Overview and Goal1: Solid Contact

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:09.900
Hey golfers, welcome to the Bunker Wedge Play program.

2
00:00:09.900 --> 00:00:14.520
We're here we're going to build your stock bunker shot for green side bunkers.

3
00:00:14.520 --> 00:00:18.740
We are going to start with kind of the three same goals that we've used in some

4
00:00:18.740 --> 00:00:19.380
of the other

5
00:00:19.380 --> 00:00:23.510
wedge programs, but instead of saying constant radius for the bunker we're

6
00:00:23.510 --> 00:00:24.640
going to say more

7
00:00:24.640 --> 00:00:30.050
radius control, because there is going to be a little bit more of a narrow wide

8
00:00:30.050 --> 00:00:31.220
narrow

9
00:00:31.220 --> 00:00:35.400
happening here with the radius, but we still want to have stack centers and we

10
00:00:35.400 --> 00:00:35.800
still want

11
00:00:35.800 --> 00:00:40.360
to have a relatively smooth force, a little bit more kind of arm acceleration

12
00:00:40.360 --> 00:00:40.720
through the

13
00:00:40.720 --> 00:00:44.740
ball, but overall still pretty smooth.

14
00:00:44.740 --> 00:00:49.220
With the club goals we're going to focus a lot on the sand interaction with the

15
00:00:49.220 --> 00:00:49.680
club.

16
00:00:49.680 --> 00:00:53.200
We're going to focus a lot on sand contact.

17
00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:57.050
There are three major characteristics that I want you to focus on when you're

18
00:00:57.050 --> 00:00:57.520
looking

19
00:00:57.520 --> 00:01:02.160
or analyzing your sand club interaction.

20
00:01:02.160 --> 00:01:05.830
You want to look at where does the club hit the sand, so where's the entry

21
00:01:05.830 --> 00:01:06.440
point.

22
00:01:06.440 --> 00:01:10.020
You want to look at where's the low point or where's the bottom of the swing,

23
00:01:10.020 --> 00:01:10.320
and you

24
00:01:10.320 --> 00:01:16.740
want to look at the depth, both kind of when we look at the sand we can look at

25
00:01:16.740 --> 00:01:17.320
how if

26
00:01:17.320 --> 00:01:21.540
it's smooth at the bottom, that's usually a sign of more of the leading edge,

27
00:01:21.540 --> 00:01:21.960
or not

28
00:01:21.960 --> 00:01:26.570
enough bounce interaction, or if it's rough then the club face came in a little

29
00:01:26.570 --> 00:01:27.480
bit better.

30
00:01:27.480 --> 00:01:31.190
There's also a sound associated with really good sand contact that's a little

31
00:01:31.190 --> 00:01:31.680
bit more

32
00:01:31.680 --> 00:01:35.400
of a thwap or a little bit more of a thud.

33
00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:41.840
And then lastly for the club goals is to focus on the face rotation, so

34
00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:43.400
compared to a lot

35
00:01:43.400 --> 00:01:48.260
of the other shots, we don't want to have very much face rotation this way, we

36
00:01:48.260 --> 00:01:48.600
want

37
00:01:48.600 --> 00:01:53.920
to have more of the face staying the same compared to the path as it's coming

38
00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:53.920
through

39
00:01:53.920 --> 00:01:55.680
or close to it.

40
00:01:55.680 --> 00:01:59.600
So we want to finish with we can see the club face in a much more open or

41
00:01:59.600 --> 00:02:02.840
rotated position.

42
00:02:02.840 --> 00:02:07.630
So again our big goals are looking at sand contact, looking at the three, we

43
00:02:07.630 --> 00:02:08.320
got entry

44
00:02:08.320 --> 00:02:14.160
point, low point depth, and then our first goal is to establish one standard

45
00:02:14.160 --> 00:02:15.040
shot.

46
00:02:15.040 --> 00:02:19.140
We'll cover kind of the basics of how we're going to create our technique to

47
00:02:19.140 --> 00:02:19.680
get into

48
00:02:19.680 --> 00:02:22.160
a position more or less like this.

49
00:02:22.160 --> 00:02:26.030
And then we're going to talk about how we're going to vary distance, either

50
00:02:26.030 --> 00:02:26.680
with setup

51
00:02:26.680 --> 00:02:29.200
changes or with swing changes.

52
00:02:29.200 --> 00:02:33.700
And then lastly we'll talk about more controlling trajectory, so when you have

53
00:02:33.700 --> 00:02:34.720
that ball close

54
00:02:34.720 --> 00:02:38.590
to the lip and you have to get it up really high or if you have a little bit

55
00:02:38.590 --> 00:02:39.560
more distance

56
00:02:39.560 --> 00:02:42.580
to cover and you want to hit this thing a little bit lower and have it release,

57
00:02:42.580 --> 00:02:42.920
we'll

58
00:02:42.920 --> 00:02:44.280
talk about how to adjust those.

59
00:02:44.280 --> 00:02:48.510
We'll also talk about troubleshooting and working on variety of lies, but these

60
00:02:48.510 --> 00:02:48.920
are kind

61
00:02:48.920 --> 00:02:50.480
of our three big goals.

62
00:02:50.480 --> 00:02:54.020
One standard shot, a couple different distances, and then how to adjust it for

63
00:02:54.020 --> 00:02:54.800
trajectory.

64
00:02:54.800 --> 00:02:59.480
Alright, so for our first goal we're working on solid contact.

65
00:02:59.480 --> 00:03:04.840
In order to get solid contact, which really is about controlling the sand

66
00:03:04.840 --> 00:03:05.440
location, or

67
00:03:05.440 --> 00:03:10.850
the sand contact, we're going to be a little bit more lead leg bias, so setup

68
00:03:10.850 --> 00:03:11.260
keys are

69
00:03:11.260 --> 00:03:14.000
going to be more over that front foot.

70
00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:19.410
We want the nose kind of in line with the golf ball, so I say nose cover the

71
00:03:19.410 --> 00:03:20.200
golf ball.

72
00:03:20.200 --> 00:03:23.200
Not this way, I don't want to be leaning so that the club is out there.

73
00:03:23.200 --> 00:03:29.620
In fact, ideally I'll be further away than say a normal wedge shot, but from

74
00:03:29.620 --> 00:03:30.400
this view,

75
00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:33.810
my nose will be more or less in line with the golf ball, so the golf ball is

76
00:03:33.810 --> 00:03:34.280
going to

77
00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:35.680
be a little bit more forward.

78
00:03:35.680 --> 00:03:42.200
I lean onto the lead left and now my nose is in line this way with the golf

79
00:03:42.200 --> 00:03:43.120
ball.

80
00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:45.880
I want to have pretty level shoulders.

81
00:03:45.880 --> 00:03:50.350
I don't want to have a lot of tilt that tends to move the low point backward

82
00:03:50.350 --> 00:03:51.320
and brings in

83
00:03:51.320 --> 00:03:54.360
the chunk or the bladed shot.

84
00:03:54.360 --> 00:03:58.780
With the level shoulders and in an attempt to not let the club face close, we

85
00:03:58.780 --> 00:03:59.440
're going

86
00:03:59.440 --> 00:04:03.200
to favor more of the butterfly grip.

87
00:04:03.200 --> 00:04:07.040
If you're a really high handicap golfer, then just getting a little bit more

88
00:04:07.040 --> 00:04:09.120
neutral is fine,

89
00:04:09.120 --> 00:04:12.520
or even potentially playing your regular grip is fine.

90
00:04:12.520 --> 00:04:18.940
For most golfers who put in a little bit of effort with understanding their

91
00:04:18.940 --> 00:04:19.600
bunker, I

92
00:04:19.600 --> 00:04:24.730
tend to teach more of a butterfly grip, which is more of a strong left hand

93
00:04:24.730 --> 00:04:25.440
where it's on

94
00:04:25.440 --> 00:04:30.080
top, and then a really weak right hand where it is also on top.

95
00:04:30.080 --> 00:04:34.610
With the weak right hand, that really makes it hard to keep the club face

96
00:04:34.610 --> 00:04:35.400
closed.

97
00:04:35.400 --> 00:04:41.840
It's going to want to release and get more into that classic finish position we

98
00:04:41.840 --> 00:04:42.440
saw there

99
00:04:42.440 --> 00:04:48.760
with Rory on the intro slide.

100
00:04:48.760 --> 00:04:53.280
This right here, you can see how much that right hand is on top and released.

101
00:04:53.280 --> 00:04:56.950
This quickly, the club is here and the golf ball is here, so the club is

102
00:04:56.950 --> 00:04:57.800
actually past

103
00:04:57.800 --> 00:05:01.040
the golf ball on the way through.

104
00:05:01.040 --> 00:05:04.080
The best way to do that is to have more of the butterfly grip.

105
00:05:04.080 --> 00:05:09.490
That also encourages the wrist working more up and down instead of forward

106
00:05:09.490 --> 00:05:10.000
backward.

107
00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:14.470
The forward backward or round movements happening too much from the arm tends

108
00:05:14.470 --> 00:05:15.320
to cause more

109
00:05:15.320 --> 00:05:20.400
of some body compensations that throws the contact point too far behind.

110
00:05:20.400 --> 00:05:25.020
The majority of bad bunker players have the contact point well behind the golf

111
00:05:25.020 --> 00:05:25.560
ball,

112
00:05:25.560 --> 00:05:29.920
not just one to two inches or so.

113
00:05:29.920 --> 00:05:35.800
Lastly, the overall shape of the swing being a little bit more narrow but flat.

114
00:05:35.800 --> 00:05:42.220
We typically think of narrow swings being steep, but we want to have a narrow

115
00:05:42.220 --> 00:05:42.560
swing that's

116
00:05:42.560 --> 00:05:45.200
on more of a flat angle.

117
00:05:45.200 --> 00:05:49.610
Part of that has to do with our setup position, but part of it has to do with a

118
00:05:49.610 --> 00:05:50.400
little bit

119
00:05:50.400 --> 00:05:55.000
more of this kind of flattening or arm rotation.

120
00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:58.400
We have a couple key drills that we use.

121
00:05:58.400 --> 00:06:01.840
One drill is just establishing a consistent setup routine.

122
00:06:01.840 --> 00:06:07.250
This is best for newer golfers, but if you're an established golfer, you can

123
00:06:07.250 --> 00:06:07.880
double check

124
00:06:07.880 --> 00:06:11.800
your routine and see where you might have some blind spots or holes.

125
00:06:11.800 --> 00:06:17.900
Secondly, it would be more of the line drill, so working on contact location,

126
00:06:17.900 --> 00:06:18.720
low point

127
00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:24.130
location being low point ahead of the golf ball, and then depth being very

128
00:06:24.130 --> 00:06:24.620
shallow.

129
00:06:24.620 --> 00:06:31.040
I always use the example I heard James Seepman give about birthday cake of

130
00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:33.160
basically if you

131
00:06:33.160 --> 00:06:38.570
imagine that the bunker is a cake, you're going to try and take a long sliver

132
00:06:38.570 --> 00:06:39.200
of icing

133
00:06:39.200 --> 00:06:43.920
but not take any of the cake.

134
00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:49.680
That helps with the image of we want a long, shallow bottom of the swing, but

135
00:06:49.680 --> 00:06:50.360
we want the

136
00:06:50.360 --> 00:06:55.040
entry point a little bit behind the golf ball and the low point another inch in

137
00:06:55.040 --> 00:06:55.560
front of

138
00:06:55.560 --> 00:06:56.560
the golf ball.

139
00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:01.190
In the line drill, we cover how to draw the lines to help you with that

140
00:07:01.190 --> 00:07:02.200
feedback.

141
00:07:02.200 --> 00:07:07.330
Then lastly, the classic wood chopper drill helps with preventing too much tilt

142
00:07:07.330 --> 00:07:07.400
.

143
00:07:07.400 --> 00:07:12.760
In general, if you are coming down into the golf ball, if the club faces open

144
00:07:12.760 --> 00:07:13.040
and the

145
00:07:13.040 --> 00:07:17.450
club is coming down into the golf ball, it's very hard to blade the ball over

146
00:07:17.450 --> 00:07:19.640
the green.

147
00:07:19.640 --> 00:07:23.430
The majority of bad bunker shots, the club is going to bottom out behind and

148
00:07:23.430 --> 00:07:24.000
then it's

149
00:07:24.000 --> 00:07:28.120
going to be coming up into the ball, so it either goes too deep and it chunks

150
00:07:28.120 --> 00:07:28.880
it, leaves

151
00:07:28.880 --> 00:07:32.720
it in the bunker where it doesn't get deep enough, hits it in the middle of the

152
00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:33.120
ball,

153
00:07:33.120 --> 00:07:34.560
and blades it over the green.

154
00:07:34.560 --> 00:07:39.180
The wood chopper drill combines the axis tilt with the vertical arm movement in

155
00:07:39.180 --> 00:07:39.560
a really

156
00:07:39.560 --> 00:07:43.520
nice way to get the general shape going.

157
00:07:43.520 --> 00:07:48.180
In the next section, we're going to cover more about how we're going to vary

158
00:07:48.180 --> 00:07:49.080
the distance

159
00:07:49.080 --> 00:07:51.640
from our stock one-distance bunker shot.