Pitch Shots? Technique?

[JackB1]

Say you are 20 yds off the green and want to do a little pitch with your LW that takes a 1/2 swing. Do you swing like a "mini full swing" or do you hinge your wrists sooner and make a steeper swing? or do you do your normal take away and just go to the 1/2 point of a normal swing? I have a lot of trouble with these and I think its because I dont have the correct technique.

[beisenhauer]

Here's what I do, though I can't say I would recommend it to anyone else (see handicap). I play these like a long chip: stance slightly open, weight on the forward foot. I try to get a little bit of wrist cock on the back swing, but not too much; it's mostly a nice rhythmic arm-and-shoulder swing with very little hands. All I'm looking for is clean contact with a descending blow.

One thing I find helpful during my preshot routine for these kinds of "feel" shots is to imagine simply tossing the ball toward the hole with my hand. This usually helps me get a feel for the kind of trajectory I want and how hard I need to hit the ball.

Your mileage may vary.

[ks8829]

from 20 yards off the green, I will take my 56 degree wedge and play it in the back of my stance and take it back with little wrist movement and focus on trying to judge the distance I need to land ball and where it is going to end up.

[JackieTreehorn]

It depends on how much green you have to work with and your lie. Assuming a good lie, it is pretty safe, except if there are funny contours, to hit it as low as you can. In that case I chip with my LW with a swing a lot like a putting stroke w/ weight forward, hands forward. If I need height, I hit a lob: I take a square stance, open the club face, regrip, then open my stance so that the club is now square to where I want the ball to end up. Then I swing like a bunker shot (keep R wrist cupped) along my feet.

[Avid Golfer]

Say you are 20 yds off the green and want to do a little pitch with your LW that takes a 1/2 swing. Do you swing like a "mini full swing" or do you hinge your wrists sooner and make a steeper swing? or do you do your normal take away and just go to the 1/2 point of a normal swing? I have a lot of trouble with these and I think its because I dont have the correct technique.

I try to keep my pitch swing as similar to my full swing as possible, unless I have a bad lie and I need to alter the way I make contact. Trying to time and remeber a different technique only complicates matters. I also prefer to feel that I swing back and through the same length and speed to promote consistency.

I've provided more details on my pitching and chipping procedure and outlook in the thread linked here .

[DaveLeeNC]

I use both a "chip shot" stroke and "pitch shot" stroke. The pitch is a mini-swing and the chip is little to no wrists - almost a long putt.

I am very careful with the transition between the two. Under normal circumstances anything longer than 20 yards of carry with my LW is a pitch. Less carry (using my LW) is a chip unless I need to hit something extra high/soft.

dave

[GaijinGolfer]

It depends how much green I have to work with. If I have a lot of green to work with, I would use a club with less loft (I like to use a 5-iron), a do a low, running chip shot (basically use the same motion as a putt).
If I dont have much green to work with, I will do a half swing and try to make it land soft and spin it enough that it stops quickly.

[rubbery]

The pitch shot is really the only shot about which I can step over and feel absolutely 100% confident.

-Depending on just how high I need to toss the ball I use either my 56* sand wedge or my 60* lob wedge.
-I open my stance and my club face, keep my feet close together, and play the ball of my left toe.
-I really focus on my hands by strengthening my left hand grip and holding the club a little more lightly than I normally would.
-From there on in it's really a matter of letting the club do the work. I pick it up steeply and let my wrists cock and really just focus on sliding the club head under the ball smoothly, accelerating through the ball.
-Lastly, I make sure the club face is aimed at the sky after impact, that helps to elevate the ball quickly.

[doin-it]

For me I have found you always take a "full " swing on every shot. To get distance control its not how hard or soft you swing but rather how mar you take the club back. If I want shorter distance I'll just take th club back part or half way depending on how short the short is. But always take a full swing from there will complete follow though .

It comes down feel, put most of your weight on your lead leg, hands ahead of the ball, feet close together. Grab your LW or GW, for short ptich shots i dont rotate the hips much, mainly just rock the shoulders back, hinge up & hinge down and nice smooth follow though. Practice pitching into a bucket in you back yard.

[ks8829]

For consistent pitching and chipping I found that if you tuck your elbow against your body and allow it to pivot against your body that this will help you make consistently solid contact with the ball. Try this motion in slow motion and you will find that you can make a solid click sound when the ball makes contact with the club.

Once you are making solid contact it a matter of judging the distance with the distance of your backswing and follow through.