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Symptom

Bunker shots come out right or left of where I aimed

The ball gets out cleanly but starts well right of the flag after opening the face, or pulls left along an open stance, so good escapes still finish on the wrong side of the green.

Where a shot starts is governed almost entirely by where the clubface is pointing when it meets the ball. That is the relationship this symptom sits on, so the questions work back from the start line rather than from anything about your swing.

Common ways golfers describe this

  • Why do my bunker shots go right?
  • Open the face and it goes right
  • Bunker shot always right of the flag
  • Pulling bunker shots
  • Bunker shots going left
Ball flight starting right of the target lineA golf shot drawn twice: seen from above, and below a hairline rule, seen from the side to show its height. In the view from above, a dashed line runs from the ball straight up the page to the green: the target line. A second dashed line leaves the ball right of the target line: the line the ball starts on. The flight leaves the ball along it, and holds that line without bending, finishing right of the green. The side view shows an arc of ordinary height from the ball to the green. The figure moves. In both views a ball leaves the tee and travels at an even speed, drawing the flight behind it as it goes, so the point at which it stops following the line it started on can be watched rather than worked out. It holds at the finish, then the marks clear and the shot is played again.
  • Target line
  • Start line
  • Your flight
Where a shot leaves is a reading of its own, taken before anything about the curve. The drawing takes it to one side; which side yours starts is the first thing the questions ask.

Narrow it to one cause

Each question is here because golfers answer it differently, and that difference is what rules a cause out. Nothing is generated while you answer: every question, cause and fix was written and checked in advance.

Start the questions

A few questions · no account needed

What you will be asked

  1. When a bunker shot gets out but misses, which side does it start on?
  2. How do you get the face open before a bunker shot?
  3. Lay a club along your toes in the bunker. Where does it point?
  4. Look at the cut the club left in the sand. Which way does it run?
  5. Does the miss get bigger the further you open the face?
  6. Stop the club at waist height after impact. Where is the face pointing?

Where this can come from

These are the causes this symptom resolves to, in the order they turn up most often. That order is not a diagnosis and it is not your answer: two of them can produce a shot that looks identical from behind. Each has a fix you can read now, whether or not you answer anything.

  1. Clubface aimed off at address

    The face is soled pointing somewhere other than the intended start line before the swing begins. It usually happens when the stance is taken first and the face is squared to the body rather than the target, or when the grip is completed after the club is already on the ground. Everything the swing does afterwards is a correction for a starting error.

    Read the fix

  2. Face open at impact

    The clubface is pointing right of where the club is travelling when it meets the ball. Start direction is governed almost entirely by where the face points at impact, and the curve comes from how far the face sits open to the path. An open face is why the ball starts right, curves right, and loses height-adjusted distance: loft is effectively added as the face rotates open.

    Read the fix

  3. Body aimed left of target

    Feet, hips or shoulders point left of the ball-to-target line. It usually starts when the shoulders swivel open to follow the eyes toward the target, or when a golfer aims left on purpose to allow for a slice. The path tends to follow the body, so aiming further left to allow for a slice reliably makes the slice worse.

    Read the fix

  4. Out-to-in swing path

    The club is travelling left of the target line through impact for a right-handed golfer. Curvature is produced by the difference between face and path, so a path moving left with a face that lags behind it opens the face relative to the path and bends the ball right. The same path with a face square to it produces a straight pull instead.

    Read the fix

  5. Face not opened to suit the sand

    How far the face is opened decides which part of the club meets the sand. Open, the sole's bounce skids through and the sand carries the ball out. Square, the leading edge digs, and in firm sand it bounces off the surface instead. The right amount depends on the sand under the ball, so one setting used everywhere is wrong in half of the bunkers on the course.

    Read the fix

  6. Face closed at impact

    The face points left of where the club is travelling. The ball starts left of the path and keeps turning left, and because a closed face also removes loft, the flight is usually lower and more diving than the golfer expected. The same closed face that produces a playable draw produces a hook once it outruns the path by enough.

    Read the fix

Related symptoms

These are not here because they sound similar. Each one can come from a cause on the list above, which is why fixing one sometimes quietly fixes another. The closest matches are first.

What this rests on

If something here contradicts what a launch monitor tells you, say so. Corrections change the page.

Discussion

Golfers who have had this shot, on what it turned out to be and what sorted it. Read it as experience rather than diagnosis: the questions above are what narrow it to a cause.

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