GETTING in a bunker can cause despair for many golfers, but follow this week’s tip and you will be getting out of the bunker first time and close to the hole.

The first mistake many golfers make when playing out of the bunker is hitting the ball rather than the sand.

The key point when playing from any bunker is to aim to hit the sand around two inches behind the ball.

To help you do this when taking your stance wriggle your feet into the sand.

This will help you threefold.

Firstly you will lower your swing arc under the sand, helping you hit the sand first, and secondly it will give you a feel for the sand, whether it is coarse or fine, which will affect how much sand you will take.

Lastly it will give you a firm base to swing upon.

At set-up you should open the club face (pointing to the right) so it sits at around one o’clock on the clock face.

The next step is to aim your body a little left of the target to allow for having the open clubface.

Play the ball slightly forward in the stance and aim to hit the sand two inches behind the ball.

The sand will absorb a lot of the swing’s speed so be sure to accelerate your swing through the shot.

Vary the length of your swing to vary the distance the ball goes.