Katie Dawkins
PGA Golf Professional
Feeling Beaten by those Bunkers? Fear not. Change your attitude and you’ll never fear those traps again.
Those who don’t like bunkers find themselves on the beach far more than those that can splash the ball out effortlessly. Why is this? Can the sand smell fear?? Unlikely. Saying to yourself “I’m not going to go in that bunker.” isn’t going to work. You’ve mentioned it now, you might as well get your bucket and spade ready.
So how on earth can you fix this magnetic relationship you have with these hazards? Get bunker savvy first and foremost. Train yourself to love a bunker shot, to embrace a sand save and to literally skip into it with a spring in your step. I talk a lot about routine but that’s because if you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail.
So get rehearsing that swing outside of the trap before you even step onto the sandy surface.
Keep your routine similar throughout your game. I tend to do one practice swing then my next swing let’s the ball get in the way. It’s no different here. Stand with your ball in the bunker between you and your landing spot. (Yes I have a landing spot when I’m hitting bunker shots. It helps me really visualise the shot.) Generate a really positive and pumped up practice swing bouncing that club through the grass behind the bunker. Commitment is everything here. Ensure you finish that swing, so many players don’t accelerate through the sand enough.
Then the key is to STRIDE into the sand. I can tell whether a player enjoys bunker play or not from a few holes away. You see them practically do a cartwheel into the sand and skip back out with a shimmy in their step. A player who is allergic to bunkers will drag themselves into the sand and have a stab at it and drag themselves out again, a bit like Harry Enfield’s Kevin. Saying “that is so unfair, I hate bunker shots” when you find your ball in one isn’t going to encourage you to bash it out. You need to be upbeat and this is a perfect example of when positive body language can help you. So head high. Get in. Get out. And shake it all about. You can be a bunker genius if you let your guard down and let that inner sand fairy take hold!