on Worldwide Golf

JUSTIN ROSE’S SWING

PLUGGED LIES

It doesn’t take long to find a highlight reel of 2013 U.S. Open winner Justin Rose playing outstanding bunker shots throughout his amazing career. He’s another of my favourite players of all time, so what a pleasaure taking you through his movement.

At the time of writing, the Englishman’s sand save percentage for the current season is at 64 percent which ranks him inside the top 20 on the Tour. Last season he was second on 65 percent. The statistics don’t lie, and even in the latter stages of his career, the Ryder Cup star remains one of the best and most consistent bunker players in the world.

Here, the former world number one is pictured at the recent Arnold Palmer Invitational playing out of a plugged lie at a greenside bunker. These shots look daunting, but they really don’t need to be. With some simple set-up adjustments and tecnique changes you can learn to master this shot. Hopefully you can pick up a tip by looking through these images with me.

Rose considers his bunker play to be one of his strongest assets, and considering his stats I wouldn’t argue. The first thing you will notice here is the lie of the ball. Due to this lie, we see Justin making certain alterations to a standard bunker shot with the weight considerably more to the left and the ball further back in the stance.
Lowering the body’s centre allows the Englishman to create what he refers to as a shallower angle of approach into the sand. Due to the lie, he’s using a more vertical blow but there are still fundamentals to take note of. The second thing you’ll note is his body weight is on the left side with the left toe open.
Maintaining more body weight left allows him to control his low point and the left toe out sets his intended swing line slightly to the left of the target line which will encourage the use of the bounce and loft.
Rose has built some very solid and simple constants during the takeaway. I know many reading this fear bunker shots, but you shouldn’t. I always say in the bunker if you ripple the sand correctly you can actually get away with not striking the sand in exactly the correct place as the sand will cushion the ball onto the green.

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You can see his body’s lowered, weight is over the forward knee and his left toe is approximately 45 degrees open. This simple body action is accompanied by a simple wrist hinge and elbow fold. Note how the loft is still on his golf club with the toe of the clubface behind the heel.
What we notice in this frame is how Rose has begun the downswing with a lowering of his arms. Take a look at the previous frame and compare his shoulder turn. Not a lot of movement, right! Many issues I see from amateurs are caused by a poor relationship between the body action and hand, arm and shoulder action.
The 43-year-old brilliantly allows his shoulders to lower his arms into a great delivery position with his shoulders allowing his hands to remain passive. From this downward pressure the toe is beginning to square in a downforce, with the body action increasing its movement down and around.
In this particular bunker shot we see the ball is in a plugged lie. Usually I would advise the ball position is played off the left foot and the hands, square to the toe line at address, or behind the ball to encourage bounce and loft. This simplifies a normal bunker shot significantly.

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However, due to the lie of the ball, Rose has his hands in front of the club as he’s using the leading edge to dig the sand. Moving the ball position back in the stance is one way to play this shot. Due to the reduced loft on the club it’s worth noting the bounce is reduced and therefore the sand will pressure the ball out lower and with less control.
In the next few frames you’ll not see a lot of difference as Rose has really worked the leading edge vertically into the sand to ensure the clubhead has sunk below the ball to push the sand and ball forward. Another way to a play a plugged lie is the ‘heel cut shot’ which utilises a forward ball position and lower hands.
Regardless of the technique, you can learn from Rose’s quiet hands here. 99 percent of amateurs I see overuse their hands, usually the right hand turning over the left for a right-handed player. Top tip: Golfers suffering with speed through the sand should try a 10 finger grip or a split grip with the right hand below the left to create more leverage on the grip.
Understanding technique behind how to ripple the sand is the key to consistent bunker shots. This is really knowing how the clubhead reacts when it enters the sand or grass. With all wedges, the back edge of the golf club is always lower than the leading edge. Having a the correct wedge with the right bounce for your swing is very important.

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