Links Corner Forum

Hey, new player here!
I’ve had a great time learning and getting to understand how the game plays, but bunkers still elude me…
Sometimes I hit it full and it goes for miles, and other times it goes 19 feet. Anyone have any pointer in bunker play?
Sorry if this is a stupid question btw

Theauthor1997 wrote: ↑February 10th, 2023, 2:16 am Hey, new player here!
I’ve had a great time learning and getting to understand how the game plays, but bunkers still elude me…
Sometimes I hit it full and it goes for miles, and other times it goes 19 feet. Anyone have any pointer in bunker play?
Sorry if this is a stupid question btw

Are you referring to short explosion type shots from green-side bunkers?

Dan

We need to know which swing type you use before answering that question.

If you're using classic swing, there are two main ways you can try play bunker shots.

Either you try hit the last click right on the 5 o'clock yellow mark, if you succeed, the ball will in theory travel nearly the same distance as if it had been a normal shot at the same power you hit with the first click after starting the swing. If you miss the yellow mark by just a tiny bit, you will lose a lot of distance. Some people play chip shots from bunkers with this technique. It's like the real life equivalent of a pick-shot from sand - not taking any sand.

Or you could do the arguably safer method of an explosion shot, with high power and taking a lot of sand, and hitting the last click around the 7 to 6 o'clock position. Computer players tend to do it this way. Whats safer about it is that it wont matter that much if you hit the last click a little too early or late, the ball will likely go nearly the same distance. As long as you dont hit the last click even a tiny bit to the right of the 6 o'clock position, as that will make the ball fly much, much further. It takes a bit of practice to know what type of power for the shot makes the ball fly a certain distance, of course, but once you have got that down, greenside bunker shots become kind of easy. Fairway bunker shots on the other hand... are much more difficult in Links than in real life, at least they are for me.

One more thing if your ball is "buried" in a greenside bunker it a "blast" shot will send it flying-in this case, to quote an old commercial "A little dab'll do ya!"

Theauthor1997 wrote: ↑February 10th, 2023, 2:16 am Hey, new player here!
I’ve had a great time learning and getting to understand how the game plays, but bunkers still elude me…
Sometimes I hit it full and it goes for miles, and other times it goes 19 feet. Anyone have any pointer in bunker play?
Sorry if this is a stupid question btw

go here https://linkscorner.org/phpBB/viewtopic.php?f=17&t=71
for sand help.
look for putting and sand charts.

Jimbo wrote: ↑February 10th, 2023, 4:48 am One more thing if your ball is "buried" inn a green side bunker it will a "blast" shot will send it flying-in this case, to quote an old commercial "A little dab'll do ya!"

I have always used about 50% of the normal shot (6-12 o'clock) for buried green side bunkers
practice is a great thing

THANK YOU!!!!
This has been a great help, thank you so much!

Something else I've found with greenside bunkers: if you contact the ball between 7 and 8 o'clock it will "pop" like the pros do it. This is very handy if the pin is close to the bunker, but it needs a lot of experimentation. 10/7, 9/6 etc. This is just for greensides with a short distance and buried lies and they'll still "jump with power" so you have to treat them "gently".
Just like the real game practice makes perfect (or as close as us can get) make use of the practice mode, especially if you have a new mouse or keyboard (or both).

Jimbo wrote: ↑February 11th, 2023, 5:43 am This is just for greensides with a short distance and buried lies

My rule-of-thumb with this type of shot from a buried lie is to take about half the backswing that I would take on a blast shot that is NOT buried. Works well for me. In short, the half swing that is buried will go as far as the full swing that is NOT buried.

Dan

I've had reasonable success using the lob instead of the sand wedge from buried lies in greenside bunkers.