Quickie Pitching Video - Golf Pitch Shot Technique

[billchao]

I think that's more relevant. My path can actually be a bit left sometimes, depending on ball position, handle location, etc. It really depends on the shot you're playing. It can be right too.

Makes sense. The whole left/right thing can get confusing at times. I'll stick to what works.

[MattM]

Ok, I played today, and I definitely want to thank everyone for helping on this!  I started practicing pitch shots like those being described and I've figured it out for the most part.

What I was doing before when I came through on the bottom of the shot was turning the club over sort of.  This closed the face a tad and caused the ball to roll out more even though it did get up in the air.  When I do this successfully I actually turn my right wrist the other way a tad at impact which really activates the bounce and gets the ball up in the air!

The "float loady" thing I have to admit was hard to figure out.  A way that I figured out how to ensure that my body was moving the club through with just gravity dropping the club is to think more "wet noodle."  So with the club on the ground at address I turn my hips a tad to the right to get the club up into the backswing and then just move my hips to the left to start the downswing while letting gravity drop the club into the ball.

I killed it today on pitches for the first 7 holes.  I lost it in the middle of the round because I started trying to use my wrists to activate the downswing instead of gravity.  I caught myself doing this by the 15th hole and started hitting quality pitches again which allowed me to still hold on to shoot an 86!

With that I did have a question for everyone.  I have titleist vokey 52 and 58 degree wedges.  The 52 has7 degrees of bounce and the 58 has 9 degrees.  I'm thinking about adding a 62 degree, but I think that I want more bounce out of it (like 14 degrees).  This means I would have to probably go with the Cleveland 62.  I would really be interested in hearing from Iacas on this question.  Do you think it would be helpful to also get a 62 degree?  If so should I definitely go with more bounce on It (14 degrees)?

[Jakester23]

I use my 58 and I love it for pitching. I think mine has 11 degrees of bounce and that seems to work pretty good for me.  Ive also used my 54/14 and my gap wedge if I'm hitting a long pitch that I want to roll out.

[iacas]

With that I did have a question for everyone.  I have titleist vokey 52 and 58 degree wedges.  The 52 has7 degrees of bounce and the 58 has 9 degrees.  I'm thinking about adding a 62 degree, but I think that I want more bounce out of it (like 14 degrees).  This means I would have to probably go with the Cleveland 62.  I would really be interested in hearing from Iacas on this question.  Do you think it would be helpful to also get a 62 degree?  If so should I definitely go with more bounce on It (14 degrees)?

It depends on the grind.

My wedges have a lot of bounce, but they have a good amount of camber and heel/toe relief, too.

[MattM]

Do you think I should look into a 62 degree?

[mvmac]

Ok, I played today, and I definitely want to thank everyone for helping on this!  I started practicing pitch shots like those being described and I've figured it out for the most part.

What I was doing before when I came through on the bottom of the shot was turning the club over sort of.  This closed the face a tad and caused the ball to roll out more even though it did get up in the air.  When I do this successfully I actually turn my right wrist the other way a tad at impact which really activates the bounce and gets the ball up in the air!

Yeah you're not rolling the face, it's more like an underhand toss, with the knuckles of your right hand facing the ground.

[MattM]

Yeah you're not rolling the face, it's more like an underhand toss, with the knuckles of your right hand facing the ground.

YUP!  EXACTLY!!!!  That's exactly what I should be doing.  It works well too!

So do you think I should get a 62 degree?  Do you have one?  Like it? Not like it?

[mvmac]

YUP!  EXACTLY!!!!  That's exactly what I should be doing.  It works well too!

So do you think I should get a 62 degree?  Do you have one?  Like it? Not like it?

I can't say for sure what you need, I've never seen you hit a pitch shot

I don't use one, most I go with is a 58, I don't need anymore than that.

[MattM]

I ordered a Cleveland 62 degree with 12 degrees of bounce. I'll try it out and decide if it's helpful or not. Gorgeous looking club btw. With the 58 degree I've been practicing this method it really is a nice way to pitch the ball. In the beginning of my round on Sunday to about the 6th hole I had all PARs which were mostly up and downs and I was looking at possibly the best round I've ever had. The problem is that I had one of those swing issues that happened where I completely lost the feel of the wedge which cause my score to skyrocket some. I took a bogie on 7 (par 5) a double on 8 (par 5) and a bogie on 9 (par 4) which hurt my score badly. I still shot an 86 though. It's funny how much pitching/chipping can save/hurt a score!!!

[rehmwa]

Tried a drill I like:  (Chipping drill, not pitching - sorry, it's a pitching thread).  Worth doing - highly recommend it for those that feel confident they can land on their target.

Took my 4 wedges and threw a ring on a relatively flat green (near side to me) - 10 yards.

Then I chipped to that ring with each of my wedges.  Discarding any shots that missed the 'target' by anything stupid bad.  trying to not change anything with shaft lean of face alignment, just strength of stroke to land in that ring.

It was very cool.  when I was done, there were 4 very distinct little groups of balls (I started with my pitching wedge and then hit shorter).  Shoulda taken a picture

Roll out was very consistent on each wedge provided the strike and carry was clean.  (disclaimer - artificial green, so I think I need to assume these are a bit long for the greens I would normally play on...maybe)

PW - 20 yards (so 10 yards of carry, 10 of rollout)

GW - 18 (10 and 8)

SW - 15 (10 and 5)

LW - 13 (10 and 3)

I tried a couple different carry distances (15, 20) to see if it held (proportionately) and it actually did.  These are very approximate, so I just took the 'easy' numbers and 1/4 increments is 'close enough' considering how shaky my hands are when holding the range finder in the first place......I really thought that at least a couple wedges would overlap in terms of rollout percentage....I was wrong.  I wonder how far out I need to get before this breaks down....

PW - 100% rollout

GW - 75%

SW - 50%

LW - 25%

I think this will teach me much better 'feel' going forward for which wedge and what shot I want to choose with chipping.  Also nice in that I was away from all the people just trying to chip into holes - I could pick a nice empty stretch of green to play to.

I assume that Eric and Mike already have the math on this to explain why it worked for me.  I originally picked my wedge lofts strictly to lay out usable full swing distance gaps (120, 110, 90, 60).  not roll out....  so I'm a bit surprised.  If I ever get a new wedge set, I think my lofts in the future will be based on short game, not full swing.

still learning - always

pitching - still working on being as consistent with pitch shots, getting better  (I've decided that chip or pitch, I'm just choking up always.. and will use my swing to control distance - for better contact.  I was messing with combination of choking and swing.  it worked, but not as simple as this)

bounce is a wonderful thing

[14ledo81]

Tried a drill I like:  (Chipping drill, not pitching - sorry, it's a pitching thread).  Worth doing - highly recommend it for those that feel confident they can land on their target. Took my 4 wedges and threw a ring on a relatively flat green (near side to me) - 10 yards. Then I chipped to that ring with each of my wedges.  Discarding any shots that missed the 'target' by anything stupid bad.  trying to not change anything with shaft lean of face alignment, just strength of stroke to land in that ring. It was very cool.  when I was done, there were 4 very distinct little groups of balls (I started with my pitching wedge and then hit shorter).  Shoulda taken a picture Roll out was very consistent on each wedge provided the strike and carry was clean.  (disclaimer - artificial green, so I think I need to assume these are a bit long for the greens I would normally play on...maybe) PW - 20 yards (so 10 yards of carry, 10 of rollout) GW - 18 (10 and 8) SW - 15 (10 and 5) LW - 13 (10 and 3) I tried a couple different carry distances (15, 20) to see if it held (proportionately) and it actually did.  These are very approximate, so I just took the 'easy' numbers and 1/4 increments is 'close enough' considering how shaky my hands are when holding the range finder in the first place......I really thought that at least a couple wedges would overlap in terms of rollout percentage....I was wrong.  I wonder how far out I need to get before this breaks down.... PW - 100% rollout GW - 75% SW - 50% LW - 25% I think this will teach me much better 'feel' going forward for which wedge and what shot I want to choose with chipping.  Also nice in that I was away from all the people just trying to chip into holes - I could pick a nice empty stretch of green to play to. I assume that Eric and Mike already have the math on this to explain why it worked for me.  I originally picked my wedge lofts strictly to lay out usable full swing distance gaps (120, 110, 90, 60).  not roll out....  so I'm a bit surprised.  If I ever get a new wedge set, I think my lofts in the future will be based on short game, not full swing. still learning - always pitching - still working on being as consistent with pitch shots, getting better  (I've decided that chip or pitch, I'm just choking up always.. and will use my swing to control distance - for better contact.  I [U]was[/U] messing with combination of choking and swing.  it worked, but not as simple as this) bounce is a wonderful thing

Interesting. I will have to try sonething like this. Thanks for posting.

[Hoganwoods]

Tried a drill I like:  (Chipping drill, not pitching - sorry, it's a pitching thread).  Worth doing - highly recommend it for those that feel confident they can land on their target.

Took my 4 wedges and threw a ring on a relatively flat green (near side to me) - 10 yards.

Then I chipped to that ring with each of my wedges.  Discarding any shots that missed the 'target' by anything stupid bad.  trying to not change anything with shaft lean of face alignment, just strength of stroke to land in that ring.

It was very cool.  when I was done, there were 4 very distinct little groups of balls (I started with my pitching wedge and then hit shorter).  Shoulda taken a picture

Roll out was very consistent on each wedge provided the strike and carry was clean.  (disclaimer - artificial green, so I think I need to assume these are a bit long for the greens I would normally play on...maybe)

PW - 20 yards (so 10 yards of carry, 10 of rollout)

GW - 18 (10 and 8)

SW - 15 (10 and 5)

LW - 13 (10 and 3)

I tried a couple different carry distances (15, 20) to see if it held (proportionately) and it actually did.  These are very approximate, so I just took the 'easy' numbers and 1/4 increments is 'close enough' considering how shaky my hands are when holding the range finder in the first place......I really thought that at least a couple wedges would overlap in terms of rollout percentage....I was wrong.  I wonder how far out I need to get before this breaks down....

PW - 100% rollout

GW - 75%

SW - 50%

LW - 25%

I think this will teach me much better 'feel' going forward for which wedge and what shot I want to choose with chipping.  Also nice in that I was away from all the people just trying to chip into holes - I could pick a nice empty stretch of green to play to.

I assume that Eric and Mike already have the math on this to explain why it worked for me.  I originally picked my wedge lofts strictly to lay out usable full swing distance gaps (120, 110, 90, 60).  not roll out....  so I'm a bit surprised.  If I ever get a new wedge set, I think my lofts in the future will be based on short game, not full swing.

still learning - always

pitching - still working on being as consistent with pitch shots, getting better  (I've decided that chip or pitch, I'm just choking up always.. and will use my swing to control distance - for better contact.  I was messing with combination of choking and swing.  it worked, but not as simple as this)

bounce is a wonderful thing

Very cool.  Thanks for posting.

[rehmwa]

Very cool.  Thanks for posting.

A couple rounds in and playing with it.  It worked great.  Though on real greens I needed to factor in quite a bit less rollout for those clubs.  Once that 'feel' was in, the whole chipping thing is so much more natural and effective.

Next step is definitely going out and working on much longer chip shots and see how those work - over 20 yards carry out to maybe even 80.....?

How far out (just to get the 'depends' answer away, let's say fairly flat, nothing in the way, just using that stroke to carry and check or bounce up from in front.....) would some of you good chippers still try to chip?  (versus taking a hit shot and carry)

at some point - a chip shot becomes a 'bump and run' - and the expectations of results change - what yardage is that?

I noticed on a couple 'longer' chips (40yard +)  that my ball checked up more aggressively.  that makes perfect sense since I'm striking the ball more firmly.  (I tried a couple shots from about 45 on one hole - PW into the face short of the green trying to bounce it up to the hole - and a GW cute to just the edge of the green.  I fully expected my GW to roll out a ton and it actually fed about half of what I expected - certainly a cleaner hit than the PW - both turned out decent though.)

[Ernest Jones]

@iacas @mvmac or anyone else who has become proficient at this method... Trying to recapture the relative success I achieved with this method when I was in Erie. Question: I seem to get the best results when my back swing feels like all arms with very minimal pivot and then ALL pivot on the DS and through the ball. Does this make sense as far as the feel of the swing? I just bring the club back with my arms and let it gently roll open and pivot through the shot feeling like arms just kind of float down.

[Jakester23]

That's exactly what I feel. I don't feel like I rotate at all on my back swing. I think I do a little on a longer shot (30 yards+). If I miss hit this shot its because I don't commit to the technique and I try to hit the ball when I'm almost at impact. It takes a while to just trust that you will get the results your after. I spent a lot of time in my yard just pitching at a 5 gallon buck just to get he feel for the shot and have a target.

[Ernest Jones]

That's exactly what I feel. I don't feel like I rotate at all on my back swing. I think I do a little on a longer shot (30 yards+). If I miss hit this shot its because I don't commit to the technique and I try to hit the ball when I'm almost at impact. It takes a while to just trust that you will get the results your after. I spent a lot of time in my yard just pitching at a 5 gallon buck just to get he feel for the shot and have a target.

Yeah, I definitely pivot on the way back but it's minimal compared to a full swing. It kinda feels like the relative lack of pivot on the BS encourages a fuller pivot on the DS. If I "quit" on the pivot coming through I'm guaranteed to hit it left with a big pull. Totally the opposite of everything that happens in a full swing.

[iacas]

Question: I seem to get the best results when my back swing feels like all arms with very minimal pivot and then ALL pivot on the DS and through the ball. Does this make sense as far as the feel of the swing?

I just bring the club back with my arms and let it gently roll open and pivot through the shot feeling like arms just kind of float down.

Yep.

[Ernest Jones]

Yep.

Awesome. Thanks. I think I'm close to nailing this shot. Had a lot of success lately on the simulator with this, can't wait to put it in play on courses. My home track opens on Saturday. :dance: