By Steven Palmer – Academy Director
As a professional, once you get to a certain standard everybody hits it well. An ordinary PGA pro like myself could stand on a driving range and not look out of place hitting full shots. The difference between somebody like me and a major winner like Michael Campbell is the skill in creating scoring shots and the regularity with which he can produce these results.
I have the privilege of being able to watch Michael on a daily basis and an area that always hugely impresses me is his skill in the bunkers. The following is a breakdown of these skills and some ways you can emulate him to benefit your own game. Enjoy!
The Body is the Engine
One thing that is very apparent about Michael’s technique is that his arms are there purely to provide a consistent radius to his swing. He doesn’t hinge his wrists too much and he keeps his hands wide. This makes him use his body aggressively, which is far more reliable under pressure and also provides a high level of consistency in strike and speed.
Most players under-use their bodies and over-use their hands and arms, often resulting in a weak, inconsistent action. Notice how in Michael’s backswing his body is fully turned, left shoulder under his chin, but his club and arms are short of the top of his backswing and his swing remains wide. This is the first position for you to copy.
Loft
One thing to notice about Michael’s setup is that his hands are neither pushed forwards nor pulled away from the target. A reference of the club pointing somewhere near your belt buckle is useful here. This ensures a use of the club’s natural loft and, with the face rotated open slightly, gives plenty of loft to be able to pop the ball out of even the steepest bunkers.
A most important part of this is to return the club with the same loft at impact… of course, it’s no good to set up this way if you are going to change this at impact! Notice how Michael’s club is in a very similar position at impact as it is at setup; not leaning towards the target and de-lofting the club but also not leaning away, which compromises the quality of the strike.
Speed
This is a hugely underestimated part of good bunker play. In my experience, players are often afraid of swinging too fast as they fear missing the sand and thinning the ball over the green. If you are playing with so much loft and hitting plenty of sand under the ball, you are going to need lots of clubhead speed to get your ball to travel the correct distance. In these shots, you can further see how Michael’s body is the engine of his swing, how he turns his body fully in the backswing and into the finish, and the slight motion blur from the camera and the explosion of sand shows just how hard he is swinging.
Hit the Sand in the Right Place
Consistency in this area is the absolute foundation of good, confident bunker play. The truth is, you can get all the other stuff right but, if you’re not hitting the sand in the right place consistently, your bunker play will be inconsistent at best.
Golfers consistently wrongly believe that a good swing equals a good strike. The reality is that strike is a skill that needs to be learned alongside good technique. Proficiency in technique aids proficiency in strike and vice versa, so it’s important to work on both.
One of the best exercises is to draw a line in the sand just behind the ball and practise taking consistently sized divots. One thing you will notice about Michael’s technique when performing this exercise is that his sternum is more or less over the point of the ball. Too far ahead or behind makes it that much more difficult to enter the sand in the right place, which is an inch or two behind the ball.
Give these pointers a try and see if you can recreate the short game of a major champion… only a few thousand hours should do it!
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