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Bunker Shots

Rory McIlroy gave Justin Timberlake a bunker lesson. This is what he told him.

Luke Kerr-DineenBy Luke Kerr-Dineen
August 28, 2019

Ever wanted a bunker lesson with Rory McIlroy? Well, thanks to the European Tour’s Twitter account, we got a glimpse into what he’d say.

Rory, sporting an expensive new watch and playing a practice round at the Omega European Masters with Justin Timberlake, took a moment to give his playing partner a little bunker lesson crash course. His advice was simple and really helpful, so let’s break it down.

Step One: Line up the club shaft

The first thing Rory did is draw a line in the sand perpendicular to the target line, from the golf ball to his stance. Then, when he set up, he wanted to do two things:

-Set the clubface open, so the leading edge of the clubface sits alongside the line.
-Match the shaft with the line in the sand.

Step Two: Fold the elbow

Once he got set up, the next step was pretty simple: Rory just focuses on folding his right elbow into his body on the backswing.

Step Three: Straighten the elbow

And once he’s folded, Rory says that he wants to unfurl the elbow fast, creating the width that helps the club get shallow and sweep through the sand.