How To Play The Toughest Bunker Shot In Golf – Can You Escape The Sand Unscathed?

Jessica Korda hitting a shot from a plugged lie near the face of the bunker at the AIG Women's Open, with an inset image of Clive Tucker at the top of his backswing as he demonstrates how to play a bunker shot from a plugged lie near the face of the bunker.

Bunker shots are an area that many of us struggle with, leading to some of the most common mistakes amateur golfers make around the greens.

Learning how to hit a bunker shot successfully is crucial lesson for all golfers, but sadly not all lies and shots in the sand are equal.

Some of the hardest bunker shots to play can be challenging for even the most accomplished golfers, but I believe this one might be the toughest.

In this article, Golf Monthly Top 50 Coach Clive Tucker teaches you how to escape the bunker when you are faced with a plugged lie near the face - which is a crucial lesson that could save you plenty of shots when the time comes...

How To Play The Toughest Bunker Shot In Golf

1. Different Approach

The plugged or semi-plugged lie near a steep face presents a real challenge.

Normally, on longer plugged bunker shots, I would recommend closing the face and hitting it very hard with a full finish to chase the ball off and away.

That won’t work here, as you won’t generate the loft needed to get the ball out over the bunker face.

2. Setup Change

When we are faced with a plugged lie in the bunker, especially when near the face, we need to do something different, but what?

The first thing is not to close the clubface as that de-lofts the club. Setup is then similar to a standard bunker shot, but with two key bunker setup changes.

Set your hands a bit lower and feel as though you’re sitting down a little. This helps to promote a faster wrist-cock to get you taking the club up almost vertically.

3. No Follow-Through

You still have to drive the clubhead down hard on to the ball to generate speed, but you pretty much want to stop at impact with virtually no follow-through.

This should allow you to pop the ball up and out with enough height to clear the face. It won’t spin or check but won’t release too far either. Your main goal here is to get it out!

These tips could help you to escape one of the toughest bunker shots in golf unscathed (Image credit: Kenny Smith)

How Often Does The Average Amateur Golfer Get Up And Down From The Bunker?

According to Shot Scope data, the average amateur golfer has a sand save percentage of just 20%, meaning they only get the ball up and down successfully from the bunker around one in five times.

The average scratch golfer actually achieves this around 37% of the time, whereas a 25-handicapper is only successfully 10% of the time, painting a stark picture on the importance of improving bunker shot technique in order to shoot lower scores.