Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
AS reported on this page, golf recently lost one of its recent Hall of Fame inductees, Ken Venturi. I can still hear the ‘Venturisms’, you know the ones like: ‘If he had just hit the ball harder he would have gotten it to the hole’.
What do you think, almost Yogi Bear-esque! Ken was not only the voice of CBS for over 35 years and a US Open Champion; he was also a great bunker player and teacher of sand shots.
Venturi had a great tip that taught players to take a more shallow approach on their bunker shot versus digging a ditch in the sand and inevitably leaving the ball in the sand. A more shallow approach allows the player to slide through the sand, ultimately creating more consistency while allowing the player to control the shot better.
Place a ball on a tee in the sand so that the top of the tee is just above the surface. Your stance should be slightly wider than usual and the ball should be played forward in your stance, or left heel for a right-handed player. Once a proper ball position has been established, try to clip the ball off the tee. You will notice that to achieve this you have to hit behind the ball with a shallow attack allowing the club to ‘slide’ under the ball. This swing should be controlled and not ‘wristy’.
As you utilise this drill you will notice that you can control distance by increasing height and decreasing distance by opening the clubface. Once distance control is achieved you will notice that during a round of play your bunker shots will be easier and it will take much less time to fill in the ‘ditches’ that you used to make in the bunker.
