Delicate bunker shot video

Golf Monthly Top 25 coach Gary Alliss has some tips to help you got those short, delicate bunker shots up and down more often.

If you find yourself facing a short bunker shot the natural adjustment that players make is to go down the grip.

But when you are playing from sand, you need to tread carefully here. If you go down the grip and then taking your address position, your posture is likely to change – your back will bend over too far.

This in turn cause the club to work up and down on too steep a path, the club digs through impact and the ball fails to clear the lip. It’s a common scenario that can easily undermine your confidence.

Try this!

Instead of trying to control the distance of the shot by swinging softer than you feel comfortable with, go down the grip and flex your knees a little more than usual.

This will ensure that your back is more upright and your swing plane is spot on for the correct, shallow angle of attack.

Always be sure to make a fully commited, positive swing at the ball, no matter how short or delicate the shot is.

Any deceleration through impact or 'quitting' on it will likely cause a fat, chunky strike that may not even get the ball out of the bunker.

During your pre shot rountine, decide exactly what kind of a shot you're going to play. Are you going to not take much sand and use spin to stop the ball by the hole? Or are you going to take more sand and play to realse the ball down towards the hole.

Never get too cute with these short, delicate bunker shots. 20 feet past the hole is always better than biting off more than you can chew and leaving it in the sand.

Shot on location at the Montgomerie Maxx Royal, Turkey by Tom Miles

Tom Clarke joined Golf Monthly as a sub editor in 2009 being promoted to content editor in 2012 and then senior content editor in 2014, before becoming Sports Digital Editor for the Sport Vertical within Future in 2022. Tom currently looks after all the digital products that Golf Monthly produce including Strategy and Content Planning for the website and social media - Tom also assists the Cycling, Football, Rugby and Marine titles at Future. Tom plays off 16 and lists Augusta National (name drop), Old Head and Le Touessrok as the favourite courses he has played. Tom is an avid viewer of all golf content with a particularly in depth knowledge of the pro tour.