Short Game
How to Hit a Bunker Shot: The Simple Method That Actually Works
Setup, Technique, and Drills to Escape the Sand Every Time
July 14, 2026 · 8 min read · Stephen Pickering
Setup, Technique, and Drills to Escape the Sand Every Time
July 14, 2026 · 8 min read · Stephen Pickering
Key takeaway: A greenside bunker shot is the only shot in golf where you don’t hit the ball — you splash the sand an inch or two behind it and let that sand throw the ball out. Open the face, dig your feet in, keep your weight forward, and accelerate to a full finish. Groove your entry point with the line drill and the bunker stops being scary.
For a lot of golfers, the scariest words in the game are “you’re in the bunker.” But here’s the truth: a greenside bunker shot is one of the easiest shots in golf once you understand what you’re actually trying to do. The problem is that most golfers try to hit the ball — and that’s exactly why they leave it in the sand or blade it over the green.
Learning how to hit a bunker shot comes down to one idea: you don’t hit the ball, you hit the sand. Get that right, add a repeatable setup, and the greenside bunker stops being a place you fear and becomes a genuine chance to get up and down. Here’s the method, step by step.
Bunker shots are rare — most golfers face only one to three a round — so you never build a rhythm with them the way you do with putts or chips. On top of that, the instinct to “help” the ball into the air is completely wrong for this shot, so your natural reaction actively makes it worse.
The skill gap shows up in the numbers. Scratch golfers save par from greenside bunkers around 39-45% of the time; a typical mid-handicapper is closer to 26%. That gap isn’t about talent — it’s about technique and reps. The good news is that the correct technique is simple and doesn’t require a big swing change.
Start by opening the clubface of your sand wedge so it points slightly skyward — this exposes the bounce, the rounded sole that lets the club skid through the sand instead of digging in. Open the face first, then take your grip. If you grip the club and then twist it open, it’ll rotate back to square at impact and you’ll lose the bounce.
Set a slightly wider stance than normal and shuffle your feet into the sand for a stable base. This does two things: it stops your lower body sliding during the swing, and it lowers you a touch so you naturally catch the sand. Put a little more weight on your lead foot — around 60% — and keep it there through the shot.
Play the ball forward in your stance, roughly off your lead heel. This encourages the club to enter the sand behind the ball rather than on top of it. Keep your hands level with or slightly behind the ball — not pressed forward like a chip — so you keep the loft and bounce you just set up.
The setup for a bunker shot is the opposite of a normal chip. Here’s how the standard chipping setup works for comparison.
Golf Chipping Technique for Beginners →This is the whole shot. Pick a spot about one to two inches behind the ball and make that your target — not the ball itself. The club splashes into the sand, and a cushion of sand lifts the ball out and onto the green. You never actually make contact with the ball, which is why a bunker shot is the only shot in golf where you deliberately hit behind it.
The number one killer of bunker shots is deceleration. Because the sand slows the club dramatically, you need a longer, more committed swing than the distance suggests — think a bigger swing than you’d use for the same-length chip off grass. Swing through the sand to a full finish with the clubhead still moving. If the shot comes up short, you almost certainly quit on it.
Once you can escape reliably, control distance with the length and speed of your swing, not by changing how hard you stab at the ball. A shorter splash for a short shot, a fuller one for a longer carry — same entry point, same commitment through impact. Consistent sand contact is what makes distance control possible.
Getting out of the bunker is only half the job — you still have to hole the putt. Here’s how to convert those up-and-downs.
How to Get Up and Down in Golf →Here’s the fastest way to build a reliable bunker shot. Draw a straight line in the sand and set up as if the line were the back edge of the ball. Now make swings that splash the sand starting on that line, throwing sand forward onto the green — no ball at all. Do it ten times and watch where the club actually enters.
When you can consistently enter the sand on the line and take a shallow, dollar-bill-sized divot of sand, put a ball just in front of the line and hit real shots. This drill trains the one variable that matters most — your entry point — without the distraction of trying to hit the ball. Scoring Zone’s Performance Hub includes greenside bunker shots in its full short game assessment, so you can see how your sand play scores against your target handicap rather than guessing.
See how your sand saves and up-and-down percentage trend over time.
Round Stats →The most common reason is trying to lift the ball out instead of hitting the sand. A greenside bunker shot is the only shot in golf where you don’t hit the ball at all — you splash the sand a couple of inches behind it and let that sand throw the ball onto the green. Golfers who decelerate or pick the ball clean leave it in the bunker.
Aim to enter the sand about one to two inches behind the ball and keep the clubhead moving through to a full finish. A useful drill is to draw a line in the sand and practise splashing the sand in front of it, ignoring a ball entirely, until the entry point becomes automatic.
A sand wedge (54-56 degrees) is the standard choice because its bounce is designed to skid through sand rather than dig. For higher, softer shots you can use a lob wedge, but beginners should learn the basic splash shot with a sand wedge first before adding loft.
Practise the splash technique until your entry point is consistent, then track how often you get up and down from the sand. Scratch golfers save par from bunkers about 39-45% of the time; most mid-handicappers are near 26%. Measuring your sand-save percentage round to round tells you whether your practice is actually working.
Stephen Pickering
3-handicap golfer with 25 years on the course. Built Scoring Zone to bring structure and pressure to short game practice. Writes about what actually works from the practice green, not the press box.
Build a bunker technique you can trust, then measure it. It takes one session to feel the difference between guessing and knowing.
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