July 9, 2025 • 31 mins
Claude welcomes Senior Instructor and Coach Ryan Crysler to the podcast to dive into bunker shots, what golfers are doing wrong, and what they can do to improve.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
It's the Son of a Butch podcast. I'm your host.
Claude Harmon wanted to talk We're in the middle of
summer and thought I'd get Ryan Chrysler, who works with
me here at the Floridian, because I think Ryan's one
of the best short game instructors and one of the
best wedge fitters around. And Ryan, we're right in the
middle of summer, and I was thinking, Okay, what's a
good one to talk to people, because I think everybody
now is kind of in play mode. Right we've come
(00:23):
out of the winter. A lot of people have kind
of been stock, haven't been able to play, but now
you can get out and you play. But bunker game.
I think it's something that we see a lot in
our lessons that people struggle with. And I think there's
two kind of main areas that people struggle with out
of the bunker, and I think there's some hacks if
you're not great at bunkers. First of all, the obvious one,
(00:45):
people just don't practice their bunker game enough, do they.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
I'd never see someone grinding out in the bunker.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Never, And in the lessons that we give, when's the
last time someone came in and said, Hey, you ask them.
I mean we always do the same thing. Right, tell
me the strengths your game, tell me the weaknesses of
your game, say bunker. They'll say they're not great out
of the sand, but they'll immediately want to work on
something else. And I think, if you're an average golfer, right,
I think most people listening to this podcast are just
regular average golfer. They're handicapped golfers. They're not playing in
(01:14):
competitive tournaments. They just want to break one hundred for
the first time. Ninety eighty seventy. I think if you
are trying to break a score for the first time,
getting better out of the bunkers is some of the
lowest hanging fruit you can get.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, it should be an automatic shot. My major two
bunker influences are basically Tiger Woods and Phil Nicholson. In
the last twenty five years. My technique is modeled after
Tiger Woods. He uses the fifty six. I use the
fifty eight. However, I try to have a short fall
three like he does. I always wear my glove, try
to mimic him. And then with Nicholson, he did the
(01:53):
short game video probably twenty years ago now and it
has some great work with Dave Peals, also from Texas,
and he determined that ninety percent of his bunker shots
were either a ten yard carry or within ten yards.
So that means basically you're hitting two bunker shots. So
if you can master basically two bunker shots, one that
fis ten yards and one that fils a little bit shorter,
(02:15):
you should be able to get out of any sort
of bunker scenario wherever the pin is. And the number
one well, of course, is you must get out of
the bunker first try.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah, I think I think a lot of people are
afraid of sculling it out of the bunker.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yes, a lot of lift and finesse.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
And it's it's always the thing that we say in
our golf lessons, the bunker shot is the easiest should
be the easiest shot in golf because it's the only
shot in golf where we're asking.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
You to not hit the ball, literally not touching the ball.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Okay, So the concept behind that is what you're not
hitting the ball, you're hitting the sand. Talk the listeners
through what that means.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yes, so you have to have either the right wedge
in the right style to match up and up sand
basically flying out onto the green, taking the ball with
it right. So when you have maybe too much loft
and you're adding too much loft, you go right through
the sand. You have no Ford motion. Ball stays in
(03:14):
the bunker, or you try to nest it out of
there and try it and you blade it and you
send it right over the grain. So you try to
match up basically, how much sand do I need to
take given the conditions? What is my wife's supposed to
do given the conditions. In my opinion, there's basically two
styles of bunkers. One that's super soft and one that's
relatively coarser and firmer. Coarser and firmer. Kind of after
(03:37):
a rainstorm, wet.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Sand, it's going to be a little bit more dense,
not going to be as kind of splashy coming out
of the bunker. Going back to what you said earlier,
I think one of the things that I don't think
people realize is the ball is resting on the sand,
and we are not going to hit the ball. We're
hitting the sand underneath the ball. The first thing that
(04:01):
I see as a generalization of pretty much the majority
of people that are struggling with the bunker is they
don't make a swing that has significant force to get
the sand out of the bunker. So one of the
hacks that I always say to players is let's get
in here, no ball, and I just go ahead and
(04:21):
make a square in the sand, and I say, Okay,
imagine that you're going to take the swear or we've
heard a dollar bill or something like that, but a
circle a square. Just practice getting the sand out of
the bunker. Because if the sand doesn't get out of
the bunker, you're not hitting the ball. So the ball
isn't going to get out of the bunker, yep. And
(04:43):
the control all delete for me for everybody that tells
me they're bad at the bunker is okay, let me
lay the face wide open. Let me set up to
my bunker shot like I would set up to pretty
much ninety nine point nine percent of the short game
shots that I'm gonna hit around the green tons of
(05:04):
weight on my left side, a lot of forward shaft,
lean hands way forward, and then short back swing, short
follow through, dig a lot the club. I always say
to players, the single biggest effect that the sand is
going to have on your wedge when the wedge comes
(05:25):
in contact with the sand is the sand is going
to slow the wedge down.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Right, So we need power and speed.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
And I think a lot of players it's interesting that
you said that. I mean Sebi by Asteros. He thought
the sixties should be outlawed. He thought you should be
able to play pretty much every shot, even around the greens,
but specifically in a bunker. He used to fifty six.
Tiger used that a lot.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Crenshaw.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
That's when we're looking at because I think it's two
categories where people three categories where people struggle. One they
never practice why because they don't get any feedback and
they're not good out of the bunker. So as golfers,
none of us tend to practice what we're poor at
right because we don't get any positive validation or positive
(06:10):
feedback for So you're not a good bunker player. You
don't really know what you're doing. You've read a bunch
of stuff. You're just going to kind of take the
kitchen sink and throw all of these things that you've
read about or seen or heard into a bunker. So
there's zero practice because you don't really know what you
should be doing. You're not any good at what you
(06:30):
are doing. So you skull some, you leave some in
the last thing you're going to do is go spend
an hour and try and figure it out. So taking
the practice up, I think most people are using a
wedge that they haven't been fitted for, that maybe came
with the set. And then if you're a more competitive golfer,
(06:50):
more of an elite golfer, you might have the wrong
type of wedge for the bunkers that you mainly play
at your club. So I think most golfers wouldn't you agree,
find a wedge that is going to help you first
and foremost at the course you play on a regular
(07:12):
basis the sand that you try. So there's two types
of sand. There's more of that hard packed wet sand
if you live in a climate where it rains a lot,
and then there's going to be the finer courser sand
like we see at Augusta that we see on tour.
So when you're looking arc at a at a wedge
set up and a wedge choice from a bounce and
(07:35):
a loft standpoint, what do you think is a good
kind of versatile wedge for the Because most people don't
have the money to invest in a couple of different
wedges in their sand wedge and their lob wedge. You know,
tour players can say, hey, let me try out a
bunch of them. They'll they'll carry maybe different lofts and stuff,
(07:58):
will carry sixty fifty eight depending on the course, to
maybe go fifty six. But they'll also be trying out
different grinds. But for pretty much everybody listening to this podcast,
they have one sand wedge, they have one lob wedge.
So how do we help the listeners get that choice
of equipment right?
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Well, let's look at the bunker first. If you're bunker
home courses firm course, the club doesn't dig as much.
The ball comes out faster versus the soft, sandy, wide
fresh almost beach like sand, the ball comes out slower
and higher. So when the ball comes out slower and higher,
we need less loft to counteract that fifty six degree.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Most people would think, okay, let me just throw as
much loft as I can bite club choice, and then
let me take my sixty degree and then let me
take this thing, lay it wide open, yep. Because the
thought process is, okay, that's how I would hit a
flop shot stuff like that. So how is the bunker
shot different than a regular chip shot. Let's say you've
(09:06):
got a sixty degree or a fifty eight, So you've
got the club that's got the most loft in your bag,
and you look at the way that you play shots
around the greens to get the golf ball in the air.
What are some of the things that are going to
be different set up wedge makeup once we get into
the bunker.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Yes, once you get into the bunker, a flop shot
is pretty close to what a flop shot would be
like in deeper rough out of the bunker, right, it's
pretty close. You still got to be able to read
that sand and know are you in the low part
of the bunker where it's typically firmer, or maybe you're
towards the edges or the higher part where it's typically
(09:46):
softer where the sand is raked up against the bunker.
So based on that read, just like any other read
when you're chipping, you need to know what loft you
need to use. And if we just have like average
bouts like eight degrees, like a versatile with keerbra the
m grind with tide lists, if you just have that
average wedge, right, you know that you're gonna have to
open up a wedge when it's firmer just a little bit.
(10:10):
You actually probably need to close it slightly when it's
super soft, because we need to be able to still
have enough energy to get the ball out.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
One of the things that you said there, I think
what we see a lot of in lessons, certainly from
a wedge makeup and certainly from a bunker game set up.
I see extremes on either way way way too much
bouncey or just no bounce at all. Right, But I
think that's a bad that's a bad space, and that's
a really dangerous place to get into because then you've
(10:41):
got a tool that is unfit for the task you're
going to try and use it for.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So you know, if you're a wedge fitter, you need
to have that kind of sand wedge that has one
type of bounce and that higher lofted wedge that has
a different type of bounts. So you have a choice.
You can utilize either weapon based on the lie read
and that has to come from a fitting, but from
a general perspective, if you haven't been fit for one,
I do need a fifty six that looks different than
(11:08):
a sixty or fifty four that looks different than a
fifty eight. I need it to be different. One high,
one low. That's kind of the bottom line.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
And that's just for options.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
And this is just visual. Don't look at the manufacturer's
numbers on there. Just look at does one have literally
more bounced than the other? Take that one. Put that
maybe in your sixty. If one has a little less bounce,
maybe use that in fifty six. The wedges I have
from Kruber right now, the w the wide low is
like an automatic bunker wedge for me, and it's an
(11:38):
amazing It's a super wide wedge with very little back
end bounce but some front end bounce. And that's like
an automatic wedge shot for me. And I've been coming
from a Vokey s grind, which looks much more like
a seven iron with a lot of bounce. So it's
a totally different shot.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
And for everyone listening RN, I mean, we know what bounce,
but what is bounce on a wedge? I think so
many people won. First of all, they don't know what
bountce means. And if you don't know what bounce means,
it becomes very very difficult to use The bouts right
for the shot that you're trying to get.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
It's very confusing to compare across manufacturers. That's why you
just have to look at the the basic shape. What
does the trailing edge look like, what does the front
edge look like, and what is the difference in angle
between those two edges. That's all we're talking about. And
there's a whole bunch of different ways you can kind
of grind that soul to fit particular conditions or a
(12:36):
particular player, staffs or right particular shots that you're particular shots.
Like for the w the wide low with Coba automatic
bunker wedge, and it works.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
The wide from Cobra works.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Why to me, it works for two reasons. Number one,
it's super wide and when you open up that type
of wedge, you almost triple the amount of angle you
have from front edge to back edge, meaning you triple
the amount of effective bounce. The I think that's really
cool about it is the grind behind on the trailing
edge has this little kind of crescent moon into it,
(13:10):
so it comes into the sand with a little less friction.
So to me, the ball comes out much easier and faster.
And I've always kind of been an aggressive kind of
Texas style, kind of get down, get square, but get down,
get after it and try to pop it out kind
of like a Tiger wits like steep to kind of
low finish, and with this particular wedge, I definitely had
(13:30):
to change my style a little bit more to maybe
a Jason Day's style just a little bit, which has
a little bit of a longer, kind of helpy follow through.
But in general, I try to have that really steep
takeaway and really steep attack. And to me, that's how
I grew up watching Tiger and Nicholson hit bunker shots.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, and I think most golfers would you agree. I
see more golfers making a short back swing and a
short follow through that struggle.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I see a lot of chippy, kind of picky, finesse
type moves in a bunker shot. Just by nature of
the sand, it's not a finesse shot. The sand takes
away all the speed, so we need to kind of
replace that speed with an aggressive style.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
It's really like, I've never heard it described that way,
but that was another I said it earlier. The sand
is going to slow the golf club down. But I
love that, and I think that's a really good kind
of thought that you should keep in your head when
you get into the book. Okay, the sand is going
to slow everything down, so I have to then offset
(14:36):
the fact that the sand is going to slow everything
down by adding speed in other places.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yes, so it's much like a power swing or a
driver swing. We need a little weight shift, maybe a
little wider stance, and definitely a bigger backswing, maybe a
little more hinge. But I really don't talk about hinge
with bunkers. I just want the club up yeap because
I want to club They returned down almost like a
ve go, straight up, straight down.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
And also I think that it's important to the analogy
that I always use our sea is the bunker shot
is as if a beach ball is on water. Right,
So if you're waist high in a pool and there's
a beach ball on it, to make the beach ball
go up, you need to hit down on the water.
By hitting down on the water or so the water
splashes it up. If you're gonna try and get a
(15:20):
beach ball up off the water with your hand and
you're gonna try and swing up, you're eventually your arc
is going to bottom out and that's probably the two
shots that we see the most out of the bunker.
The skull kind of over the green, or the skull
straight into the lip of the bunker, or the one
where we hit massively behind it hit it fat. They're
(15:43):
both calls by the same thing. We're trying to get
the golf ball up by swinging low to high like
we would do with a driver when it's on a tee.
You try that in a bunker, you're gonna hit six
inches behind it and the sand will go further than
the ball.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Yep. Maybe once in a while we have, like the no
problem has so much power, we have to kind of
turn that power off too. So I think there's some
high speed problems. But those type of players are going
into the bunker.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Two, where are you on setup wise? What's a good
kind of rule of thumb for a basic bunker game
setup meaning ball position, meaning weight left and right, just
from a pure setup, Because we see a lot of
(16:30):
people that have you know, they've read the magazines. Okay,
I'm gonna get wide open with my stands, yes, But
then a lot of times I think when players get
super super open with their stands, what they don't realize
is how far back in the stance the golf ball
now becomes. So we get those players that get in there,
you know, they kind of get in the first thing
they do they lay the face wide open, and now
(16:52):
they kind of put their body on kind of a
forty five degree angle to the left. Now the golf
ball is off their trail foot their right foot if
you're handed golfer, left foot, if your left hand, and
it's back in the stance. That is the death set.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Up move correct. I'm always trying to get people back
to neutral. So I like people are relatively.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Squared, maybe just a little open.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Mostly relatively square. I'll give you maybe one ball open, okay.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
And the reason for the square setup in your opinion.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Is what because most people tend to be open and
come from a draw path and that drives it right
into the face. I much rather be square path, take
it a little bit outside and then kind of come
over a square.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Set up, correct, and then take it a little bit
outside on the back swing.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yep. And that's also another another hack too. If you're
always making great contact and the bunkers or the ball
is never leaving the bunker. To me, you maybe have
too much of a fad swing. So sit up square
and try to draw it out of the bunker and
see if that provides a little more energy.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, because I do think a lot of the problems
that we see is that kind of okay, first and
forest and the other thing. If you're going to open
the club, this sounds very kind of basic. If you're
going to open the golf club, you open the golf
club first, then take your grip. We see a lot
of people take their grip then open the golf club.
Their grip is in the same place. As soon as
(18:15):
that club comes back to impact, the face is going
to be closed. But I do see it's interesting that
you say that the draw pattern. I do see a
lot of players that they've read the magazines. They're trying
to do the right thing. They've got their body open,
you know, they've got their body pointing left, they've got
the club face open. They're taking the golf club on
(18:37):
the outside. But as you said, sometimes they're doing that
so much, but they basically just cut across the golf
ball and there's no chance. So you like a square
to just maybe a fraction open ball. Position wise, RC
where we want the golf ball.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
In general, I tell people to set it up like
a hybrid, so I feel like your stance is as
wide as a hybrid, and where the ball would be
would be not super far forward, but definitely not in
middle summer kind of right between three wood hybrid kind.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Of but way more forward than you guess. Because that's
another thing that that that I see on a regular
basis is the ball position. First of all, even if
they don't open up their body, the ball position becomes
basically where it would be for a seven iron. And again,
if that's happening, the golf swing is a semi circle.
(19:28):
The arc is going to bottom out.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Way too late, ball right in the mouth. Yes, you
need that ball in most cases, everyone needs it a
little more.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Forward shaft position. And again I think this is one
of the easiest hacks you can have. I think most
people in the bunker set up to it with a
lot of forward shaft leen. Yeah, like a chip which
is then delofting the wedge even if they're opening the
face as soon as they get that handle forward. And remember,
your set up position is just like in a full swing.
(19:57):
So if you're hitting a seven iron, you're want to
set up with your seven iron with a little bit
of forward press if you've got your driver, if you
set up with the same type of forward press that
you have with your seven iron, that's a death move
as well. So the handle position and the shaft a
little bit back, more back. But where do you come
(20:20):
in on that one?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Definitely not not forward. Yeah, start if I need them
neutral first, Maybe a little lean back.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
So kind of I can look at yourself and face
on and say, okay, is the shaft kind of straight
up and down kind of a ninety. We don't want
too much forward. But if you are going to try
and get the golf ball to come land higher and softer,
maybe just lean the shaft for sure, a little bit back. Yes,
the tall position, a little bit more forward.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Because essentially you're trying to scoop it out with some force, right,
and a lot of players have that are a release
that should be perfect for a bunker shot, assuming all
things are equal to what I try to do is
get people back to new level, shoulders, level hips, neutral stance,
forward ball position to me is neutral, and then maybe
(21:07):
the shaft straight up and down, slightly leaning back. Let's
get you back to neutral first.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
And The other thing I think that that kind of
seven iron setup does in the bunker to where you've
got the golf ball in the middle of your stance.
You're going to open right, You're going to open. Now
the golf ball gets really really back. So now that
handle gets massively forward yep, and then.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Now my body has to go backwards.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Now the body has to go backwards. And the other
thing is I think you've talked about kind of neutralling
everything out when we see that kind of iron setup
for the bunker, neutral hands forward. The other thing that
tends to happen is that left if you're a right
handed golfer, your lead shoulder, your left shoulder starts to
get really really high. Yes, so neutralling out the shoulders.
(21:57):
A good way to do that is go ahead and
take your setup, take your grip, then take your left
hand off the golf club and just let your left
arm hang naturally cross It's a good way for you
to kind of level out your shoulders.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Yes, yes, I cross hand grip YEP, trying to keep
their shoulders neutral, and then we turn those hands back
to conventional grip.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
My grandfather was on the cover of I think sports
illustrator or golf digest, you know. And he was a
great bunker player, having grown up at wingfoot, and his
philosophy was, you should be able to get out of
the bunker with one hand, and it's your trail hand.
So if you're right handed golfer, it would be right handed,
left handed, go over your left hand, but the right
(22:37):
hand and the right arm. I think in the bunker game,
I see a lot of people driving and pulling with
their left hand, their lead hand much more. My dad
used to say all the time when we back in
the day, when we used to give golf schools, he
would say, listen, the bunker shot is very much a
right handed right arm. It's your right side, your right hand,
(23:00):
your right arm. It's very much a one handed And
one of the great ways to learn how the weg
should work in a bunker is to hit some and
teach yourself how to hit it one handed with your
trail hand.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Yeah, it's going to take a lot of speed out
of that right hand. It's going to take a very
neutral setup with the shoulders and everything, and then you're
going to be able to feel how that club is
supposed to release and release aggressively hit the ball still
coming out high and soft, with utilizing the sand correctly.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Yeah, because the bunker shot. It's interesting that you mentioned
that most people from the top of the back swing
in their full swing, the kinematic sequence should be, you know,
at the top of the back swing, we should start
to see the lower body fire first, the upper body
fire second, the lead hands and the hands fire third,
and then the last thing into impact is the golf club.
(23:51):
Most handicapped golfers are the opposite. The first move at
the top of the back swing is the arms and
golf club fire, not the body. But that's actually what
we want and need in a bunker shot. Talking about
the sequence, how the sequence of a full swing with
an iron is going to be different than the sequence
(24:12):
of a bunker shot.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Well, essentially, like driver swinging iron swing, we're looking to
create efficient power, right, and then with short game bunker shot,
in this case, we're only looking for precision. So the
body needs to work almost in the opposite fashion to
create kind of a precision style swing. And essentially what
(24:35):
we're looking for almost essentially is the hands, the arms
and the chest are working together almost at the same speed,
and the lower bodies a much more quieter. There's no drive,
there's no rotation. It's a little more of a kind
of a stable platform.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
So set up wise thinking about and that's another thing,
I think the wider the stance in the bunker, the better,
typically is better because more narrow the legs and the
body are going to move around a lot. And I
like what you said there that lower body. I think
a really good hack for the bunker is the lower
body should be incredibly stable. Yes, because we're trying to
(25:16):
swing our arms almost past our body.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
You're digging our feet out.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Yeah, so that's why we dig the stance. And you
see tour players get in there and they dig that
lower body. They're going to try and keep the lower
body as stable. We don't need hip turn, we don't
need rotation of the hips towards the target. So really
really firm, stable lower body. Talk to me about the
movement powdered in the bunker shot with the upper body.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
I think one of the things I like to see,
based on being very neutral and getting a player back
to the neutral is that the upper body is actually
slightly open because that keeps your chest a little more
on top of the ball versus closed or leaning right,
should or lower That puts your chest almost in front
of the ball. So I kind of like a square stance.
(26:04):
If the chest is in the right spot, I'm happy.
If I need to get them to get a little
more chest on top of the ball, one easy hack
is to be square, stands slightly open shoulders, and then
again that also helps you take it more outside and
how to hit that kind of square stance cutshot. That's
kind of my go to bunker's style, if you will.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Explain that a little more, the square stance cutshot. Yes.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
So in general, most Americans have been taught to aim left,
swing left. What that produces is very little energy and
sometimes almost to draw. So we get either a super
soft bunker shot that not get that doesn't get out
of the bunker, or they can kind of time it
up and hit that kind of inside out kind of
freed couple's type of move. In my opinion, being squared,
(26:52):
just like a normal golf swing is what we need
to be like because we're basically trying to hit a
normal golf swing, but we're hitting the sand instead of
the golf ball right, so we get squared. Maybe one
ball left to target or one cup left of target.
And then in most cases people need to be steeper.
And one great hack to be steeper is to just
(27:14):
hit a cut shut. So the better player, let's get
them more outside and cut across it. Maybe the higher
handicap has too much of that slice swing.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
So they could take it back a little bit more neutral, and.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
I can get it more neutral, just like, hey, just
try to feel like you're going to draw this out
of the bunker. So it gives me a stable, a
very neutral platform to attack almost any problem I see.
And that's where I start with that neutral stance.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Dibbot. What should digbots look like? Depth of dibbots, because
I mean, I see a lot of people struggle in
the bunker because they've got that handle forward, that leading edge,
and the club just digs. And that's where you're going
to see the club dig into a lot of the
wet sand that's kind of underneath that kind of first
(27:58):
layer where is my dad used to call it the thump. Yeah,
the good bunker player will have a little bit more
of that shallow dibboit the dibboit will be a little
bit more oval shape.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
The dibbot will be pointing a little bit more towards
the target those dibits, like you said, when that path
gets really really left, they can start going massively left.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Yes, that thump that audio we're looking for is kind
of like that, kind of a nice soft, sweet thump,
almost like a click as well out of the bunker.
So we know if it's a little too deep and
bassy and thumpy, maybe we're too steep, or maybe the
club face is too closed, if it's too shallow and
maybe too higher pitched. Maybe they got too much bounce,
(28:44):
maybe they're not deep enough to get enough effective sand
to get to the bunker or get out of the bunker.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yeah, and I just think getting in the bunker and
working on your setup. The other thing is, I think
a lot of people are swinging so far away from
their intent tend to target in the bunker that path
gets really really left. So one of the things that
I always try and do with players is wherever the
ball is and wherever their target is, I'll kind of
draw that arrow in front of the ball and say,
(29:12):
listen for people that are really cutting across it, swing
the club more towards where your target is as opposed
to swinging so much left.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Yes, it's a great way to do it, using the
grip of the wedge to kind of create those lines.
Perfect way to do it. I think back in the
day twenty years ago, we used to put the wood
maybe underneath the sand and kind of bury it. You
can kind of bounce it off the wood at first
when you're starting to golf school and see how effective
they are with the bunker shots. But that just helps
(29:43):
them get a good sense of what neutral feels like.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
So choose the right wedge for the bunkers that you're
going to play.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Got to be able to read. If it's soft, we
probably need less loft. If it's super firm, of course
we're going to probably need more or left because we
need to kind of get that loft and aggress in
this out of the bunker.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
And then getting players to hit some ball position more forward, neutral, setup, right, neutral,
maybe just a little bit left, but making sure that
handle doesn't get too too far forward, getting that shaft
at ninety and then basically just trying to hit a
little cut shot. If you're doing that too much, work
the opposite say, okay, I'm cutting across this too much.
(30:28):
I'm gonna go neutral set up, and now I'm gonna
have a little bit more of.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
A draw field, and I'm always going back to that
Nicholson shot too. Just give me a ten yard bunker shot.
So either go put yourself ten yards away from a
pen or put a circle out there some tease and
just try to get something that flies around ten yards
and I guarantee you you'll be able to be within
a good chance of saving par if you hit a
(30:52):
bunker shot ten yards out of the bunker.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Great stuff, RC, We will get you back on for
these kind of quick fire basic stuff. I think a
lot of people are out there playing right now, and
I think the information that we can give them on
just some of this basic basic stuff can really really
help them with their games. RC, there's a reason why
we call you Wedge from Asterson. Thanks for being on
(31:15):
the podcast. It's the Son of a Butch Podcast. We
will see you next week.
It's the Son of a Butch podcast. I'm your host.
Claude Harmon wanted to talk We're in the middle of
summer and thought I'd get Ryan Chrysler, who works with
me here at the Floridian, because I think Ryan's one
of the best short game instructors and one of the
best wedge fitters around. And Ryan, we're right in the
middle of summer, and I was thinking, Okay, what's a
good one to talk to people, because I think everybody
now is kind of in play mode. Right we've come
(00:23):
out of the winter. A lot of people have kind
of been stock, haven't been able to play, but now
you can get out and you play. But bunker game.
I think it's something that we see a lot in
our lessons that people struggle with. And I think there's
two kind of main areas that people struggle with out
of the bunker, and I think there's some hacks if
you're not great at bunkers. First of all, the obvious one,
(00:45):
people just don't practice their bunker game enough, do they.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
I'd never see someone grinding out in the bunker.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
Never, And in the lessons that we give, when's the
last time someone came in and said, Hey, you ask them.
I mean we always do the same thing. Right, tell
me the strengths your game, tell me the weaknesses of
your game, say bunker. They'll say they're not great out
of the sand, but they'll immediately want to work on
something else. And I think, if you're an average golfer, right,
I think most people listening to this podcast are just
regular average golfer. They're handicapped golfers. They're not playing in
(01:14):
competitive tournaments. They just want to break one hundred for
the first time. Ninety eighty seventy. I think if you
are trying to break a score for the first time,
getting better out of the bunkers is some of the
lowest hanging fruit you can get.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, it should be an automatic shot. My major two
bunker influences are basically Tiger Woods and Phil Nicholson. In
the last twenty five years. My technique is modeled after
Tiger Woods. He uses the fifty six. I use the
fifty eight. However, I try to have a short fall
three like he does. I always wear my glove, try
to mimic him. And then with Nicholson, he did the
(01:53):
short game video probably twenty years ago now and it
has some great work with Dave Peals, also from Texas,
and he determined that ninety percent of his bunker shots
were either a ten yard carry or within ten yards.
So that means basically you're hitting two bunker shots. So
if you can master basically two bunker shots, one that
fis ten yards and one that fils a little bit shorter,
(02:15):
you should be able to get out of any sort
of bunker scenario wherever the pin is. And the number
one well, of course, is you must get out of
the bunker first try.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Yeah, I think I think a lot of people are
afraid of sculling it out of the bunker.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Yes, a lot of lift and finesse.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
And it's it's always the thing that we say in
our golf lessons, the bunker shot is the easiest should
be the easiest shot in golf because it's the only
shot in golf where we're asking.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
You to not hit the ball, literally not touching the ball.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
Okay, So the concept behind that is what you're not
hitting the ball, you're hitting the sand. Talk the listeners
through what that means.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Yes, so you have to have either the right wedge
in the right style to match up and up sand
basically flying out onto the green, taking the ball with
it right. So when you have maybe too much loft
and you're adding too much loft, you go right through
the sand. You have no Ford motion. Ball stays in
(03:14):
the bunker, or you try to nest it out of
there and try it and you blade it and you
send it right over the grain. So you try to
match up basically, how much sand do I need to
take given the conditions? What is my wife's supposed to
do given the conditions. In my opinion, there's basically two
styles of bunkers. One that's super soft and one that's
relatively coarser and firmer. Coarser and firmer. Kind of after
(03:37):
a rainstorm, wet.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Sand, it's going to be a little bit more dense,
not going to be as kind of splashy coming out
of the bunker. Going back to what you said earlier,
I think one of the things that I don't think
people realize is the ball is resting on the sand,
and we are not going to hit the ball. We're
hitting the sand underneath the ball. The first thing that
(04:01):
I see as a generalization of pretty much the majority
of people that are struggling with the bunker is they
don't make a swing that has significant force to get
the sand out of the bunker. So one of the
hacks that I always say to players is let's get
in here, no ball, and I just go ahead and
(04:21):
make a square in the sand, and I say, Okay,
imagine that you're going to take the swear or we've
heard a dollar bill or something like that, but a
circle a square. Just practice getting the sand out of
the bunker. Because if the sand doesn't get out of
the bunker, you're not hitting the ball. So the ball
isn't going to get out of the bunker, yep. And
(04:43):
the control all delete for me for everybody that tells
me they're bad at the bunker is okay, let me
lay the face wide open. Let me set up to
my bunker shot like I would set up to pretty
much ninety nine point nine percent of the short game
shots that I'm gonna hit around the green tons of
(05:04):
weight on my left side, a lot of forward shaft,
lean hands way forward, and then short back swing, short
follow through, dig a lot the club. I always say
to players, the single biggest effect that the sand is
going to have on your wedge when the wedge comes
(05:25):
in contact with the sand is the sand is going
to slow the wedge down.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Right, So we need power and speed.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
And I think a lot of players it's interesting that
you said that. I mean Sebi by Asteros. He thought
the sixties should be outlawed. He thought you should be
able to play pretty much every shot, even around the greens,
but specifically in a bunker. He used to fifty six.
Tiger used that a lot.
Speaker 2 (05:47):
Crenshaw.
Speaker 1 (05:49):
That's when we're looking at because I think it's two
categories where people three categories where people struggle. One they
never practice why because they don't get any feedback and
they're not good out of the bunker. So as golfers,
none of us tend to practice what we're poor at
right because we don't get any positive validation or positive
(06:10):
feedback for So you're not a good bunker player. You
don't really know what you're doing. You've read a bunch
of stuff. You're just going to kind of take the
kitchen sink and throw all of these things that you've
read about or seen or heard into a bunker. So
there's zero practice because you don't really know what you
should be doing. You're not any good at what you
(06:30):
are doing. So you skull some, you leave some in
the last thing you're going to do is go spend
an hour and try and figure it out. So taking
the practice up, I think most people are using a
wedge that they haven't been fitted for, that maybe came
with the set. And then if you're a more competitive golfer,
(06:50):
more of an elite golfer, you might have the wrong
type of wedge for the bunkers that you mainly play
at your club. So I think most golfers wouldn't you agree,
find a wedge that is going to help you first
and foremost at the course you play on a regular
(07:12):
basis the sand that you try. So there's two types
of sand. There's more of that hard packed wet sand
if you live in a climate where it rains a lot,
and then there's going to be the finer courser sand
like we see at Augusta that we see on tour.
So when you're looking arc at a at a wedge
set up and a wedge choice from a bounce and
(07:35):
a loft standpoint, what do you think is a good
kind of versatile wedge for the Because most people don't
have the money to invest in a couple of different
wedges in their sand wedge and their lob wedge. You know,
tour players can say, hey, let me try out a
bunch of them. They'll they'll carry maybe different lofts and stuff,
(07:58):
will carry sixty fifty eight depending on the course, to
maybe go fifty six. But they'll also be trying out
different grinds. But for pretty much everybody listening to this podcast,
they have one sand wedge, they have one lob wedge.
So how do we help the listeners get that choice
of equipment right?
Speaker 2 (08:18):
Well, let's look at the bunker first. If you're bunker
home courses firm course, the club doesn't dig as much.
The ball comes out faster versus the soft, sandy, wide
fresh almost beach like sand, the ball comes out slower
and higher. So when the ball comes out slower and higher,
we need less loft to counteract that fifty six degree.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
Most people would think, okay, let me just throw as
much loft as I can bite club choice, and then
let me take my sixty degree and then let me
take this thing, lay it wide open, yep. Because the
thought process is, okay, that's how I would hit a
flop shot stuff like that. So how is the bunker
shot different than a regular chip shot. Let's say you've
(09:06):
got a sixty degree or a fifty eight, So you've
got the club that's got the most loft in your bag,
and you look at the way that you play shots
around the greens to get the golf ball in the air.
What are some of the things that are going to
be different set up wedge makeup once we get into
the bunker.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
Yes, once you get into the bunker, a flop shot
is pretty close to what a flop shot would be
like in deeper rough out of the bunker, right, it's
pretty close. You still got to be able to read
that sand and know are you in the low part
of the bunker where it's typically firmer, or maybe you're
towards the edges or the higher part where it's typically
(09:46):
softer where the sand is raked up against the bunker.
So based on that read, just like any other read
when you're chipping, you need to know what loft you
need to use. And if we just have like average
bouts like eight degrees, like a versatile with keerbra the
m grind with tide lists, if you just have that
average wedge, right, you know that you're gonna have to
open up a wedge when it's firmer just a little bit.
(10:10):
You actually probably need to close it slightly when it's
super soft, because we need to be able to still
have enough energy to get the ball out.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
One of the things that you said there, I think
what we see a lot of in lessons, certainly from
a wedge makeup and certainly from a bunker game set up.
I see extremes on either way way way too much
bouncey or just no bounce at all. Right, But I
think that's a bad that's a bad space, and that's
a really dangerous place to get into because then you've
(10:41):
got a tool that is unfit for the task you're
going to try and use it for.
Speaker 2 (10:47):
So you know, if you're a wedge fitter, you need
to have that kind of sand wedge that has one
type of bounce and that higher lofted wedge that has
a different type of bounts. So you have a choice.
You can utilize either weapon based on the lie read
and that has to come from a fitting, but from
a general perspective, if you haven't been fit for one,
I do need a fifty six that looks different than
(11:08):
a sixty or fifty four that looks different than a
fifty eight. I need it to be different. One high,
one low. That's kind of the bottom line.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
And that's just for options.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
And this is just visual. Don't look at the manufacturer's
numbers on there. Just look at does one have literally
more bounced than the other? Take that one. Put that
maybe in your sixty. If one has a little less bounce,
maybe use that in fifty six. The wedges I have
from Kruber right now, the w the wide low is
like an automatic bunker wedge for me, and it's an
(11:38):
amazing It's a super wide wedge with very little back
end bounce but some front end bounce. And that's like
an automatic wedge shot for me. And I've been coming
from a Vokey s grind, which looks much more like
a seven iron with a lot of bounce. So it's
a totally different shot.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
And for everyone listening RN, I mean, we know what bounce,
but what is bounce on a wedge? I think so
many people won. First of all, they don't know what
bountce means. And if you don't know what bounce means,
it becomes very very difficult to use The bouts right
for the shot that you're trying to get.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
It's very confusing to compare across manufacturers. That's why you
just have to look at the the basic shape. What
does the trailing edge look like, what does the front
edge look like, and what is the difference in angle
between those two edges. That's all we're talking about. And
there's a whole bunch of different ways you can kind
of grind that soul to fit particular conditions or a
(12:36):
particular player, staffs or right particular shots that you're particular shots.
Like for the w the wide low with Coba automatic
bunker wedge, and it works.
Speaker 1 (12:45):
The wide from Cobra works.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Why to me, it works for two reasons. Number one,
it's super wide and when you open up that type
of wedge, you almost triple the amount of angle you
have from front edge to back edge, meaning you triple
the amount of effective bounce. The I think that's really
cool about it is the grind behind on the trailing
edge has this little kind of crescent moon into it,
(13:10):
so it comes into the sand with a little less friction.
So to me, the ball comes out much easier and faster.
And I've always kind of been an aggressive kind of
Texas style, kind of get down, get square, but get down,
get after it and try to pop it out kind
of like a Tiger wits like steep to kind of
low finish, and with this particular wedge, I definitely had
(13:30):
to change my style a little bit more to maybe
a Jason Day's style just a little bit, which has
a little bit of a longer, kind of helpy follow through.
But in general, I try to have that really steep
takeaway and really steep attack. And to me, that's how
I grew up watching Tiger and Nicholson hit bunker shots.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
Yeah, and I think most golfers would you agree. I
see more golfers making a short back swing and a
short follow through that struggle.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
I see a lot of chippy, kind of picky, finesse
type moves in a bunker shot. Just by nature of
the sand, it's not a finesse shot. The sand takes
away all the speed, so we need to kind of
replace that speed with an aggressive style.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
It's really like, I've never heard it described that way,
but that was another I said it earlier. The sand
is going to slow the golf club down. But I
love that, and I think that's a really good kind
of thought that you should keep in your head when
you get into the book. Okay, the sand is going
to slow everything down, so I have to then offset
(14:36):
the fact that the sand is going to slow everything
down by adding speed in other places.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Yes, so it's much like a power swing or a
driver swing. We need a little weight shift, maybe a
little wider stance, and definitely a bigger backswing, maybe a
little more hinge. But I really don't talk about hinge
with bunkers. I just want the club up yeap because
I want to club They returned down almost like a
ve go, straight up, straight down.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
And also I think that it's important to the analogy
that I always use our sea is the bunker shot
is as if a beach ball is on water. Right,
So if you're waist high in a pool and there's
a beach ball on it, to make the beach ball
go up, you need to hit down on the water.
By hitting down on the water or so the water
splashes it up. If you're gonna try and get a
(15:20):
beach ball up off the water with your hand and
you're gonna try and swing up, you're eventually your arc
is going to bottom out and that's probably the two
shots that we see the most out of the bunker.
The skull kind of over the green, or the skull
straight into the lip of the bunker, or the one
where we hit massively behind it hit it fat. They're
(15:43):
both calls by the same thing. We're trying to get
the golf ball up by swinging low to high like
we would do with a driver when it's on a tee.
You try that in a bunker, you're gonna hit six
inches behind it and the sand will go further than
the ball.
Speaker 2 (15:58):
Yep. Maybe once in a while we have, like the no
problem has so much power, we have to kind of
turn that power off too. So I think there's some
high speed problems. But those type of players are going
into the bunker.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Two, where are you on setup wise? What's a good
kind of rule of thumb for a basic bunker game
setup meaning ball position, meaning weight left and right, just
from a pure setup, Because we see a lot of
(16:30):
people that have you know, they've read the magazines. Okay,
I'm gonna get wide open with my stands, yes, But
then a lot of times I think when players get
super super open with their stands, what they don't realize
is how far back in the stance the golf ball
now becomes. So we get those players that get in there,
you know, they kind of get in the first thing
they do they lay the face wide open, and now
(16:52):
they kind of put their body on kind of a
forty five degree angle to the left. Now the golf
ball is off their trail foot their right foot if
you're handed golfer, left foot, if your left hand, and
it's back in the stance. That is the death set.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Up move correct. I'm always trying to get people back
to neutral. So I like people are relatively.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
Squared, maybe just a little open.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Mostly relatively square. I'll give you maybe one ball open, okay.
Speaker 1 (17:17):
And the reason for the square setup in your opinion.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
Is what because most people tend to be open and
come from a draw path and that drives it right
into the face. I much rather be square path, take
it a little bit outside and then kind of come
over a square.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Set up, correct, and then take it a little bit
outside on the back swing.
Speaker 2 (17:38):
Yep. And that's also another another hack too. If you're
always making great contact and the bunkers or the ball
is never leaving the bunker. To me, you maybe have
too much of a fad swing. So sit up square
and try to draw it out of the bunker and
see if that provides a little more energy.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, because I do think a lot of the problems
that we see is that kind of okay, first and
forest and the other thing. If you're going to open
the club, this sounds very kind of basic. If you're
going to open the golf club, you open the golf
club first, then take your grip. We see a lot
of people take their grip then open the golf club.
Their grip is in the same place. As soon as
(18:15):
that club comes back to impact, the face is going
to be closed. But I do see it's interesting that
you say that the draw pattern. I do see a
lot of players that they've read the magazines. They're trying
to do the right thing. They've got their body open,
you know, they've got their body pointing left, they've got
the club face open. They're taking the golf club on
(18:37):
the outside. But as you said, sometimes they're doing that
so much, but they basically just cut across the golf
ball and there's no chance. So you like a square
to just maybe a fraction open ball. Position wise, RC
where we want the golf ball.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
In general, I tell people to set it up like
a hybrid, so I feel like your stance is as
wide as a hybrid, and where the ball would be
would be not super far forward, but definitely not in
middle summer kind of right between three wood hybrid kind.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Of but way more forward than you guess. Because that's
another thing that that that I see on a regular
basis is the ball position. First of all, even if
they don't open up their body, the ball position becomes
basically where it would be for a seven iron. And again,
if that's happening, the golf swing is a semi circle.
(19:28):
The arc is going to bottom out.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
Way too late, ball right in the mouth. Yes, you
need that ball in most cases, everyone needs it a
little more.
Speaker 1 (19:36):
Forward shaft position. And again I think this is one
of the easiest hacks you can have. I think most
people in the bunker set up to it with a
lot of forward shaft leen. Yeah, like a chip which
is then delofting the wedge even if they're opening the
face as soon as they get that handle forward. And remember,
your set up position is just like in a full swing.
(19:57):
So if you're hitting a seven iron, you're want to
set up with your seven iron with a little bit
of forward press if you've got your driver, if you
set up with the same type of forward press that
you have with your seven iron, that's a death move
as well. So the handle position and the shaft a
little bit back, more back. But where do you come
(20:20):
in on that one?
Speaker 2 (20:20):
Definitely not not forward. Yeah, start if I need them
neutral first, Maybe a little lean back.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
So kind of I can look at yourself and face
on and say, okay, is the shaft kind of straight
up and down kind of a ninety. We don't want
too much forward. But if you are going to try
and get the golf ball to come land higher and softer,
maybe just lean the shaft for sure, a little bit back. Yes,
the tall position, a little bit more forward.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Because essentially you're trying to scoop it out with some force, right,
and a lot of players have that are a release
that should be perfect for a bunker shot, assuming all
things are equal to what I try to do is
get people back to new level, shoulders, level hips, neutral stance,
forward ball position to me is neutral, and then maybe
(21:07):
the shaft straight up and down, slightly leaning back. Let's
get you back to neutral first.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
And The other thing I think that that kind of
seven iron setup does in the bunker to where you've
got the golf ball in the middle of your stance.
You're going to open right, You're going to open. Now
the golf ball gets really really back. So now that
handle gets massively forward yep, and then.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Now my body has to go backwards.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
Now the body has to go backwards. And the other
thing is I think you've talked about kind of neutralling
everything out when we see that kind of iron setup
for the bunker, neutral hands forward. The other thing that
tends to happen is that left if you're a right
handed golfer, your lead shoulder, your left shoulder starts to
get really really high. Yes, so neutralling out the shoulders.
(21:57):
A good way to do that is go ahead and
take your setup, take your grip, then take your left
hand off the golf club and just let your left
arm hang naturally cross It's a good way for you
to kind of level out your shoulders.
Speaker 2 (22:10):
Yes, yes, I cross hand grip YEP, trying to keep
their shoulders neutral, and then we turn those hands back
to conventional grip.
Speaker 1 (22:16):
My grandfather was on the cover of I think sports
illustrator or golf digest, you know. And he was a
great bunker player, having grown up at wingfoot, and his
philosophy was, you should be able to get out of
the bunker with one hand, and it's your trail hand.
So if you're right handed golfer, it would be right handed,
left handed, go over your left hand, but the right
(22:37):
hand and the right arm. I think in the bunker game,
I see a lot of people driving and pulling with
their left hand, their lead hand much more. My dad
used to say all the time when we back in
the day, when we used to give golf schools, he
would say, listen, the bunker shot is very much a
right handed right arm. It's your right side, your right hand,
(23:00):
your right arm. It's very much a one handed And
one of the great ways to learn how the weg
should work in a bunker is to hit some and
teach yourself how to hit it one handed with your
trail hand.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Yeah, it's going to take a lot of speed out
of that right hand. It's going to take a very
neutral setup with the shoulders and everything, and then you're
going to be able to feel how that club is
supposed to release and release aggressively hit the ball still
coming out high and soft, with utilizing the sand correctly.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Yeah, because the bunker shot. It's interesting that you mentioned
that most people from the top of the back swing
in their full swing, the kinematic sequence should be, you know,
at the top of the back swing, we should start
to see the lower body fire first, the upper body
fire second, the lead hands and the hands fire third,
and then the last thing into impact is the golf club.
(23:51):
Most handicapped golfers are the opposite. The first move at
the top of the back swing is the arms and
golf club fire, not the body. But that's actually what
we want and need in a bunker shot. Talking about
the sequence, how the sequence of a full swing with
an iron is going to be different than the sequence
(24:12):
of a bunker shot.
Speaker 2 (24:14):
Well, essentially, like driver swinging iron swing, we're looking to
create efficient power, right, and then with short game bunker shot,
in this case, we're only looking for precision. So the
body needs to work almost in the opposite fashion to
create kind of a precision style swing. And essentially what
(24:35):
we're looking for almost essentially is the hands, the arms
and the chest are working together almost at the same speed,
and the lower bodies a much more quieter. There's no drive,
there's no rotation. It's a little more of a kind
of a stable platform.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
So set up wise thinking about and that's another thing,
I think the wider the stance in the bunker, the better,
typically is better because more narrow the legs and the
body are going to move around a lot. And I
like what you said there that lower body. I think
a really good hack for the bunker is the lower
body should be incredibly stable. Yes, because we're trying to
(25:16):
swing our arms almost past our body.
Speaker 2 (25:19):
You're digging our feet out.
Speaker 1 (25:20):
Yeah, so that's why we dig the stance. And you
see tour players get in there and they dig that
lower body. They're going to try and keep the lower
body as stable. We don't need hip turn, we don't
need rotation of the hips towards the target. So really
really firm, stable lower body. Talk to me about the
movement powdered in the bunker shot with the upper body.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
I think one of the things I like to see,
based on being very neutral and getting a player back
to the neutral is that the upper body is actually
slightly open because that keeps your chest a little more
on top of the ball versus closed or leaning right,
should or lower That puts your chest almost in front
of the ball. So I kind of like a square stance.
(26:04):
If the chest is in the right spot, I'm happy.
If I need to get them to get a little
more chest on top of the ball, one easy hack
is to be square, stands slightly open shoulders, and then
again that also helps you take it more outside and
how to hit that kind of square stance cutshot. That's
kind of my go to bunker's style, if you will.
Speaker 1 (26:24):
Explain that a little more, the square stance cutshot. Yes.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
So in general, most Americans have been taught to aim left,
swing left. What that produces is very little energy and
sometimes almost to draw. So we get either a super
soft bunker shot that not get that doesn't get out
of the bunker, or they can kind of time it
up and hit that kind of inside out kind of
freed couple's type of move. In my opinion, being squared,
(26:52):
just like a normal golf swing is what we need
to be like because we're basically trying to hit a
normal golf swing, but we're hitting the sand instead of
the golf ball right, so we get squared. Maybe one
ball left to target or one cup left of target.
And then in most cases people need to be steeper.
And one great hack to be steeper is to just
(27:14):
hit a cut shut. So the better player, let's get
them more outside and cut across it. Maybe the higher
handicap has too much of that slice swing.
Speaker 1 (27:22):
So they could take it back a little bit more neutral, and.
Speaker 2 (27:25):
I can get it more neutral, just like, hey, just
try to feel like you're going to draw this out
of the bunker. So it gives me a stable, a
very neutral platform to attack almost any problem I see.
And that's where I start with that neutral stance.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
Dibbot. What should digbots look like? Depth of dibbots, because
I mean, I see a lot of people struggle in
the bunker because they've got that handle forward, that leading edge,
and the club just digs. And that's where you're going
to see the club dig into a lot of the
wet sand that's kind of underneath that kind of first
(27:58):
layer where is my dad used to call it the thump. Yeah,
the good bunker player will have a little bit more
of that shallow dibboit the dibboit will be a little
bit more oval shape.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (28:11):
The dibbot will be pointing a little bit more towards
the target those dibits, like you said, when that path
gets really really left, they can start going massively left.
Speaker 2 (28:21):
Yes, that thump that audio we're looking for is kind
of like that, kind of a nice soft, sweet thump,
almost like a click as well out of the bunker.
So we know if it's a little too deep and
bassy and thumpy, maybe we're too steep, or maybe the
club face is too closed, if it's too shallow and
maybe too higher pitched. Maybe they got too much bounce,
(28:44):
maybe they're not deep enough to get enough effective sand
to get to the bunker or get out of the bunker.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
Yeah, and I just think getting in the bunker and
working on your setup. The other thing is, I think
a lot of people are swinging so far away from
their intent tend to target in the bunker that path
gets really really left. So one of the things that
I always try and do with players is wherever the
ball is and wherever their target is, I'll kind of
draw that arrow in front of the ball and say,
(29:12):
listen for people that are really cutting across it, swing
the club more towards where your target is as opposed
to swinging so much left.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Yes, it's a great way to do it, using the
grip of the wedge to kind of create those lines.
Perfect way to do it. I think back in the
day twenty years ago, we used to put the wood
maybe underneath the sand and kind of bury it. You
can kind of bounce it off the wood at first
when you're starting to golf school and see how effective
they are with the bunker shots. But that just helps
(29:43):
them get a good sense of what neutral feels like.
Speaker 1 (29:46):
So choose the right wedge for the bunkers that you're
going to play.
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Got to be able to read. If it's soft, we
probably need less loft. If it's super firm, of course
we're going to probably need more or left because we
need to kind of get that loft and aggress in
this out of the bunker.
Speaker 1 (30:05):
And then getting players to hit some ball position more forward, neutral, setup, right, neutral,
maybe just a little bit left, but making sure that
handle doesn't get too too far forward, getting that shaft
at ninety and then basically just trying to hit a
little cut shot. If you're doing that too much, work
the opposite say, okay, I'm cutting across this too much.
(30:28):
I'm gonna go neutral set up, and now I'm gonna
have a little bit more of.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
A draw field, and I'm always going back to that
Nicholson shot too. Just give me a ten yard bunker shot.
So either go put yourself ten yards away from a
pen or put a circle out there some tease and
just try to get something that flies around ten yards
and I guarantee you you'll be able to be within
a good chance of saving par if you hit a
(30:52):
bunker shot ten yards out of the bunker.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
Great stuff, RC, We will get you back on for
these kind of quick fire basic stuff. I think a
lot of people are out there playing right now, and
I think the information that we can give them on
just some of this basic basic stuff can really really
help them with their games. RC, there's a reason why
we call you Wedge from Asterson. Thanks for being on
(31:15):
the podcast. It's the Son of a Butch Podcast. We
will see you next week.
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