Bring on the bunkers

Golf is simply one of the best sports in the world, and we're lucky enough to have another major tournament to watch this week.

We loved watching the pros take on Valhalla Golf Club at the PGA Championship. As with any huge championship course, the Valhalla GC has its fair share of hazards. Now, you may well be the kind of golfer to groan when you walk on to the next tee and see the fairway littered with bunkers.

Valhalla GC has 60 bunkers,
with a greenside bunker on 17/18 holes

The Valhalla course has a greenside bunker on every hole besides the 12^th, so those that played well in the tournament did well to keep on their toes to overcome the obstacles. Bunkers are famously difficult to play, so today we want to give you some advice on how best to tackle them.

Fairway bunkers

It can feel rather daunting sizing up the fairway when we’re on the tee, feeling those fairway bunkers shooting daggers right back at us. It can also feel especially cruel when we make excellent contact with the ball only for it to take a bad bounce on the fairway and trickle into the sand trap.

That being said, you’ve got to give the course designer credit for strategically placing these bunkers to make the game more challenging and exciting.

To get yourself happily out of a fairway bunker, you need to make solid impact with the ball to punch it through the sand. It can be notoriously difficult to hit out of a bunker as the feel is so different to hitting any other terrain you’d find on the golf course.

How do your bunker shots usually go? Are you good at escaping them or do you find that it takes you a few goes to get out of a dreaded bunker? If you’re struggling with bunker shots and find fairway bunkers to be downright demoralizing, we’d love to change that.

Why not visit us in the pro shop to get some bunker lessons booked? It feels really satisfying when you splash the ball out of the bunker just right!

Greenside bunkers

How do you feel when you realise your ball has ended up in a greenside bunker? Once the frustration has gone, are you confident that you’ll get up-and-down, or worried about racking up a high number?

Once you’ve stepped into the bunker and you’re sizing up your shot, what’s the usual plan of attack? Do you focus on the flag and go for the hole? Or is simply getting the ball onto the green a success in your book?

To make a decent bunker shot, you’ll want a club that has a rounded bottom with plenty of bounce. This will allow you to glide the wedge through the sand without digging into it so you make great contact with the ball.

You’ll want to dig your feet into the sand so you have a solid stance, and commit to a full swing to ensure you splash through the sand. 

If you’re considering getting yourself some new golf wedges this season, why not pop by the pro shop? We’d be happy to help you find the perfect set of wedges and help you into them with some lessons.