Golf Tips » November 2004: The long bunker shot!

This month’s golf tip comes via Larry Wintz who says that since he attended the golf school his short bunker shots have really improved. However, the longer bunker shots are still giving him trouble as he either hits them fat or sculls them over the green. Larry, here is a solution to your situation.

The main problem with a long bunker shot is that most golfers are not sure whether to pitch or blast this shot. In picture #1 I have about a 50 yard bunker shot with a fairly good lie in soft sand. I could pitch it by taking my 60 degree wedge and hitting a perfect 9 o’clock shot (see my tip on pitching), or I could take my sand wedge and try to hit a very hard blast shot hoping the ball will carry all the way to the green.

On this occasion I prefer to play a blast shot because the sand is soft and I could hit a pitch shot a little fat. By taking a 9 iron instead of a sand wedge I don’t have to swing as hard to carry the ball all the way.

Take your normal stance as if you were going to play a regular sand shot but select your 9 iron.

Swing back as far as you would for a 30 to 40 yard pitch shot.

And make sure that after impact, which is about an inch behind the ball, you follow through all the way through to a full finish. As you can see in picture #4, my hands have finished above my head.

This shot needs a little practice first to build trust in knowing what the ball will do, particularly if you’ve always hit only your sand wedge for bunker shots. What you will discover is that you do not have to swing as hard to get a great result. Try this next time you have that dreaded long bunker shot, I’m sure you will be pleased with the result!