Around and on the Green with Sara Bush
Country Club of Landfall
While the short game may take the least amount of physical strength,
it requires the highest degree of mental concentration.
Advice for the struggling chipper
“Everyone has equal opportunity around the green
and on the green, and what I mean by that is, it
doesn’t take a lot of strength or an extremely fast clubhead
speed,” Bush says. “It takes solid fundamentals
and learning touch.”
Developing the chip
“For an amateur or a high-handicap player, I would
say learn the chipping stroke with a club that does not
have the most loft,” Bush says. “For example, instead
of choosing a sand wedge I would suggest using a 9
iron. Looking at a 9 iron, you won’t see too much loft
and often when amateurs are looking at a club with a
high loft they want to help the club get the ball in the
air; when in reality, you want to encourage them to
hit down on the ball for crisp contact.”
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WBM may 2012
Good lies to bad breaks,
reading the green is crucial
to the game
“Reading a green correctly just comes
from a lot of experience,” Bush says.
“Whether a putt is dead straight or a
severe break, every one should be hit as
if it were dead straight to concentrate
on making solid contact. This is going
to prevent you from pushing or pulling
putts on side-hill lies.”
From the bunker,
consider this
“The most important thing to understand
with a bunker shot is what you
are trying to do,” Bush says. “What I
mean by that is you need to understand
that it is not the ball you are hitting
out of the bunker, it is actually the
sand you are hitting that is carrying the
ball out. That means entering the sand
3-5 inches behind the ball with a sand
wedge, and that can be hard for amateurs
to get around.”