Ping BunkR review: the sand wedge that will revolutionise your bunker play
03/29/2025 03:00 PM
In 2022 Ping brought out the ChipR to help club golfers overcome their fear of chipping. The ChipR is a combination of a wedge and a putter and is designed to get the ball in the air and running through a simple technique.
Now we have the BunkR which has been designed to help golfers from the sand. For all that we hear about how bunkers have become too easy in the pro game, for many amateurs they remain a huge conundrum with a lack of speed, technique and know-how often seeing the ball staying in the sand or screaming into the undergrowth beyond the pin.
Ping have simplified things with the BunkR:
The loft
There is 64˚ of it here which means there is around 4-6˚ more than most of us are used to. This translates into plenty of height and no need to open up the clubface which complicates a lot of golfers’ techniques and thinking
The look
If you remember the ground-breaking Ping Eye 2 then it’s very similar in appearance. In some ways it’s not the most elegant looking club but it’s designed to get your ball out of the sand each and every time so you won’t care about that. It’s actually very easy on the eye when it’s sitting in the bag.
The face is packed with grooves which are tightly spaced and cover pretty much all of the clubface which is great for inconsistent strikes and mishits. The high toe, where the grooves stretch to, will also help you out of the rough.
The sole
The wide sole and 14.5˚ of bounce is what really makes this club pretty special. These really help to keep the club moving through the sand. There’s no digging or trying to pick the ball off the top of the sand: you simply set up square, swing it and let the club do the work.
Good bunker players are able to open up the face and add loft and bounce; here there’s no need.
The grip
This isn’t something that would ordinarily be mentioned on a wedge but the BunkR features a 360 Dyla-wedge Lite grip. This is ¾-inch longer than a traditional grip with a reduced taper so you can choke down for more versatility. It also has a lightweight shaft that has a lower balance point for more feel.
The reality
Having now used this for half a dozen rounds it is the versatility that makes it such a great addition to the bag. I have previously used a club that is also designed mainly for bunkers which says a lot about my golf. My weakness is around the greens and I just want a club that will at least give me a lot of help from the sand.
Its biggest strength is the simplicity. There’s no over-thinking how much to open up the clubface or how open to stand, you simply stand square and knock it out. For all the loft it doesn’t feel like it wants to go up your nose. I de-loft all my shots so more loft is a big plus for me but it is very capable of giving you different shots than just a one-dimensional recovery shot.
I’ve also found it very forgiving from the fairway/rough around the green which, given the price point of £175, makes it an easier decision to make. Yes, it is a lot for a sand wedge but the likelihood is that it’s going to be in the bag for several years.
Two words of warning – what you don’t want to do and what it’s not designed for is to open up the face as it really doesn’t work like that. Also, as good as it is, it still requires you to add some speed to the shot. You’re still swinging a club through sand.
One shot that I hit has stuck very firmly in my mind. The ball should never have come out, given how much sand I took and how deep I went at the ball, but it did still pop up in the air. A lot of clubs are great when we’re swinging it great but the real bonus is when they give us a helping hand when we’ve made a mess of it.
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