All else equal, less lost = more forgiving on short game?

[acegolfer]

I'm having great difficulty from 50 yards from tight fairways. Roughly 1/3 of time I chunk that goes about 10 yards. Another 1/3 time, I blade the ball that goes 80 yards.

I admit that I have poor technique so you don't have to remind me that I need to work on the swing. I am working on that. But I have 2 questions.

1. Is less lofted club easier to contact ball first than more lofted club, all else being equal? I have been practicing this shot with 56* but I'm starting to think that if I use 46* PW, I'll have less mis shots. Of course, I'll have more roll with PW.

2. Some say to put the ball back. How much back is back? Center of stance? Closer to right foot?

[Paradox]

back is different for everyone. I play my full 60 degree swing center stance..for a "mid length" pitch I will put it just in front of my right heel..if I'm chipping, its on my right big toe.

99% of the people I see who mishit their pitches and chips do so because they raise their head up before finishing the swing and/or decelerate into the ball because they don't trust the shot.

[danieldrieberg]

back is different for everyone. I play my full 60 degree swing center stance..for a "mid length" pitch I will put it just in front of my right heel..if I'm chipping, its on my right big toe.

+1

Set your spine angle in a good balanced position. Keep that angle and balance through the swing.

[acegolfer]

+1

First, sorry for the wrong thread title. It should be "loft" not "lost."

Second, as I said in OP, I'll appreciate if you do not discuss the proper pitching technique here. I have done research on the proper technique. I'm working on the advices that you gave me already. But I want to know which club gives me the most margin for error.

[sean_miller]

First, sorry for the wrong thread title. It should be "loft" not "lost."

That's for you to decide. You've said you need to work on your technique, so it would be difficult for someone to help you decide which club to use from 50 yards. Next time out practice making consistent contact with a 3/4 lob wedge, hitting knockdowns with a 56 and distance control on bump and runs with a PW or 9-iron.

[acegolfer]

That's for you to decide. You've said you need to work on your technique, so it would be difficult for someone to help you decide which club to use from 50 yards. Next time out practice making consistent contact with a 3/4 lob wedge, hitting knockdowns with a 56 and distance control on bump and runs with a PW or 9-iron.

I appreciate your feedback. I was not aware that forgiveness is a personal thing. For some reason, I thought it was more universal. My bad.

[sean_miller]

I appreciate your feedback. I was not aware that forgiveness is a personal thing. For some reason, I thought it was more universal. My bad.

You said margin of error. If a player never hits bump and runs but does hit a lot lob wedges, they should hit a lob wedge. If another player can't hit a low wedge without skulling it 130 yards, they probably should leave that shot for the practice range.

[Paradox]

First, sorry for the wrong thread title. It should be "loft" not "lost."

there is no "most margin for error" because the club isn't whats doing something wrong. Your technique is whats gonna control whether you lay the sod over a ball or skull it. A person should be able to use 3 different wedge lofts and hit the same kind of shots, relatively speaking. Lob it with your 56 or 52, keep it low with your 60, its all technique and not the loft of the club.

[Weezy]

Yeah the lofts are used to hit the same type of shots different distances. Like a low 60 degree won't run out as much nor come out as "hot" as a 56 or 52 degree. But one is not "asier" i don't think. Maybe if you find one easier then just use that one club to hit all your greenside shots until you develpe a solid short game technique. Alot of great players chip and pitch with the same club all the time.

[Blades4me]

I'm having great difficulty from 50 yards from tight fairways. Roughly 1/3 of time I chunk that goes about 10 yards. Another 1/3 time, I blade the ball that goes 80 yards.

IMO the loft of the club really won't make much difference if you aren't striking the ball well to start with. Chipping off of a tight lie/frog hair is tough to begin with and when done correctly will put spin on the ball; this will become more difficult as the sole of the club becomes wider. A couple of things you may want to consider are 1) use a hybrid club to putt the ball, (this takes practice to get the "feel" of how hard to hit the ball), and 2) 50 yds and in is a "feel" shot and even for the experienced player can be a difficult shot, so find what distance you like going for the green at and try to leave your lay up shot at that distance.

As to how far to put the ball back in your stance, well you just have to practice it and you will eventually find where you like it. Personally I move it back 1 or 2 balls. BUT in my mind it is more important to keep your head down thru the swing.

[WUTiger]

A course I play frequently has a stretch of flat holes with slightly crowned greens. During summer rains, this low stretch tends to puddle up and have trouble with fungus, which creates a lot of mid-summer tight lies.

Assistant pro there says make sure you hit the ball first, and possibly use a lower lofted club. On a chip - if you hit the ball first - you can get some check spin so you get smooth release rather than the ball rocketing 80 yards.

You can also try what I call a "cut punch" chip: Open the clubface up a little, and hit a crisp chip. Due to open face, it doesn't run quite as far as a normal chip.

For practicing all these, find a day when the range is pretty empty (maybe impossible...). Decide what types of shots you want to try. Then, hit five balls with each type of shot to get the feel for each. You may find that just two types of shots give you the most reliable results. Practice them from different distances until you an idea of airborne vs. roll distance for each.

It may take a couple of weeks before they really feel like part of your game, but keep at it and you have a solution to the problem.

Also, Blades4me has good advice on hybrids. Hybrid or 5W makes good greenside putting club when your ball's in a hole on moon-crater turf.

[The Recreational Golfer]

The cure is to avoid 50-yard shots off tight lies like the plague. Lay back so you can hit a full PW into the green.

If you get the 50-yard shot on the green, you'll likely two-putt for down in three. Same thing for the full PW--most likely down in three, and the PW is a much higher percentage shot--no down in fours, like the 50-yard shot has just waiting for you.

[TourSpoon]

I'm having great difficulty from 50 yards from tight fairways. Roughly 1/3 of time I chunk that goes about 10 yards. Another 1/3 time, I blade the ball that goes 80 yards.

For a lot of people, a pw is easier to hit/chip/pitch off a tight lie than a sw, and I see higher hcappers do it all the time because they don't have the technique, confidence or both. Usually from this kind of lie, I will hit sw before lob. The ball back for me would be mid one or two balls back depending on what I am trying to do.

If you are playing a typical SoFla course, you want to make sure that your sw has enough bounce. If you have a low bounce wedge you can really have issues with the softness of the ground.

[acegolfer]

For a lot of people, a pw is easier to hit/chip/pitch off a tight lie than a sw

Finally, someone answered my question. Thank you so much.

[zeg]

A SW is frequently a very poor choice for a tight lie, not because of its loft but because of its bounce. A SW is designed to keep you from sinking deeply into sand, and can bounce off a hard lie and lead to a bladed shot. I prefer my low-bounce 52° wedge for this reason. A PW will typically be easier for the same reason, as a modern PW is not really a wedge at all but a high-lofted iron and usually has very low bounce.

There are reasons why a higher loft might be harder to hit (basically you've got a smaller projected club face to hit), but this is more of an effect for a full swing than a chip.

[shortstop20]

For 50 yard pitch shots, my advice would be to make sure your weight is 50/50(left/right foot) or even more towards the left foot(60/40, 70/30). I think alot of people think they need to play the ball back of center on these shots because that's where the club hits the ground. Many times the reason it does that is because their weight is on their right side(for a right handed golfer).

I personally never play the ball behind center except for a punch or chip shot.

[nuck81]

+1

No one in the entire history of the game of golf has EVER maintained their spine angle through an full golf swing. It's physically impossible.

Their back inclination on the other hand....

[trickymicky69]

IMO the loft of the club really won't make much difference if you aren't striking the ball well to start with. Chipping off of a tight lie/frog hair is tough to begin with and when done correctly will put spin on the ball; this will become more difficult as the sole of the club becomes wider. A couple of things you may want to consider are 1)

Excellent advice.

Its really hard to get that shot wrong compared to say a wedge