Your Game
Four Score
at
Learning the shots
the pros will have to
play at Pinehurst will
help save you strokes
by ERIC ALPENFELS | PGA director of instruction
at Pinehurst Resort and director of the Pinehurst
Golf Academy with JAMES A. FRANK
W
When the best players in the
world, both men and women,
come to Pinehurst No. 2 in June
for their respective U.S. Opens,
34
Playing an effective bump and
run starts with club selection
and your setup. Use a flatfaced club, play the ball back
in your stance with the shaft
leaning forward and your weight
favoring your lead foot. The
start position will promote a
descending blow that starts
the ball rolling to the hole. Hold
your finish to internalize the feel
of the shot—you’ll face it many
times during your round on
layouts like Pinehurst No. 2.
V I R G I N I A G O L F E R | M AY / J U N E 2 0 1 4
Master_VSGA_MayJune14.indd 34
5/1/14 4:00 PM
PETE WOFFORD (2)
GROUND GAME GAINS
A must-have play for the links-style layouts, most Americans
don’t play the bump-and-run shot very often or effectively.
With so many raised, sloping greens on No. 2, it’s often smart
to run a low shot onto the green rather than try to fly the ball
all the way to the hole.
This Scottish-type shot is worth learning because it doesn’t
require as much risk or precision as a more lofted option,
where the margin for error is slim. Here’s how to knock it close:
Set up with the ball back in your stance and your weight well
forward (a good checkpoint at address is to ensure that the
buttons on your shirt are in front of the ball as you look down).
Position the hands ahead of the ball and grip down on the club
for control. Make a firm, wrist-free action, almost as if you are
stroking a putt. Amateurs often fall into the trap of not being
able to keep their weight forward throughout the motion.
Additionally, avoid the temptation of trying to help the ball get
up in the air. Let the club do the work and concentrate on
brushing the ball off the grass. Use a 7- or 8-iron, and plan on
getting quite a bit of roll once the ball is on the green.
For this and any shot from around the putting surface, be
sure to pick a spot on the putting surface where you want the
ball to land. Keep this location, and the subsequent roll of the
ball to the hole, in your mind’s eye as you execute the stroke.
PINEHURST FLAG: CHRIS KEANE/
USGA PHOTO ARCHIVES; PETE WOFFORD (3)
they will challenge one of the world’s great courses, a wonderful Donald Ross layout that was recently trea