Dan Grieve's Best Bunker Tips

Okay, super easy, really splashing through. So I'm here in the bunker and I'm gonna go through how you can play that splash shot. I'm using my 56 MG5 wedge, 12 degrees. And the biggest issue I see in bunker play really is the player moves around too much side to side so we don't create a solid enough platform in the address position. So what I like to see is a driver width stance with this front foot flared out around about 45 degrees. And from there, get your knee and really push it over your foot here. So your whole pelvis here is moving forward this way with your trail knee kicking in. As well as doing that, stand a little bit further away. Most of you stand too close to the ball in the bunker which doesn't allow you to get down into your knees enough and get the hands low enough that really gives you that platform and that pressure going diagonally down into the sand here which really makes it difficult to move side to side and that's why you're hitting heavy shots and thin shots. So really get that good platform there, add address. If you're playing in a bunker that has nice soft sand, you don't want to get your upper body to reverse slightly this way. And that allows you to come in nice and level with the ball, shallow, and take the sand under the shot rather than getting down and too steep which you don't want to have too much when there's a lot of sand in the bunker. So ball just inside the heel, pelvis forward, shaft in line with the back of the ball there. Little bit of reverse tilt here. And then from there, you really set up and you've got a great chance to play the shot. In the backswing, it is all about making sure that you keep the loft on the club face. So very simply, if you take it back and you have a look at the club face, if that's pointing more or less back at you, that's good. That means you've got some cupping in your wrist and that means you've really protected the loft and bounce of the club face. And then as you come through, you open up this way, the loft and bounce is looking back at you here. And that really helps the club slide through the sand rather than dig. And when it digs in, the ball generally doesn't get out of the bunker. Really try and make sure your chest keeps turning as well. That's important. Don't stop on it. So let's give that a go. We get the setup, keep the loft on, keep the chest moving. And then we get nice contacts like that with a ton of spin. That's the beauty about this MG5 wedge. It does get things spinning. Let's give that a go again. And you just hear that work through the sand. You see the right foot actually stays fairly kind of static on the ground as well. I like that. That means I'm moving around and I don't have that shift too much through the strike. If you are perhaps a little bit nervous in the sand and it's a shot that you really struggle with, the MG5 range does have a high bounce option, 14 degrees in the 56 here. Because a little bit more bounce, it just makes it a little bit easier to work the sand out and make the ball work towards the target a little bit easier. So same technique, but it just bounces through a little bit more, makes it easier to work through the sand. So if you do struggle a bit, obviously hopefully what I've just taught you in terms of technique will help things, but a little bit more bounce there will also help you, particularly if you're playing out of bunkers where there is lots of sand, that will help move it through nicely. What I really love in this range is the SX. The SX is a wide sole, great for bunkers where there is a lot of sand, but it also has this reverse C camber at the back, so you can really release the club. I call it release three, where you're working it this way because it has that shaving at the back there, it doesn't want to kick too much. So you can still get some really nice high flighting, high spinning bunker shots. So wide sole, same swing, lots of release, and it still works out really nicely with lots of spin. Do you hear that noise? Bunker play is all about the noise, the acoustic of the noise, and I really heard that lay down and spank into the sand, but that reverse camber at the back just kept the club nicely through it. If you do play at a golf course where there is perhaps less sand, because sometimes you do get that, perhaps it's playing in damp conditions a lot where the sand also compacts. So you see here, much, much firmer, and you don't really want a higher bouncing club here because it can kick, and that's quite a dangerous one where you send it and it goes way over the other side of the green. So if you do play out of bunkers where it is a little bit tight like this, you might want to consider the low bounce option. This is 56 and an eight degree low bounce grind. Good to stop the club kicking too much. I would, by the way, in these conditions, play the ball a little bit further back, little bit more forward shaft lean. I wouldn't now reverse my upper body. I would go more this way. That helps the club work more downward into the sand, and so I'm squeezing the sand down rather than splashing, and this club is really going to help me if I'm playing from these conditions on a regular basis. You can see it's gone down. It's more like a release one. Lots of spin there, like a release one. So I've done the front hit release rather than the trailing hit release because I don't want it to kick, but that slightly narrower sole and with the release in terms of the bounce on that, that is so much easier through the hard pan sand, and that's definitely a serious option. So there's a bit to it, I'm afraid. Bunker play, you have got to look at the bunkers you're playing from, the type of sand you're playing from, but keep it really simple. If there's lots of sand, get into your higher bounce, okay, or your standard bounce. If you're in these compact bunkers, perhaps a lower bounce club, but hopefully the technical bit there is going to help you as well.