Golf Training
www.shawnclementgolf.com Shawn Clement, Director of the Richmond Hill Golf Learning Centre in Toronto and one of the top 25 CPGA Teachers as rated by Score Golf Magazine, shows you basic rules and etiquette in the bunkers.
Golf Pro Lesson Basic Rules Bunkers
February 7th, 2010 
Robert Stonehill 
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Just enjoy the process! It is all in the hunt!
Shawn
Thank you Shawn:) I’ve been trying too use you’r tips on the course, and some of them work. And some of them don’t but I will try too make it in the end:)
OK; you are talking about top dress after they spike the greens right? As long as your ball is clean after you mark it, just adjust for slightly slower greens but direction is not that bad with the sand though; it is usually the holes they punch in the greens that affect direction; just make a decision on the line and speed and stroke the putt with confidence and see what happens! Shawn
hehe xD yeah, I can do that, but I mean the ball change direction when I putt on the green when it is sand on it. But I think there is no rule for this.
But thanks Shawn:)
You can use any club you want at anytime; play the whole course with the putter if you like!
Shawn
You are always permitted to sweep the sand away with your hands if it is in the line of play and if you are on the green;
Shawn
if the ball lands in the middle the bunker is that a penalty? can you use 4wood get the ball out?
what if it’s sand on the green. What can you do? It’s very bad to putt when the sand is on the green and you didn’t get to the hole bacause of the sand.
absolutely true!
The expression grounding your club means just that; to touch the ground with your club. You may not ground the club in a hazard;
Items considered a hazard are bunkers unless they are identified as waste areas and water hazards. So you could not take a practice swing in a dry river bed that is marked by red or yellow stakes or lines. So you will need to make any practice swings in the air or outside the hazard and of course hover your club at address. Thanks for the question! Shawn
Can you place your club in the sand after your practice swings after you’ve taken your stance? Or do you have to hover the ball above?
Hi Rosie;
If you go to my “bunker shots” and “buried bunker shots” videos and follow to the letter with no changes at all; the key here is to focus on where you want to toss the wet sand and use a lob wedge that has less bounce on the sole; (say 8 to 10 degrees) sand wedges typically have too much bounce under them for this shot…Also you want the ball just forward of centre and use momentum to skip the sand onto the part of the green where you want the ball to land;
Shawn
Giday Shawn, I played in my ladies comp today and I played well enough with the exception of the 4 bunkers I found myself in. Could you please tell me how it is best to play sand traps that are wet and set. I took my regular set up, hands forward weight forward, ball in the middle of my stance. Opened the face of my club taking two inches of sand behind the ball and followed through. Twice I flew the green and twice I took two shots to get out. I felt terrible, please help.
Rosie
No penalty at all! Good etiquette will dictate you make your practice swings off the tee box and then go to the ball if you are less experienced but I have no issues with it and take by practice next to the ball; an accidental divot once in a while will not hurt anyone and this is why you pay the big bucks to your local club in the first place right?
Shawn
nice vidoes about the rules. it would be fantastic if you can give some tips of pace-of-play. slow-play (my 4some or group in front) is a plague that can totally ruin my golf rounds.
Another great vid, Shawn! What is the rule on grounding your practice swings in the fairway and the t-box? Can your club brush the grass but not make a divot? What if you accidentally make a divot and it cannot be replaced? Penalty?
Keep the basic rules lesson coming–they’re great!
You are right! But it has to be a local rule or something that could risk injury; if you were in a PGA event and all you had was a pebble, I doubt you would get relief…but for a friendly match, by all means! Equipment is expensive enough as it is!
Thanks Jordan! Shawn
i believe im right in saying you can remove stones from a bunker. you certainly can at my course