KJ Choi recently demonstrated a strange bunker drill that he teaches young players.
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Bunker shooting is some of them the most challenging shots for recreational players. And much of this struggle comes from lack of practice.
Finding a suitable place to practice bunker shots can be difficult. Most public courses do not have manicured short game practice areas to fine tune the technique needed to properly hit sand shots. As a result, the only bunker practice many golfers get is when they find one in the course.
This is not very efficient if you hope to become a skilled sand player. Shots in the bunker require a technique not used anywhere else in the course, and a lot of learning proper technique comes from trial and error. If the only time you’re hitting the bunker is when you hit the sand during a round, you’re not going to be a very good bunker player.
Hitting a hard bunker shot requires you to use your hands and arms in a very specific way – and most golfers are never taught the proper feel. Tournament of Champions for KJ Choi there’s a fix for that, and it comes in the form of a weird-looking bunker drill.
KJ Choi’s weird bunker drill
If your first reaction to seeing Choi’s workout was, “What the hell is he doing?” you are not alone. Typically, you’ll see someone using their head as a hammer after hitting a poor shot into the bunker, not as a training exercise.
But while the drill may seem odd, it offers some key benefits for the feel needed to hit bunker shots when done right.
If you watch the audio video, you’ll notice that the sound the clubhead makes when it hits the sand is very similar to the sound it makes when you hit a proper shot into the bunker. This is because the club head is contacting the sand at a very similar angle in both cases.
“You hit the ground at exactly 90 degrees (on impact),” Choi says.
When you swing the club straight down into the sand like a hammer, you are also forced to repeat the shaft angle on a bunker shot. When you hit a bunker shot the right way, your hands are in line with the shaft and clubhead at impact. And when you do this exercise correctly, you should create the same angle.
“Some people have the wrong grip and the wrong angle,” says Choi. “The hands are far (far) to the left. So we go into the bunker and grab first and the corner straight down.”
If you can replicate how the club head affects the sand AND shaft angle during hammer practice when you’re hitting bunker shots, you’ll soon be hitting better bunker shots than you knew possible. Give it a shot.
