pitch and chips: no loft help please

[Fat Slice]

i set my hands in front of the ball, hold my wrist stiff, keep down and accelerate through the ball. That last thing is important -- if you slow down all bets are off.

Find a short game practice area and go hit 200 balls -- you'll figure it out.

[Shanks A Million]

I don't think anyone has really addressed the problem here. What he's talking about is blading the ball, then getting shy and fatting it. It's not any one particular little technique, it's his head. That's why he fats the next one, because he's over-correcting.

There is very, very good reason for this. When most people go to hit those pitches, they try to slow down their swing. This is impossible to control, and almost always results in the blading of the ball. There are reasons, physically, that it happens, but those are unimportant. The fact of the matter is, that you must make all your shots, even putts, with the same feeling of force. Golf clubs don't respond well to a fickle stab, they like to be swung with a good, even tempo, and they must be swung with the body . Using hands and arms is only a recipe for disaster. The length of the backswing, on full swings, pitches, and putts, determines the length of the shot. The length of the full backswing is 100%, whether it be John Daly, or Zach Johnson. A reduction in length of the backswing means the club cannot accelerate as long, and therefore, the shot goes shorter. All shots are hit with the same acceleration, with the exception being very short putts if any.

What you need to do, is to relearn the pitch. You make a pitch shot by shortening the swing, not by slowing it down. You cannot be a wuss about it. You need to strike the ball cleanly, and accelerate through it. This means that you need to turn your body, nothing more. Turn back, turn through. No hands, no arms, they should be totally neutral. Do not , ever, ever try to slow down as you approach the ball, this is suicide. Focus on clean contact, don't worry about distance. You worry about the distance when making practice swings, then when that feeling is ingrained, you focus on making a good, clean swing, and striking the ball cleanly.

[Fatphil]

What you need to do, is to relearn the pitch. You make a pitch shot by shortening the swing, not by slowing it down. You

This is like reading a tiger woods article in golf digest...yeh that's how you make the shot but holding the wrist angle and accelerating your shoulders & chest thru a 30 yard lob wedge is one of the more difficult phycological moves in golf. if u F...it up you're lookin at double bogey or worse..as someone else wrote, get 200 balls go to the pitching range, you'll figure it out..LOL then it will take you another 5000 balls to ingrain it. Most teachers now are preaching to chip like you putt and just roll it up on the green with a 7i.

[Leftygolfer]

What kind of wedge and how much loft? Your clubhead is probably passing your hands before impact. Are you taking a divot?? I would really focus on that if I were you. I am pretty good at the 50 to 60 yard shot and I almost always take a small divot and really deloft the club at impact. It doesn't fly that high but has tons of spin. The added loft has helped me alot.

[sean_miller]

. . . you must make all your shots, even putts, with the same feeling of force. Golf clubs don't respond well to a fickle stab, they like to be swung with a good, even tempo, and they must be swung

Yeah - all that stuff.

Based on a couple chipping and putting related high scores at indoor golf, I've been practicing both in the basement trying to employ some tips read on this site and stuff I've read over the years. I started pitching the ball with essentially an elongated putting stroke (putter grip too for the first couple weeks) just so I wouldn't skull them. Hitting them into laundry baskets, I had to set up several baskets and also put a quilt against the wall for the occasional skulled one. After a few months, I'm down to 2 baskets (in single file) and can pitch all the balls into either basket (about 5-8 paces away). I'm eager to see how much of my "progress" transfers to longer shots outdoors, with scrappy lies. Either way, clean contact and a firm but compact stroke is my goal.

[Woodtek]

Ok guys, I have a similar problem. I do the weight forward, open the face, hinge and hold, stand open to the shot (aim the face where I want the ball to go) but the ball almost always goes in the direction of my feet. Any suggestions?

[Softdraw2]

Sounds like you need to regrip the club after you have opened the faced and taken your stance. Your grip would now be "weak" on the club in comparison to your normal grip with a square club face. This will keep you from pulling the ball along your stance line. Mickelson's short game book and video go into detail about this.

[Shanks A Million]

This is like reading a tiger woods article in golf digest...yeh that's how you make the shot but holding the wrist angle and accelerating your shoulders & chest thru a 30 yard lob wedge is one of the more difficult phycological moves in golf. if u F...it up you're lookin at double bogey or worse..as someone else wrote, get 200 balls go to the pitching range, you'll figure it out..LOL then it will take you another 5000 balls to ingrain it. Most teachers now are preaching to chip like you putt and just roll it up on the green with a 7i.

It's difficult because it's unnatural. There's no doubt that it will take time to learn, that's for sure, but that's true of any golf shot. I'd say that 200 balls is not enough. I take bags of 100 out there and hit them onto the green, then go collect them, then do it again. I would say it took me 10,000 swings to even get to the point where I could get up and down 80% of the time. I have a friend who can get up and down, or chip in nearly every time, his short game rivals Phil (he's 15 and he can wipe the floor with you any day.) He's out there every day, for hours practicing those chips and pitches. He can drop 50 balls 40 yards away, and chip 49 of them within 8 feet. He can then make 48 of those 49 putts. Practice is what it takes.

[Fatphil]

It's difficult because it's unnatural. There's no doubt that it will take time to learn, that's for sure, but that's true of any golf shot. I'd say that 200 balls is not enough. I take bags of 100 out there and hit them onto the green, then go collect them, then do it again. I would say it took me 10,000 swings to even get to the point where I could get up and down 80% of the time. .

there is some precedent for the 10000 swing theory (I said 5000). But seriously, this guy is a 36 hdncp living in freakin colorado, my point is on this shot he's over his head. Just run it up with a 7i using a putting stroke.

on another note 10,000 balls is a year's practice for me not including playing. I tend to think any shot or swing change takes me 5,000 balls or 6 months. I've been messin around with this 60* for years & still don't feel comfortable with it. I can hit it OK on the range but unless absolutely pressed I'll always go with the PW 48*. In my head I just see the little sucker takin off like a 2 iron into Silvia and Herbs condo window. eh shanks,,,what happended to your buddy OJ?...that was a hoot.

[Fourputt]

Hi all-

First question, what club are you using for this shot? I see that you have a 60° LW. The first advice I'd have for a 34.6 handicap index is to lose that club for the time being. I know that I'm not good enough to be consistent with a LW, so I'd be surprised if that wasn't part of your problem. Practice most of your pitching and chipping with a lower lofted wedge or short iron, as recommended by several posters above.

I use my 47° PW for about 75% of my chipping and pitching. I deloft it by playing the ball back (just off my right heel) in my stance and presetting my hands ahead of the ball, weight on my left side. Then I hold that position through the stroke... no wrists, no legs, just shoulders and arms. It takes practice to get used to it, but you'll find more consistency that way than by trying to slide a LW or SW under the ball. As you get more comfortable with the general process, then you can try the same setup and swing with the lofted wedges and see where that takes you. You may find as I have that the LW is more of a liability than an asset.

[zeg]

I've historically had trouble with pitches of that length but have recently gotten a lot more reliable with them. The key for me is to be sure I try to hit hard with a short swing, and make sure I stay down. If I don't have a memory of watching the club strike the ball, I'm sure have hit a bad one (either a skull like you seem to have, or a little fluff where the club slides under the ball and dinks it 5 yards). The thing that I think helped was just spending time on the range hitting short shots, really starting by doing little half-swings with no follow-through and finding the feel of a strike that used the loft to get the ball up and spinning. Really, I just need to remember that the club will do its job if I do mine. It's a little scary to me to hit the ball hard for a short shot, but any other way leads to a bad miss.

BTW, I don't mean hard as in a muscled all-out hard, I mean firmly with acceleration through the ball. I still try to feel loose (and to keep a relaxed grip). I still miss a lot on the course, but it's always when I get away from this formula and lose "faith" in my stroke and equipment.