75-100 yard shots

[bodmanza]

Alright so I need a good drill...

Quite frankly every shot I hit with my 56 W comes out hot, but with a decent amount of spin. I can hit it regularly 120 yards full on.

Any drills for this distance? I hit ball first and would prefer to keep it that way as it checks decently for me.

[Danattherock]

Seems to me you should figure out what a 1/2 and 3/4 swing does. Or put a lob wedge under it. Many ways to skin a cat. Dave Pelz "Short Game Bible" may be of great use to you. Lots of reviews on that book in the below thread from the "Reading Room" section of this forum...

http://thesandtrap.com/forum/showthread.php?t=14236



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[golfaddiction]

I usually take shorter swings with my PW from that distance. It's easy to pick up the feel for how hard you have to hit from difference distances if you practice it a bit.

[Dub]

I've gotta get the Pelz book.

[DavidFehertysBike]

If youre hitting a 56 120, then you must be a monster...But IMO, 75-100 yard shots you just have to feel, rather than strike. Ive used 9 irons from 100 yards. You just have to feel the ballflight and have that image of the ball dropping where you imagine. For those shots, i use the loft on the club to control trajectory, not so much distance.

Like golfaddiction suggested, try some shorter swings with longer clubs and see how it works for you.

[billm408]

Here's an effective way to controld your distance.
Full swing is 120, right? Visualize a clock. Take your right arm to 9:00- how far does the ball go? 10:00- how far? You should see a measurable change in distance based on the length of your backswing. Practice a progression like this hitting to different targets at different distances.

[uttexas]

agree with "get the short game bible". Shortening the back swing technique is easier for me than opening the clubface.

I have a lob wedge, but only use it for specialty shots.

[Leftygolfer]

Highly recommend a lob wedge.

It is heck of alot easier for me to hit a 65 yard with a 64 than a 60. Alot easier to hit it 85 with a 60 than my strong sand wedge.

It is my belief that half shots are really really hard to get good at and take tons of practice.

I agree about the book. I have read it. I like it. I just don't have the time to really work on hitting the half shots. Timing is hard for me and seem to hit big pulls when i take something off.

[Crey23]

I don't have the book, but will look into it...

But I have read several articles in golf mag, gold digest, and others that a very good way to measure your under 100 yrd shots is to think of position of the clock. Think of on the back swing, only going up to 9:00 PM, as it will allow for a more controlled swing coming forward. The catch is to accelerate the downward swing bringing the club to rest at reference points after you strike the ball.

I saw an interview of Tiger once and he said that what he does is that makes reference to three heights, his knees, his, waist, ans his shoulder, as well as a full swing. This allowed him at a very young age to set limits to his swing.

I have tried both techniques, and they both work...I have a hybrid of these...I use the 9:00 PM back swing technique, accelerate through my downswing, and try to measure the distance traveled when the face reaches my knee, my waist, and my shoulder after I strike the ball. I have to saw that I am still working on this, but it has helped me some.

It is interesting that while at the range, most people concentrate in moving the ball fast and far, and seldom practice what we mostly do at the course...oless than 100 yard shots, and putting!!!!!

[mruseless]

I use a fusion of the Pelz method and the Utley swing style.

My advice is to go out where you can pace off the yardages and figure out your distances with all your wedges at full swing, half swing (9 o'clock), and 1/4 swing (7:30 on the clock). I personally never had much luck getting consistent contact with the 10:30 swing, but I'm still working on it.

Start with getting all your 1/2 swing distances down (9:00 on the clock). This one seems to be the easiest to repeat.

After all that, you'll find you have a lot of different yardages that you can hit to without too much brain damage. Put all the different yardages on a card, or better yet, tape them to your wedges.

[bodmanza]

If youre hitting a 56 120, then you must be a monster...

I'm not an abnormally long hitter. I'm 5'7 140 lbs, but my swing pattern generates a lot of power at the bottom. My driver averages 250-260, but is a regular flex and very inconsistent. Every other club is stiff flex.

I know, I just don't think a 56 should be going that far but it does. I hit ball first and like I said it comes out hot all over the place, which leads to greater carry. But I am not concerned with that, its the pitch shots that I struggle with. Leaving myself 40 footers from 80 yards out is unacceptable if I want to start shooting low 80's consistently

[Williamevanl]

I don't think hitting a 56 degree wedge 120 yards makes you a monster. I also get 120 yards out of mine and I also drive the ball around 250 in general. I think it's easier to swing shorter clubs a bit faster. You don't have to swing that hard to get a sw 120.

I like full swings with the sand and lob wedge one goes 120 the other 90 takes out a lot of guess work.

Anyway to answer your question it helped me a lot to open up my stance to the left and align the club slightly right of target and feel like you are pushing the ball. It makes it easier to land half and 3/4 swings at the right distance with a lot of spin.

I was look at http://www.csgnetwork.com/golfclubdistancecalce.html and basically if you hit a 8 iron 155 yards which seems pretty normal you would hit a sw 118 yards on a normal shot. Pw=132 9=144