Effective Bunker Practice: Quick Drills That Actually Work

Here's a question: when was the last time you deliberately practiced bunker shots? If the answer involves the word "never" or a long pause, you're in good company. Most amateurs walk right past the practice bunker, head to the range, and pound drivers. Then they wonder why sand shots feel like a coin flip during a round.

The irony is that bunker play is one of the most improvable skills in golf. The technique is specific but learnable, and the feedback is immediate — you either get out or you don't. Let's fix your sand game with drills that actually move the needle.

There are a few reasons golfers avoid the practice bunker. The range is more fun. Bunker practice is physically tiring — you're swinging into resistance every time. And frankly, many courses have lousy practice bunkers with compacted sand that bears no resemblance to what you'll face on the course.

But here's the thing. If you're a mid-handicapper, you probably visit 2-4 bunkers per round. And if your out-in-one rate is below 80%, those visits are costing you real strokes. The math is straightforward: improving from a 65% escape rate to a 90% escape rate saves roughly 1-2 strokes per round with zero change to your full swing.

Before we get to drills, you need to understand one concept. Your sand wedge has a feature called bounce — the curved bottom of the clubhead that prevents it from digging into the sand. When you open the clubface, you expose more bounce, which makes the club glide through the sand instead of burying.

Everything in bunker practice builds on this. Open face, use the bounce, accelerate through.

This is the most important drill in bunker play and where every practice session should start.

This drill trains consistent entry point, which is the single biggest variable in bunker play. Spend at least 5 minutes here every session.

Once you can get the ball out consistently, the next challenge is controlling how far it goes.

Place three targets on the green at roughly 10 feet, 20 feet, and 30 feet from the bunker. Think of these as 9 o'clock, 10:30, and 12 o'clock positions on a clock face — they represent different backswing lengths.

For the short shot, take the club back to 9 o'clock (hip height) and accelerate fully through. For the medium shot, go to 10:30 (between hip and shoulder). For the long shot, take a full backswing to 12 o'clock.

The key insight is that you never change your acceleration. You always swing through aggressively. Distance is controlled by backswing length only.

Hit 5 balls to each target and track how close you finish. Over time, you'll develop reliable feel for three different distances, which covers the vast majority of greenside bunker situations.

Not every bunker lie is clean. Sometimes the ball plugs into the sand, and the standard open-face technique won't work. You need a plan B.

For buried lies, square the clubface (or even close it slightly), position the ball in the center of your stance, and swing steeply down into the sand about 1 inch behind the ball. The club will dig, which is what you want — the sand pressure underneath pops the ball out.

Practice this by pressing balls down into the sand so they're sitting in a small crater. Hit 10 shots with the squared face. Don't worry about distance control — for buried lies, the goal is simply getting the ball onto the green. It will come out with minimal spin and roll significantly.

End every bunker practice session with a pressure drill. Give yourself 10 balls and keep score: one point for getting the ball on the green, two points for finishing within 10 feet. A perfect score is 20. Aim for 14+ as your benchmark.

This simulates on-course pressure because you're tracking results. It also ensures you don't just zone out during practice — every shot has a purpose.

Here's a 15-minute bunker session you can slot into any practice day:

• Minutes 1-5: Line drill without a ball (15-20 swings), then with a ball (10 swings)
• Minutes 5-10: Clock drill — 5 balls to each of three distances
• Minutes 10-13: Buried lie drill — 8-10 balls
• Minutes 13-15: Pressure finish — 10 scored balls

Do this once a week and your bunker play will look completely different within a month. The key is consistency. A short focused session beats an occasional marathon.

Practicing from perfect lies only. Real bunkers give you uphill lies, downhill lies, plugged balls, and hardpan. Vary your lies during practice.

Never changing targets. Hitting every ball to the same spot builds one feel. Use multiple targets to develop versatility.

Quitting after bad shots. The worst time to stop is after a skull or a chunk. Hit three more good ones before moving on so your last memory is positive.

Ignoring fairway bunkers. Greenside gets all the attention, but fairway bunkers require a completely different technique — ball back, clean contact, no sand first. Spend a few minutes on these too.

Bunker practice doesn't need to take long, and it doesn't need to be complicated. Master the line drill for consistent contact, use the clock drill for distance control, prepare for buried lies, and finish with a scored pressure drill. Fifteen minutes a week in the sand will save you more strokes than an hour on the driving range. The only question is whether you'll actually walk over to the practice bunker next time.

1. Pelz, D. Dave Pelz's Short Game Bible. Broadway Books, 1999.
2. Utley, S. The Art of the Short Game. Gotham Books, 2007.

• Out-in-one rates and stroke-loss figures for amateur golfers reflect typical ranges reported by shot-tracking platforms and short game research. Individual results vary by handicap and sand conditions.