Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you play smarter, better golf.
Bryson DeChambeau‘s 72nd-hole up-and-down to win this summer’s U.S. Open will go down in history as one of the most clutch sequences ever. Not only were the stakes at their highest, the difficulty of the shot was also maxed out.
Anyone who’s faced a long bunker shot knows how tricky it can be. Catch it too thin and the ball goes screaming over the green. Take too much sand and you won’t even reach the green. When hitting a long bunker shot, the margin for error is minuscule.
If you make one key change, though, this shot is much easier than it looks. In fact, all you’ve got to do is make one simple change to make this shot a breeze. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler explains more below.
The best golfer in the world takes on the hardest shot in the game.
— TaylorMade Golf (@TaylorMadeGolf) September 5, 2024
Here's how Scottie takes on the dreaded long bunker shot. #TeamTaylorMade pic.twitter.com/9htZvJjFAO
How to make a long bunker shot look easy
When you’re hitting a greenside bunker shot, you’ll usually use a sand wedge or lob wedge to loft the ball up in the air and get out of the bunker. When you’ve got a longer bunker shot, though, you shouldn’t be using either one of these clubs.
From the greenside bunker, you’re trying to enter the sand an inch or two behind the ball to splash the ball onto the green. But when the distance of the shot increases, you’ve got to take less sand to get more power on the shot if you’re still using a sand wedge or lob wedge.
As you can imagine, the margin for error becomes extremely thin when attempting this technique. You’ve got to execute just about perfectly to take the correct amount of sand to control the distance precisely.
Instead of playing for the perfect shot, choose a longer club (think 9-iron or pitching wedge). You’ll be amazed at how much larger the margin of error becomes.
“The shot gets a lot simpler when you’re using less loft,” Scheffler says. “When you use lower loft for these longer shots, it becomes much more consistent.”
Next time you’re faced with a long bunker shot, opt for the lower lofted club instead of the sand wedge. When you do, you’ll be amazed how much easier the shot becomes.
