How to Hit Bunker Shots

Would you like to become a better BUNKER player?

In this article, I’ll teach you all the setup & swing requirements needed to get the ball out every time!

Let’s get into it

Stance Width

You want to stand with your feet nice & wide in the bunker. Almost similar to your driver stance width.

This allows you to lower your body which is essential when talking about your handle position (keep reading to find out)

Ball Position

Have your ball position forward in the stance. One of the reasons we want it forward is due to the pressure you are going to set in your lead leg during setup.

You can play the ball inside your lead heel to ensure you hit sand first & create some height to get the ball out.

Body Tilts

In the bunker, you want to have your shoulders LEVEL! Try to avoid excessive trail side bend.

What that means is you don’t want your trail shoulder too low & your lead shoulder too high. This will cause low point & arc depth issues.

Weight/Pressure

Ideally, you want 60-70% pressure in your lead leg at setup. I like to tell people “Get your lead knee over your lead foot”.

This will help with low point control. If your ball position is forward but your setup is 50/50, there’s a chance you hit TOO FAR behind the ball and the ball doesn’t have enough energy to get out of the bunker.

Club Face

Make sure that club face is OPEN!

You want to have the face open for many reasons:

1. More loft helps you get the ball up & out
2. More loft will increase bounce
3. More loft & bounce means less dig
4. More loft allows for more speed without the ball travelling too far

Don’t be afraid to lay the face open so much that it’s pointing at the sky

Grip

A strong lead hand & weak trail hand goes well in the bunker.

It provides an easier opportunity to HINGE the club upwards & the weak trail hand allows the face to stay open throughout the entire swing.

This will help keep loft on the face & provide enough bounce where you can hit the sand & not have the club dig.

Posture

I like to see more forward bend in the bunker. When you have a wide stance, it allows you to get lower to the ground.

This will also help lower your handle position (see next post)

You don’t want to setup in a bunker with your 7-iron posture, that can be at times, too upright for bunker play.

Handle Position

Due to your stance being wider, upper body in more forward bend & the face being open, I’d like to see the grip end of the club LOWER.

This will allow the open face to now point more upward as opposed to the right when setting up in a bunker.

Alignment

We’ve always been told to OPEN our stance. This can be beneficial if you are trying to play a high, soft, short sided bunker shot, but when looking to play a standard 10-20y shot, cutting across the ball with a heap of loft will make it difficult to have the ball travel the distance you want.

I’d suggest setting up square with your feet, even slightly closed can be beneficial to have the ball come out more forwards & go the distance you want.

Backswing

Keep the pressure you have set in your lead side throughout the backswing. This will help you keep your low point consistent.

In regard to your swing path, you want that to be fairly neutral or even slightly out to in. I’d avoid being excessively in to out, as this will cause your low point to move more behind the ball than you need.

Downswing

Push UP through the lead leg to avoid the arc height from becoming too low. Allow the shaft to return vertical vs having excessive shaft lean & digging the leading edge into the sand.

Full Routine Face On

Inside the Academy, I demonstrate everything we’ve just gone through from face on.

Full Routine Down The Line

Inside the Academy, I demonstrate everything we’ve just gone through from down the line.

If you enjoyed this article & would like to learn more, you should consider joining the Ryan Mouque Golf Academy where I have an entire BUNKER SERIES course available for members. The course includes the 36 premium videos: