Jon Rahm emphasizes keeping bunker play simple. While he uses three go-to shots—a standard splash that runs out, a high, spinny shot that stops quickly, and a chunk-and-run that rolls out—he advises amateurs to master just the basic splash. It’s easier than it looks and the most reliable option for most players.

1. Get wide and get low at address: For a standard or spinning shot, he plays the ball forward in his stance and sets as much weight as possible on his front foot. He sets his hands back a little so they’re almost behind the ball. That creates more angle in his left wrist, which adds loft to the clubface, which means more height and a softer landing.
2. Maintain the width in your takeaway: The key takeaway here is the width he’s created at the start of the swing. He hasn’t hinged his wrists excessively early. He does like wrist action on the backswing, but wants a wide, shallow arc first. Get too steep too early here and you’ve nowhere to go other than to stick the clubhead down into the sand, which is not good.
3. Set the club shaft as vertical as you can: Once you’re settled at address, keep your weight on your front foot as you make your swing. My preference is to play this shot with the face of my sand wedge wide open, but it’s not essential. I like the feeling of being able to get the shaft of the club almost vertical on my backswing with the grooves pointing down at the sand.
4. Let right wrist work underneath at impact: For him, the secret to playing great bunker shots is maintaining the loft on the clubface all the way through impact. To do this, he focuses on holding the angle created at the back of his left wrist as he slides the club underneath the ball. As you can see here, that means the right wrist works underneath the left through impact.