There is a sand wedge at the bottom of a pond somewhere in the midwest that belongs to me. It didn’t fall in. I didn’t accidentally drop it. I threw it. With purpose. With feeling. With the full force of a man who had just hit the exact same bunker shot into the exact same lip twice in a row, and watched the ball roll back to the exact same spot both times like it was mocking me personally. With the force of that same man who then, in a moment of pure, unhinged clarity, rage-swung from the depths of his soul and flushed it beautifully, best contact ever made out of a bunker, sending it soaring like a parakeet freed from 2 years of isolation in a cage in Granny’s kitchen, straight across the green and directly into the pond on the other side.
The sand wedge felt it was only right to join it.
I don’t want that to happen to you. At least not the first parts. The rage swing occasionally works and I won’t take that away from you.
So let’s talk about how to actually escape a bunker before it comes to that.
You Are Not Hitting the Ball
Here’s the single most important thing about greenside bunker shots that nobody tells you, you are not supposed to hit the ball. Read that again. You are hitting the sand behind the ball and letting the sand push it out.
This is the most counterintuitive thing in golf. Every instinct you have says hit the ball. Every instinct you have is wrong. Welcome to golf.
The Simple Setup
Open your stance slightly, aim your feet left of the target if you’re right handed. Open the clubface so it points toward the sky a little. Pick a spot about two inches behind the ball and hit THAT. Swing through like you’re trying to throw the rectangle of sand that is underneath the ball onto the green. Commit. Don’t decelerate. The ball will come out.
It won’t go where you want it to. But it will come out. At this stage of your golf journey that is an absolute victory.
What NOT to Do
Don’t decelerate. The number one bunker mistake. You hit it tentatively, the club digs in, and the ball travels approximately four inches. Commit to the swing or stay in the sand.
Don’t try to scoop it. The loft is built into the club. Trust it. Swing through.
Don’t look up early. The ball will be gone by the time you look. Probably. Maybe. Just don’t.
Don’t rage swing if you flub it. The pond doesn’t need any more sand wedges.
Fairway Bunkers Are Different
Quick note, everything above applies to greenside bunkers. Fairway bunkers are a different animal. The goal there is cleaner contact, less sand, more ball, more distance. Pick the club up slightly steeper and focus on hitting the ball first. But that’s a whole separate post for a day when I’ve emotionally recovered from the pond incident.
Practice Makes Slightly Less Terrible
If your local course has a practice bunker use it. Ten minutes in the sand before a round will do more for your score than an hour on the driving range. If there’s no practice bunker find a sandbox. A children’s playground sandbox works fine. Wait until the kids leave first. Trust me on that one.
Pro tip : In the practice bunker, draw a line in the sand and put three balls a couple inches ahead of it. Practice swinging to take sand starting on the line so the divot appears behind the ball. Repeating this motion helps develop the right entry point and consistency. You’ll gain more control over your bunker shots and soon you’ll love the beach on the golf course as much as the one on vacation!
If you enjoyed this tip and want more golf advice from someone who has donated at least one club to a local water hazard, subscribe to Wormburner Weekly here , golf’s most disreputable newsletter, free every Tuesday.