“Always make a smart decision” - Justin Rose reveals best practices to get out of the infamous pot bunker at The Open’s host Royal Liverpool
Ahead of the 151st Open, Justin Rose shared some valuable tips to get out of the pot bunkers, especially on the links courses. Pot bunkers are notorious for changing the fate of the game. Even Royal Liverpool, which is hosting this year's Open Championship, has several tough pot bunkers at very crucial holes.
Rose is entering the 151st Open after three top-10 finishes in the last five events and is looking to do well in the last major of the season. Barring the US Open, he did well at the Masters and PGA Championship.
In the video shared by the PGA Tour, Rose gives several pieces of advice on different scenarios when the player gets stuck in the pot bunkers. As per him, the first thing that works well with the bunkers is to have a shallow swing while trying to get out of them.
Rose said:
"When you swing quite shallow, you tend to present the most amount of loft at impact, which helps you get the ball up high and quickly, and obviously get the ball out of the bunker first and foremost, but then gives you a chance to control the ball on the green."
The 42-year-old Englishman added that it is important to have a wide stance. He said that to have a stable footing, he tries to bury the feet into the sand, which helps lower the center of gravity.
"With a lower center of gravity, there's more chance of the club kind of swinging on a nice wide arc at the bottom," Rose added.
Not everyone gets a perfect lie all the time. Sometimes the ball lies on the slope. In this situation, Rose suggested tilting the body along the line of the slope.
He added:
"From this point, I'm almost trying to feel like I'm hitting a high draw out of the bunker. I'm going to be really releasing my right hand, recocking it like this, to really try to flick the ball up into the air as quickly as possible.
"So, like I said, set the body up, play the ball a long way forward in your stance because you want to have the most amount of loft as possible at impact."
Another problem that occurs with the Links bunkers is their tendency to 'attract' the ball towards them. When the ball falls near the bunkers, it often rolls into them. Sand being soft doesn't help either. In this situation, the 11-time winner on the PGA Tour suggested getting the ball out of the bunker.
He said:
"In some scenarios, that would mean, do I have to go backward because I have a clean stance, sideways, whatever it is?
"So I'm going to have to really find a way to get comfortable by having this foot out of the bunker. It's now making me feel there's a lot of weight on my left side. My shoulders are very much steeply pointing down."
The 2013 US Open winner added that placing one foot out gives him the advantage of making a steep swing. To balance the steepness of the swing, he suggested keeping the face of the club open.
Rose concluded the video with one last piece of advice that every upcoming golfer should keep in mind.
"Always make a smart decision in a Links bunker, even if that means going out sideways because you want to mitigate those types of scenarios where you can be in the bunker four, five, or six times," he concluded.
How can you master the infamous pot bunker?
@JustinRose99 walks through best practices to overcome the treacherous sand. pic.twitter.com/MUwtA0JJg8
When will Justin Rose tee off at the 151st Open, round 1?
Justin Rose is paired with Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm for the first two rounds of the 151st Open. The trio will tee off on Thursday, July 20 at 4:58 am EST.