing should be on a slightly flatter swing arc than normal. I want you to feel that you keep your weight forward as you swing your arms around your body.

The weight should have stayed on the left side during the backswing, as keeping in this fixed weight position helps you to strike the sand in a consistent point (an inch or two before the ball).

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As you turn your body back to the ball I want you to release your right arm angle and wrist angles very early on so by the time impact occurs the club head will have overtaken your hands. This really gets you using the bounce of the wedge and adds loft as well so your bunker shots will come out high and soft with spin control.

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Continue to turn and release your body through to the target so the right heel release out of the sand.

I hope you enjoyed the article, any comments or Questions then please leave a comment below..

Until next time I wish you all the golfing success

From Your Friends at Mark Wood Golf Academy

PS. Come down and tee it up to make some magic moments of your own. Check our website at 

www.markwoodgolfacademy.co.uk

Mark Wood

PGA Advanced Professional
UK’s No1 Golf Coach

The Best Golf Lessons in Sussex and Kent

Fairway Bunker Shots

THE FAIRWAY BUNKER SHOT

Escape the sand and play these shots like the pro’s…

Fairway bunker shots can be very intimidating for many golfers, but if you learn and practise the right techniques you will soon enjoy these shots. To start with, when playing out of fairway bunkers, it is important to take one to two clubs more than normal and make sure you have enough loft on the chosen club to clear the lip of the bunker. Set up normally with your feet slightly wriggled into the sand for stability and the ball positioned more toward the middle of your stance. Next step, which is very important, grip down slightly on the club for greater control. By also lifting your chin up a little from your chest gives you the feeling of standing “tall” and increases the chance of hitting the ball first, which if you are going to be successful at this shot, it’s a must. Making a swing at 70 percent of your normal speed will give you a great chance of hitting a clean, solid shot.

So, Hitting a shot from a fairway bunker poses no great problem if the ball has a good lie.

On long fairway bunker shots, Rescue (Hybrid) clubs or middle irons as well as 5 and 7 woods can be used with great confidence in this situation. Don’t try to overpower this shot. Restrict your golf swing a little via your body turn and swing easy and in balance.

With a bad lie in the bunker you need to re think and play more of a percentage shot, choose the club you are confident with, from say a 7 iron upwards. Take note of any other trouble and look to get the ball back into the fairway. Observe the course. Aim for a safe part of the fairway and just get your ball back into play.

I hope you enjoyed the article, any comments or Questions then please leave a comment below..

Until next time I wish you all the golfing success

Mark

Mark Wood Golf Academy
Dale Hill hotel & golf club
East Sussex