Lesson 8 - Shifting Sand

Play any ball sport and you will be told and then reminded that the most important thing to do is 'watch the ball'. Mishit a shot and you will probably be told that the reason you missed it was because you weren't looking at the ball. Or you lifted your head so you couldn't see it anyway.

Perhaps that explains why so many golfers find bunker shots difficult. For this shot you should not look at the ball at all. The reason you don't want to look at it is because there is a good chance that if you do you might hit it. Hitting the ball is not the object of the exercise but if you walk into a bunker with the 'don't forget to look at the ball' advice echoing around your head there is a good chance that is what you'll do.

What you should look at is a point where the club head is going to start cutting out a divot of sand. How far from the ball that entry point is depends on how far you want to hit the ball and the composition of the sand. Think of the ball as a large grain of sand which is roughly in the middle of the divot.

We got you set up to play this shot in the previous lesson in terms of your stance, ball position and posture. The swing itself is similar to your pitching swing but before you head off to your nearest bunker to practice here are some keys.

Your objective is to take a divot of sand out of the bunker. The ball is just an oversized piece of sand.Think of moving that divot of sand a good five or six yards and what oommph you'll need in your swing to make it go that far.

When you're in the bunker start by taking 10 or 15 divots without a ball so you get used to hitting the sand. Hitting it shouldn't hurt you. The sand wedge is designed to cut through the sand with very little resistance.

When you see you're moving the sand 5 or 6 yards from the divot it's time to practice with a ball.
Accept that you may have to educate your eyes to look at your entry point and not at the ball. Painting a few balls a sand colour to help with the 'education' is a good idea if it helps you think 'divot' and not 'ball' in a bunker.