3 tips for escaping crazy pot bunkers like at the Open Championship

By: Bill Schmedes III , Nick Dimengo July 19, 2024

Pro golfer hits out of pot bunker at Royal Troon during Open Championship

Pot bunkers can ruin a round. But these tips will help salvage some strokes around the greens.

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Welcome to Shaving Strokes, a GOLF.com series in which we’re sharing improvements, learnings and takeaways from amateur golfers just like you — including some of the speed bumps and challenges they faced along the way.

Like death and taxes, there are a few things that we can expect to see at every Open Championship — wild pot bunkers and unpredictable weather. And after nearly two rounds from this year’s major tourney at Royal Troon, those two things have shown to be quite the challenge for players.

Just how difficult are the bunkers at this year’s Open Championship? Tiger Woods seemed to sum them up perfectly, saying the following prior to teeing it up at this year’s event.

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“These pots [bunkers] are unlike any bunkers we see at home,” Woods said Tuesday. ”These are very — they’re penalty areas. You go in them, you’re probably going sideways or backwards or somewhere not very far. So it’s imperative to stay out of them.”

While pot bunkers and other deep traps are tough to navigate, they don’t need to be. Sure, sometimes you need to go backwards in order to move forward, but as long as you get out on the first attempt, that’s a victory.

So what adjustments should you make when stuck in a pot bunker and sweating the upcoming shot? Golf instructor Bill Schmedes provides the answers below.

Do this to conquer pot bunkers like ones at the Open Championship

“As we’ve witnessed at this year’s Open Championship, players can have an entire round go south due to the difficult pot bunkers,” Schmedes tells me. “The ones at Royal Troon are some of the most difficult in the world, and they’re proving to show their teeth this year.”

Given their difficulty, Schmedes says it’s no wonder why players are forced to get creative in order to try and escape these specific types of sand traps.

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“Fans watching on TV will see players hitting backwards away from the hole, players standing outside of the bunker while trying to hit their ball in the bunker, one foot in the bunker, one-handed shots, and shots where the clubface is flipped in the opposite direction,” he explains. “These are the most challenging situations they’ll face all year!”

But to avoid a major blow up when in a pot bunker, here are three things to do to make the best of the situation — which every amateur should follow in order to get out in one attempt.

Assess the situation

Before doing anything else when you land in a pot bunker, you need to remember this: Minimize the damage.

Whether you’re in a crater-sized trap at your home course or watching a player hit from one at Royal Troon, a golfer must assess the lie of the ball, determine what stance to use, figure out if the backswing, downswing or through swing will be impacted by the lip, what the best exit plan is, which club to use, and determine what the end goal is.

Just getting the ball back in play with one shot is a victory from some of these types of bunkers.

Focus on technique

For players to have success from a deep bunker at the Open Championship, it all comes down to how they position themselves at address — so take note, amateur golfers.

Things to notice: Both lower and upper bodies will be angled towards the target at address, the center of gravity will be lower to the ground at address (it should look squatty), and there will be some foot flare. Based on that type of setup, a player is likely using more of the hands, arms, and upper body, relative to their lower body.

The exit

If a player wants the ball to launch higher with more spin due to the pin location, you’ll see an exit that has a much higher finish with more speed — which happens due to an open clubface at address.

But if a player needs to launch the ball lower and with less spin to roll it upon landing on the green, the exit will be much lower with less speed — using a clubface at address that’s less open.

While pot bunkers can be intimidating for all levels of players, especially those competing at this year’s Open Championship, thinking about these three tips will pay huge dividends to help lower scores.