You NEED to know THIS to become a BETTER Bunker Player! Hitting great bunker shots just got easier

Last year I released a bunker video that went against almost every piece of common advice on how to get out of the sand. Remember though that it was only designed to be a functional way to get out of the sand and had proven to be very effective for a lot of players.
If however you want to expand your bunker play the content of this video is going to open your mind to more failings of conventional wisdom that might well help some players but will ruin others!
Using the bounce from the sand has been mis-taught for a long time, I am as guilty as anyone of having done this exact thing so I'll hold my hands up and admit it isn't right for everyone. Once I learned this mind blowing detail from the super smart guys at PING things suddenly became much clearer and easy to communicate to players.
It really is a good one!

[@sara-liz6631]

Fantastic explanation - very clear and concise. Thank you James.

[@JamesRidyardGolf]

Very welcome

[@gunghogolf]

Excellent stuff, James!

[@JamesRidyardGolf]

Thanks

[@DriveFarGolf]

Interesting. Hadn’t thought of it like that before. Will be giving it a go next practice, thanks. This also explains to me why sometimes the ball comes out with "no effort" and sometimes takes a "lot" consequently giving me distance control problems. Will start to think of this when chipping as well.

[@jamesseamusfarrell4558]

Awesome video James. Your advice has really helped my short game.

[@JamesRidyardGolf]

Great to hear!

[@AthleticMotionGolf]

nice job here James. Great video

[@JamesRidyardGolf]

Thanks guys 👊🏻

[@mrtnms4312]

So, if I understand correctly, opening the face to add loft automatically makes the shaft lean back (as witnessed from the "true" camera angle parallel to the leading edge). As a result, more bounce is exposed, making the total (or "true") bounce number higher. In situations where you don't need that extra bounce (compact sand in particular is asking for a minimal amount of bounce), you would need to neutralise it by using some forward lean - through rotation Conclusion: if you open the face for some extra loft/height on your bunker shots, neutralise the amount of bounce to a number matching the conditions of the sand?

[@JamesRidyardGolf]

I think that’s very well put, exactly right

[@drjeffholmes]

Great video! all this is predicated on playing the bunker shot with an open clubface (to swing path) style, yes? If you play with a square clubface to target line, you still need to get the shaft vertical or even slightly away from target, yes ?

[@JamesRidyardGolf]

Exactly right. The amount of lean you need to deliver depends on how you deliver the face at impact with the sand!

[@drjeffholmes]

@@JamesRidyardGolf Thanks! Really cool perspective I didn't realize in terms of shaft lean relative to face (not swing path). I have been using Stan Utley's bunker style with the square face (instead of this old Pelz open clubface style), so I wanted to make a distinction.

[@michaeltumen8574]

Interesting thought about setting the club face to use the bounce and holding the face through the swing. Thicker sand, more open is the message I get. I was always taught to let the clubface pass the hands at contact in the bunker. I tried your method of just maintaining the face and turning through. It seemed to work very nicely today at practice. Club face doesn’t need to pass the hands, is that correct? Just start your set up with the bounce engaged so the club will slide through the sand. Is that correct? Seems a lot simpler than timing the hands passing the club face.