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In this analysis video, we're going to take a look at bunkershots from pros and

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amps.

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So first we're going to take a look at the overall shape of the bunkershot.

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So the bunkerswing is going to be different from the finesse wedge, different from the

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driver'swing.

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It's kind of its own little animal.

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And part of the reason is because we have different requirements where I actually

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trying to hit behind the golf ball, we're not trying to make really clean contact.

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And so as a result, we're going to have set up in swing characteristics so that we

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can get the sandwich to work through the sand properly.

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So first we're going to take a look at loop Donald and we're going to look at the overall

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shape of the swing.

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Now I'm going to keep using a phrase that is probably new on this site, which is we're

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going to try to be steep and shallow at the same time, or we're going to be narrow and shallow

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at the same time.

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So from this down the line, we're going to see that the delivery path of the club for a

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bunkershot is going to be more in the shallow category.

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As in, we don't draw tunnel lines here, but if I were to draw a line at impact, you would

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tend to see that that would be a little bit more of an into out path or a shallow path.

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Now if we were to take a look from the face on view, we're going to see that as looked

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on on the purchase impact as we'll see with most of these good bunker players, you'll

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see that it's going to be fairly narrow, so his hands are going to get on top of the

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golf ball, whether still a fair amount of wrist hinge, and then we'll tend to see a fair

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amount of right arm action through the ball.

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So the club is high off the sand at this point and working its way kind of steeply down,

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but as we saw from the down line, it's coming in from a shallow path.

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Take that in mind when we get the looking at the amateurs, because we'll tend to see that's

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one of their big misconcepts in how to hit the shot properly.

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So we know that we want to have a shallow and narrow path, what are some of the things that

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these golfers do in order to make that happen?

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Well, one of the things we're going to look at is going to be the engine of their swing.

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So what we'll frequently see is the setup position is going to have a lot more knee flex

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and a lot more vertical trunk than the finesse wedge or their full shot.

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Part of the reason is the closer we get this spine to standing straight up and down,

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the more the tendency is going to be a shallow path kind of like that.

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That's going to allow the club to kind of skim through the sand.

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Now, what we'll see when we look at the engine is during the down swing, you're not going to see

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a huge lower body drive, you're not going to see a huge core drive,

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what you'll tend to see is a longer swing and then more of a trail arm straightening.

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So as we scrub back and forth, you can really see through the ball that right arm

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straightening to deliver the club. That helps with two things.

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One, the club on the delivery is going to be in a fairly open position.

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So straightening that trail arm is going to get the club pointed at the direct direction of

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target without using shaft lean. Secondly, if we look from the face on view,

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we'll see that that right arm straightening is going to help us achieve a pretty vertical

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shaft at impact. That's also going to limit how far the club is going to dig underneath the golf ball

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and it's going to allow us to use the bounce of the club so that the club slides underneath the

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golf ball. Here's an extreme close-up of what we're trying to get the club to do

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through impact. So you'll see that the club will enter the sand and enter so behind the golf ball.

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The club will slide underneath the golf ball and the golf ball will be popped up because the speed

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that we're putting into the sand. The only way that we're going to be able to do this is if we

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get a fairly vertical shaft and the way that we're best going to get this fairly vertical shaft

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is going to be by having the arms power the swing. Specifically, we're talking about the trail arm

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powering the swing. So let's look at a few more examples from the face on view so that we can see this

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how they power their swing. So as Zach Johnson approaches impact, you'll see that he's fairly narrow

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but we will assume that he's coming from a pretty shallow path and you'll see during the bottom

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of the swing a good emphasis on getting that right arm to fully straight and you'll see that if we

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go back and forth from the top of the swing down, you'll see that there's not a lot of rotation

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of the lower body. There's not a lot of rotation from the trunk. This is primarily a shoulder and

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arm movement hitting the ball and what you'll see is on the way through. We know that there was not a

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ton of power from the lower body because we didn't see any real post-up of that lead leg. The lower

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body is acting more as a stabilizer and acting more for position than it is for power. Over here on

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the right, we have Ricky Fowler and we can see a similar pattern with not a whole lot of movement

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from below the belly button. It's mostly just kind of positioning and then a big emphasis on that

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trail arm straightening to get that shaft pretty vertical when it's underneath the golf ball.

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And you'll see that because the shaft was vertical, the club will tend to pass the body very

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very quickly, which gives that lead elbow bend look of the kind of classic bunker position where the

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arms have worked more around the body and finished very very close because they have actually

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passed the body compared to the full swing where they'll be very much wider. We'll look at a couple

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more examples and then we'll take a look at some amateurs to see where this can go wrong. So over

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on the right we're going to look at Gary Player. Again, you're not going to see a huge lower

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body drive, but you're really going to see that right arm straightened, the left wrist will have

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a fair amount of extension, that's what helps keep the club face open, which helps utilize the

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bounce. That trail arm straightening is more the engine and those arms will kind of pass during

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the follow-through. Here we have Matt Kutcher and if it's a true face on camera angle, what you'll

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be able to see is that the upper body, the head will be more or less on top of the golf ball.

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That's part of the way that they're able to get the narrow and then because they're in a little

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bit more of this squat stance, that's how they get it to shallow back out. So here is the camera

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pans out. You can see that his upper body is more or less on top of the golf ball and you'll see a

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good emphasis on that trail arm straightening. So that trail wrist and that trail arm getting long

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to help get the bottom of the swing underneath the golf ball without having a ton of shaft lead.

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Because shaft lead is going to be one of our big nemesis when we look at these bunker shots.

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So here's two examples of that upper body being more on top of the golf ball. Again, it's

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sometimes tricky to find pure face on camera angles, but you'll tend to see that upper body

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on top of the golf ball even though they've got a fairly wide stance that helps create some of

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this downward angle of attack to make sure that you don't blade the ball and then the squat position

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is going to help make the path more around so that when your arms extend the club doesn't

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dig into the ground. Over here on the left we have a great bunker player Charlie Wii

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and you'll see that similar pattern of that his upper body is actually

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it looks like ahead of the golf ball as his arms work in a fairly shallow path, but it's again being

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powered by that trail arm straightening. You'll see that as they both come through impact,

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there's not a ton of access to the upper body still on top of the lower body. There's a

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slightly of the lower body, but for all intent purposes it's a little bit more stacked up and the

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shallowness is controlled more by the fact that they're more vertical in the squat position

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rather than having a huge amount of tilt or Jackson 5. So now we're going to take a look at a

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higher handicap golf or showing us some of the common pitfalls that a amateurs have.

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When we start with setup we can see that it's not a super wide stance he has a really

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dugous feet into the sand and we'll see that he's got a fairly strong grip. What I talked about in

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this section and if you were to look at a lot of face on camera angles you'll tend to see that

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golfers are going to have more of a weak hand position especially that trail hand that trail hand

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being on top of the club helps keep the face open and utilizing the bounce. Now we'll see

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big body movement, big full coil and then on the way down you'll see kind of an early release

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of those arms and then a big body move on the way through. If you remember how quiet their lower

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body was check out this amateurs lead leg and you'll see that he's controlling a lot of that

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bracing and a lot of that pivot by using his body. You'll also see that the left rib cage is really

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rotating through the shot. He's doing this as much more of a body hit. Part of the reason I believe

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he's doing this as a body hit is because his upper body or his head is too far behind the golf ball.

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So he has to use that body turn in order to steepen the path of the club back out.

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But that combination tends to lead itself to more of a shallow or wide path.

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So he gets the club very low to the sand here and then what's going to happen is he's either

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going to hit slightly behind it or more likely he's going to actually blade it because he does not have

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enough of a downward angle of attack because he doesn't have enough of the upper body on top or

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that wrist hinge and that combination is one of the ones that you'll frequently see with the higher

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handy capers. You tend to struggle with either chunking it or bleeding it but primarily the ones who

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air more on the side of blade. So now as we look over here on the left he doesn't have a ton of

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knee flex so his posture is more bent over. So that by itself is going to create more of a steep

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angle of attack we'll see what he does to adjust it. We know that he created some of the shallowness

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by having his upper body tilt away from the golf ball on the way down. So now even though he takes

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it away nice and shallow you'll see that this golfer tends to come down on a very steep path.

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This is the old school method of swing way left and across the ball which does tend to work

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but the more modern punk or technique is to come on more of a shallow or more neutral path.

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So as we saw those golfers when we took a look at their exit path we saw that the club was

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tending to work more a little bit in-out. You see that this golfer is working very much out to in.

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Pretty much only gives him the option of hitting super super high but gives him the high risk of

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either hitting the chunk or the blade of shot. He tends to air on more of the blade of shot.

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So from this down the line you can also see a fair amount of that body spinning. That body spinning

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is going to make it very difficult for him to have his hands even with the golf wall winning

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its contact. You can see that he's still got a fairly straight line between the club head and the left shoulder

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that takes away bounce and makes contacting behind the ball precarious. So he'll air on kind of bending

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those arms and picking it or trying to blade it. This gives you a very small margin of air

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and this golfer has a very low chance of hitting a very successful one-grishat.

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So now we'll take a look at one more amateur and this golfer doesn't quite have the same path

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problem as the higher hand to cap golfer but he still has a lot of contact issues because he uses

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more of a body pivot strategy instead of an arm as the engine strategy. So it's actually very

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subtle but if you're to look at his right foot you can see that as he starts down

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that right foot during the downswing is actually sliding a good bit away. So that's a clear indication

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that he's using he's trying to use his lower body to push against the ground as opposed to just

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using his lower body to get into good position and then using the arm to engine or be the power

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source for the swing. Now one of the common times that I'll see this is when the golfer does not

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have a wide enough stance so that by itself we'd cause kind of a steep angle attack and so what

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he ends up doing is he will as he shifts his body he tries to shallow it out by moving back away

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with a very open club face that really gives him the option of hitting the high spinner

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or blading it and chunking it and he tends the air on more of the chunk shot he leaves the

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lot of shots in the bunker. Now part of that is because as he approaches impact you'll see that his hands

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wipe kind of across his body which is good for the false wing he's a very good

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there's a high single digit handicap golfer so he's a good ball striker but you'll see that

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compared to what the pros do for these shots that's way too much of the white or drag of the

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handle across there should be more of that trail arm straightening which would be balanced by a

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little bit more stacked body position you can see when when he gets pretty close to impact his upper

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body is a good bit both behind his lower body that's a good recipe for driving the wall but a

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poor recipe for a good bunker play so even though the overall shape and path of the club isn't

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that problematic he still has a lot of contact issues because of how he pivots or how he powers

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this wing and that affects where he ultimately controls his low point so now that you've had to look

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at some amateurs let's just quickly flash back and look at what powers the swing so we'll see that

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the lower body the core through the shot is going to be fairly quiet but you can see that his

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upper body is pretty much on top of his lower body and they're both pointed just ahead of the golf wall

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if you try to get if you try to power your swing with more of your body and get your body

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pointed way out in front of the golf ball you're going to produce way too much shaft lean you'll see that

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as he approaches impact his right hand has already started to really pass the left and his

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shaft is leaning straight up and down not in a straight line with his lead arm so you'll see that the

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club passes very very quickly from the down the line here we have Justin Rose and we'll be able to see

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again a quieter movement from the lower body especially through the ball so during that release you'll

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primarily see a trail arm and arm movement you're not going to see a really big body pivot you don't

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see his body trying to really get out of the way and you'll see that from the down the line the

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overall path is going to be slightly shallow or slightly from the inside or more of almost a draw

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bias path where the club is exiting just outside the hands so if you can power the swing with your trail

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arm and get a really shallow path you too can be a very consistent bunker player to the point where

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you'll probably prefer being in a green side bunker than being in some really gnarly rough

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if you have any questions about your bunker game feel free to video tape it and submit a swing and we'll

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help you get on track