Bunker Play Basics for Junior Golfers

Why a bunker shot is the one shot where you do not hit the ball, and the setup that makes it work for a junior.

Greenside bunkers frighten juniors more than any other shot, and the reason is that nobody has explained the one idea that makes them work: in a greenside bunker, you are not trying to hit the ball at all. You are trying to hit the sand underneath it and let the sand throw the ball out.

Once a child understands that, bunkers stop being a disaster and become the shot where they can look like a proper golfer.

The club does a specific job

A sand wedge is built with bounce - the sole angles down at the back so the club skids through sand rather than digging in. That skid is what lifts a cushion of sand, and the ball, out of the bunker. A club with little bounce, or a leading edge dug in by a steep, digging swing, buries itself instead.

The bounce and loft numbers stamped on a wedge are explained in wedges explained.

The setup

• Feet dug in an inch or so - it gives stability and tells you how firm the sand is
• Stance wider than normal, weight favouring the front foot and staying there
• Ball forward in the stance, roughly opposite the front heel
• Clubface opened slightly before taking the grip, not after
• Grip down the handle to compensate for standing lower in the sand
• Aim to enter the sand roughly a hand's width behind the ball

The swing

Long, smooth and accelerating. The most common junior bunker fault by far is deceleration - a big backswing followed by a slowing-down through the sand, which leaves the ball exactly where it was. A shorter backswing that keeps accelerating gets the ball out every time.

The cue that works with children: splash the sand out onto the green, and let the ball ride along with it. Try to lift the ball and the club digs; splash the sand and the ball comes out on its own.

The line drill

Draw a line in the sand with a club, put no ball down, and practise entering the sand exactly on the line and throwing sand forward. Once they can hit the line five times in a row, put a ball a hand's width in front of it. This is the single most effective bunker drill for a junior, because it separates the two problems - where the club enters, and what happens to the ball.

Greenside and fairway bunkers are different shots

The first decision in a fairway bunker is not which club to hit but whether the lip allows the shot at all. Getting out sideways with a wedge and playing the next one from grass is often the better score, and juniors need permission to make that choice.

The rules in a bunker

• You may not touch the sand with the club right in front of or behind the ball, or in the backswing, and you may not test the sand
• Since 2019, you may remove loose impediments - leaves, twigs, stones - from a bunker
• You may lean on a club outside the bunker, or use a club to steady yourself, without penalty
• Grounding the club anywhere else in the bunker, away from the ball, is still a penalty
• If the ball is unplayable, you have the usual three options within the bunker for one stroke, plus the option to drop outside the bunker on a line back from the hole for two

That last option is worth knowing before a junior faces a plugged ball under a steep face. Two strokes and a clean swing beats three attempts and a lost temper.

The full drop procedure is set out in what is a legal drop in golf.

Different sand behaves differently

• Soft, fluffy sand: the club sinks easily, so enter closer to the ball and swing a little more firmly
• Firm or wet sand: the club skids more, so enter slightly further behind and expect the ball to come out lower and run
• A plugged or 'fried egg' lie: square the face rather than opening it, hit closer to the ball, and accept that it will run on landing

Have a junior test the sand with their feet as they take their stance. It costs nothing, it is allowed, and it tells them which of the above they are dealing with.

Rake it, and how

Raking is not optional, and it is a place where a junior can visibly be a good playing partner. Rake your footprints and the disturbed sand, work backwards out of the bunker on the low side, and leave the rake where the club asks - some want them inside the bunker, some outside, and the pro shop will tell you which.

Choosing the club when the lip is in the way

The single most common junior bunker mistake after deceleration is taking too little loft. A ball ten centimetres from a steep face needs the most lofted club in the bag and a full commitment; the same ball in a flat, shallow bunker can be played with a nine iron and a putting-style motion.

• Stand behind the ball and look at the lip before choosing anything
• If the lip is steep, take maximum loft and accept a shorter shot
• If the bunker is flat and the pin is a long way away, less loft and more roll is easier
• If there is no shot forward at all, play sideways or backwards out onto grass

Teaching a junior to take the sideways option deliberately, rather than as a surrender, is worth more than any technical tip. It converts a potential eight into a five.

Where to practise

Not every course has a practice bunker, and juniors are usually not welcome to practise in an on-course bunker during play. It is worth asking the pro shop where practice from sand is allowed - many clubs have a designated bunker beside the short-game green and will happily point a junior at it.

If there is genuinely nowhere, a stretch of soft ground or a beach works for the sand-splash feeling, though the sand is a different consistency. The line drill above transfers from any surface where a line can be drawn.

Building confidence rather than technique

Building confidence rather than technique

Bunker anxiety is mostly a confidence problem and it responds to volume. Twenty balls from a practice bunker, with no target beyond getting them out, does more than any amount of instruction. Once every ball comes out, add a target.

It is also worth telling a junior that professionals often prefer a bunker to thick rough beside the green, because the sand shot is predictable. That reframing lands surprisingly well with children who have been treating bunkers as a punishment.

The greenside skills either side of this one are covered in chipping basics for junior golfers.

And the etiquette of leaving a bunker properly is part of the wider picture in junior golf etiquette.