Short game tips 10 Sep 2026 8 min read

Bunker Shot Technique: Control Your Entry Point

One bunker shot stays in the sand. The next shoots over the green. When both misses turn up, it is difficult to commit to either the strike or the swing.

Start with where the club enters the sand. For a standard greenside bunker shot, Parker McLachlin, the Short Game Chef, gives Piers Ward a reference of roughly two to three inches behind the ball. A line in a practice bunker makes that entry point something you can check after every swing.

Piers’ lesson also highlights a less obvious problem: the body movement and forward shaft lean that suit his full shots can make his bunker strike harder to repeat. The drills below explain how Parker helps him free up the club, and when those same feels may be the wrong choice for you.

Why your bunker strike changes

Piers describes an entry point that can get too close to the ball, producing a thin strike. At other times, he catches the sand too early and leaves the shot short. Trying to avoid one miss can make him hesitant about the next swing.

Parker notices movement back and through the shot. With the body shifting and the hands trying to control the club, Piers has several things to time before the club reaches the sand.

That is a useful pattern to check if you alternate between heavy and thin bunker shots. Look at the mark in the sand before changing your swing again. Did the club enter where you intended, or did the entry point move?

If you first need the broader setup and swing basics, start with our guide to getting out of bunkers first time. Here, the focus is on making the entry point more repeatable and matching the release to your own fault.

Set up for a quieter bunker swing

Parker wants Piers to start in a position he can maintain more easily through the strike. He encourages more pressure into the lead leg, a slightly longer trail leg and a chest position a little farther forward. Piers is a right-handed golfer, so his lead leg is his left.

The aim is to reduce the shift away from the intended entry point and the need to move back towards it. It should feel settled over the shot, with the arms, hands and wrists freer to swing the club.

Use these as relative adjustments, rather than trying to force a particular weight percentage or lock your legs. Parker is changing Piers’ pattern, not setting a position every golfer must copy exactly.

There is also a difference between a quieter body and a rigid swing. Let the club swing while reducing unnecessary body movement. The body can follow; it does not need to drive the action as aggressively as Piers is used to on his full shots.

For contact problems on grass, our chipping tips for cleaner contact address that separate shot. Keep the bunker task clear: you are practising an entry into the sand behind the ball.

Practise your entry point with a line

This is the most useful place to start because it gives you feedback without asking you to guess what your body did.

1. In a practice bunker, draw a line across the sand where you want the club to enter.
2. Leave the ball out initially. Make a swing and try to enter the sand on the line.
3. Check where the disturbed sand begins. Repeat beside the previous mark so you can still see the line.
4. When you add a ball for a standard greenside shot, use Parker’s roughly two-to-three-inch gap between the line and the ball as your starting reference.
5. After the shot, check the entry mark as well as the result.

Parker describes making 20 to 30 swings without a ball to work on this skill. The point is to give each repetition a clear task: enter on the line, then check the mark.

If the shot is poor and the mark begins well behind the line, you have useful information. If it starts beyond the line, nearer the ball, you have a different error to work on. You can now judge whether a setup or release change helps you hit the intended spot more often.

The two-to-three-inch reference belongs to the standard greenside shot being practised here. Treat it as a starting point, not a fixed distance for every lie and bunker shot.

Let the club release instead of dragging the handle

For Piers, settling the setup is only part of the change. He is comfortable pulling the handle forward and compressing a full shot. Parker wants him to let the clubhead pass more freely through the bunker swing.

These rehearsals are for that pattern. They are particularly relevant if you recognise the feeling of the lead hand dragging the handle while the club struggles to release.

Try the little-finger-off rehearsal

Parker asks Piers to hold the club at the very end of the grip and take his lead-hand little finger off. For Piers, that is the left little finger. He then makes practice swings with both hands otherwise on the club.

Piers immediately feels less able to control the club by pulling with the left hand. The club feels freer to swing. This is a practice feel for the release, rather than an instruction that every golfer should permanently change their grip.

Rehearse with the lead hand only

Piers already likes the feeling of a right-hand-only bunker swing. Parker instead asks him to train the left hand, which is the hand he tends to pull with.

Use a small rehearsal to feel the wrist hinge, release and rehinge. Keep the hips from racing ahead while you explore how the club can swing past. Then return both hands to the club and see whether that freer motion helps you enter on your practice line.

Piers describes a long, soft sensation as the club begins to swing more freely. Softness here is a feel for the motion, not a reason to quit on the shot. You still need enough speed through the sand to play the shot in front of you.

Match the feel to your own fault

Piers experiments with strong sensations, including standing up and keeping his chest closed through the strike. Those feels help him explore the opposite of his usual down-and-forward pull.

Parker is clear that this can be the wrong direction for a golfer with a different movement pattern. Do not copy Piers’ exaggerated feels without checking your own fault. For a golfer with the opposite pattern, exaggerating the release or holding the chest back may make the strike worse.

Use the line to judge the change. Does the new feel help you enter where you intended? Can you keep enough speed through the sand? A dramatic sensation is only useful if it helps the shot you actually need to play.

Your bunker practice sequence

Begin with a standard greenside shot and a straightforward target. Piers and Parker do this before moving to a more demanding short-sided shot.

• Start without a ball: use the line to find out where the club enters.
• Settle your setup if you are shifting back and through.
• If you drag the handle, try a few little-finger-off or lead-hand-only rehearsals.
• Add the ball and return to the same entry-point task.
• Check the sand mark after each shot. Keep the feel that helps you repeat the entry.

Once the standard shot is more dependable, you have a clearer basis for working on height and distance. Changing everything at once makes it harder to know which adjustment helped.

For more help with your game, explore Swing Coach.

Bunker shot FAQs

How far behind the ball should I hit the sand?

Parker uses roughly two to three inches behind the ball as the reference for this standard greenside bunker shot. Put a line at the intended entry point during practice and check whether your club actually enters there.

Should my body stay still in a bunker shot?

Parker asks Piers to quieten his body so the arms, hands and wrists can do more of the work. That is a correction for Piers’ active body and handle-drag pattern. It does not mean every golfer should freeze their body throughout the swing.

Does this apply to fairway bunker shots?

This lesson addresses greenside bunker shots played through the sand behind the ball. If your question concerns a longer shot from a fairway bunker, use our guide to how to play a fairway bunker shot for that separate situation.