Greenside Bunker Wrist Action

• Posted on Grant
• in Golf Fundamentals, Sand play, Short Game
• on February 26, 2014
• Comments Off on Greenside Bunker Wrist Action

Correct wrist action in greenside bunkers allows you to splash the ball out every time.On the backswing, my goal is to get the butt end of the club pointed down at the ground as quickly as possible.On the follow through I have the same goal: To get the butt of the club pointed down as soon as possible on the follow through. To accomplish these two goals I feel like I use all wrists on the backswing and follow through.Also, I cup my left wrist at the top of the backswing. Cupping the left wrist gets the clubhead up in the air quickly and helps me reach my main goal of getting the butt of the club pointed down as quickly as possible on the backswing.The main reason that I am able to correctly use my wrists is that I don’t move my shoulders and hips much on the backswing and the follow through (especially on short bunker shots like the one pictured above.)And, the main reason that my hips and shoulders don’t move much during my swing is that my set-up immobilizes them. How I set up (with lots of knee flex and an upright spine angle) limits my shoulder and hip movement which makes me a very consistent greenside bunker player.

The bunker shot I described above works especially well for firm sand like we have in Arizona. For soft sand you may need to turn your body a little more to generate more club-head speed, but your wrist action should feel the same in soft sand as it does in firm sand.

Next time you need to get up and down from a greenside bunker, just focus on your set-up and wrist action. You will be glad you did. For more on the greenside bunker shot set-up, click here.

GB