A pulsed coil drive for a sampled inductive transducer has at least one drive coil connected in a series circuit with a capacitor having a first terminal connected to the negative terminal of a voltage source. The series circuit is normally open during the intervals between pulses. Sampling occurs once per pulse. Each pulse's sampling interval is preceded by a pre-sampling interval and followed by a post-sampling interval. The supply voltage that is applied across the series circuit during both the pre- and post-sampling intervals is applied by switching a first terminal of the coil's free terminal to the voltage source's positive terminal through a p-channel MOSFET. During the sampling interval, the series circuit is shorted by switching the coil's free terminal to the voltage source's negative terminal through an n-channel MOSFET.