Seve Ballesteros is known by most to be the best bunker player and part of the reason is because of how he grew up. His brothers gave him a cut down 3 iron and he lived on the coast of Spain, so he learned how to hit high soft shots using just a 3 iron.
Here I have an old 3 iron and I’m going to show you how just understanding how to get a high soft shot with a 3 iron can help you with your bunker play. If I’m sitting in this bunker and I need to hit this 3 iron up in the air, the first thing I need to do is create loft. I can do that by opening up the club but I’m going to need even more loft so I’m going to go ahead and drop my handle. Anytime I drop that handle I’m going to add more loft. The second thing is I have to figure out how to swing this club in create enough speed. If I try to use my shoulders too much, the ball is going to come out too low. I have to use my hands and wrists.
So if I was going to do this with just a 3 iron, I get my face open, I drop, the handle, and I use my wrists just like Seve Ballesteros learned when he was growing up on the coast of Spain.
