For PGA Tour execs, a greenside bunker shot is usually preferable to hitting from the tough. For the remainder of us mere mortals? That thump of a ball touchdown in sand may as nicely be the sound of strokes being added to the scorecard.
To the expert participant, a bunker represents an inexpensive likelihood at an up-and-down. To the typical golfer, it’s golf’s model of quicksand—the extra you battle, the deeper you sink, watching your scorecard inflate with every determined swing.
Whereas PING can’t remove the gulf between Tour execs forking out to tap-in vary and a weekend warrior’s excavation undertaking, they’re launching the BunkR; a brand new membership designed to make the typical golfer’s escape from a sandy hell considerably extra possible.
ChipR’s sanding sibling
In the event you’ve been taking note of PING’s previous specialty membership choices, the BunkR will make good sense.
“Coming off the wild success of the chipper, we actually have checked out are there sure membership varieties that may do one job rather well,” defined Ryan Stokke, PING’s Director of Product Design.
With that, PING is making use of the identical specialised design philosophy to bunker play.
In fact, anytime you add a single-function membership (just like the BunkR or ChipR) to the bag, you must take one thing out (assuming you play by USGA guidelines – and I don’t care in the event you don’t), however in the event you battle bigly with one a part of the sport or one other, sacrificing a membership to unravel a persistent downside could make a number of sense.
Sq. face, fewer issues
As you’ve most likely surmised, the BunkR is designed solely for sand photographs though it may very well be argued that PING has truly rethought how newbie golfers ought to method bunker play.
Reasonably than instructing the normal open-face approach that requires close to good execution and sometimes results in bladed photographs that rocket throughout the inexperienced, the BunkR is designed for use with a sq. face. This implies the golfer can method the shot with a extra acquainted setup and swing, specializing in pace and phone somewhat than manipulating the clubface and taking simply the correct amount of sand.
You will have dabbled in attempting to hit bunker photographs with the right approach (or no matter approach was suggested within the final YouTube video you watched) however after a number of skinny or heavy photographs most will revert again to attempting to get the ball out by any means obligatory and with various levels of success.
The BunkR caters on to this intuition.
PING BunkR design
Not like different wedges, the PING BunkR is out there in a single loft. For the document, it’s 64 levels and whereas PING doesn’t print the bounce quantity on the membership, the corporate lists the efficient bounce at 14.5 levels.
The 64-degree loft ensures sufficient peak to clear most bunker lips whereas the substantial 14.5-degree bounce prevents the membership from digging too deeply into the sand.
It borrows its normal form from PING’s iconic Eye 2 (E Grind) which, along with a bunker-friendly sole, provides you a thinner hosel for extra pace by means of the sand.
Some fast knowledge
As with all specialty membership, the million-dollar query is: “Does it truly work higher than what I have already got?”
PING’s testing suggests it does. In a managed examine with gamers carrying 10-plus handicaps, contributors hit photographs from a 20-yard bunker to a inexperienced with a 20-foot goal circle across the gap. When evaluating the BunkR to PING’s S159 60-degree E-grind wedge:
- Considerably fewer photographs remained within the bunker
- A considerably greater share of photographs landed contained in the goal circle
A wise commerce?
For a lot of leisure golfers who may hit a number of bunker photographs per spherical with abysmal outcomes (PING cites on-course knowledge displaying 20-handicappers get the ball inside six ft from a bunker eight % of the time), the choice may very well be easy.
Would you swap out your hardly ever used fairway wooden or one among your wedges if it meant reworking near-automatic bogeys or doubles into potential pars? The success of the ChipR suggests loads of golfers are prepared to make that commerce. I think it gained’t be any completely different with the BunkR.
The large image
For purists, the BunkR may signify one other step away from the ability growth that some imagine is central to golf’s problem. For the typical weekend participant who simply desires to flee the seashore with out the accompanying embarrassment and frustration, it may very well be the distinction between dreading bunker photographs and truly embracing them.
As Stokke places it, “If we will help them get on the placing floor constantly, it modifications their life and it helps them play the sport otherwise. I feel we’ve all performed with that individual the place they get in a bunker, they’ve this lie. They usually’re already mentally imploding that that is what they assume their shot is actually gonna seem like.”
The BunkR goals to remodel that psychological implosion into a sensible expectation of success.
Stokke says that when utilizing the PING BunkR, it’s “actually having the ability to decide the ball up and throw it on the inexperienced.” And there’s nothing within the rulebook towards that, so long as you’re utilizing a conforming membership to do the “throwing.”
Pricing and availability
Retail worth for the PING BunkR wedge is $179. Inventory shafts embrace the PING Z-115 (metal) and PING Alta CB (graphite)
The PING BunkR is out there for pre-sale now. Full retail availability beings March 27.
For extra info, go to PING.com.
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