ADJUST YOUR FEET FOR CONSISTENT SAND PLAY 6
Standard advice for greenside bunker shots is to open the clubface wide, then open your stance and swing hard, cutting across the ball on an out-to-in path along your stance line. It’s the technique I learned growing up, but I find it’s too extreme for such a simple shot. I’ve abandoned it for an easier way to get it close from a bunker. I’ll share that technique in a second. First, understand that all you need to focus on in a bunker is the low point of your swing. It needs to be in the sand under your ball, which means your club should enter the sand in the same spot every time. That’s it – pretty simple. I’ve adopted a new- school method to get the same low point every time. Instead of setting up with my left foot open, I drop my right foot back, which aims my feet out to the right of my target. Doing so puts more weight forward, forces me to turn around my lead leg, and steepens my swing just enough to put the low point in the perfect spot without having to do anything else. I don’t have to think: I just pull my
right foot back and swing – and it works.
MATCH YOUR LEAD HAND TO YOUR CLUBFACE
the ball, as opposed to extended, it helps square the clubface. You don’t have to bow that wrist like I do, but a swing thought is to have the back of your lead hand pointing at the target at impact. If it is, there’s a good chance your clubface will be, too.
I’ve been asked a lot why my lead wrist is bowed at impact. The truth is, I have no idea. It probably happened as a result of all the punch shots I hit. I do know that it leads to more clubface control – at least for me. When that wrist is flexed as it approaches
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 59
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2024
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