Quickie Pitching Video - Golf Pitch Shot Technique

[mvmac]

http://instagram.com/p/vO2kyYrRTe/

[mvmac]

[ol deadeye]

Paul Azinger has a Lessons With The Pros on the Golf Channel about using the bounce on wedges. He hits pitch shots off the green with no damage to it. No lie is tighter than that. I can do it off a practice green. Not hard if you have 60% of weight on lead foot. The swing is a either done like a putt with a shoulder rocking motion or a hip turn motion on the down swing for longer shots. Stance is slightly open with club face pointed at target. The shaft should be vertical and ball inside forward heel at address. This action lets the bounce hit the ground first and the club slides under the ball. This is not a high spin shot.

It should go high and land softly.

Greg Norman has some lessons on youtube i think about this. He uses a low bounce wedge (8*) from near the green on a tight lie. Few of us are as consistent as he is at this but its not a difficult shot.

Lee Janzen did a Golf Channel lesson with some of this recently.

Enjoy the greatest game.

[saevel25]

Bounce is't the only thing that is important. You can have a lot of bounce and have it designed in such a way when you lay the club open the leading edge still lays pretty flat to the ground. Chamber and grind matter a lot.

I use wedges with upwards of 18 degrees of bounce and I can hit off dead pan lies. I think it is a bit misleading for pros to say they use low bounce wedges around the green when there is more to it than that.

[mvmac]

Paul Azinger has a Lessons With The Pros on the Golf Channel about using the bounce on wedges. He hits pitch shots off the green with no damage to it. No lie is tighter than that. I can do it off a practice green.

Yes bounce or "glide" is your friend.

[jsposato]

Went out and put this into practice today.  Hit about 300 pitches of varying lengths.  I was very surprised at how easy it was to 'get' and repeat.  Best pitching session ever, even my decent hits were inside 20ft.  There was nice groupings of balls around each hole as I went.  Looking forward to mastering this, it was also pretty fun to do.

Thanks @iacas !

[Jakester23]

Went out and put this into practice today.  Hit about 300 pitches of varying lengths.  I was very surprised at how easy it was to 'get' and repeat.  Best pitching session ever, even my decent hits were inside 20ft.  There was nice groupings of balls around each hole as I went.  Looking forward to mastering this, it was also pretty fun to do.

Thanks @iacas!

If you experiment with leaning the handle forward (towards your lead leg) and backwards (toward your trail leg) you can get a lot of different reactions when the ball hits the green.  Also if you really want to hit a high one you can lean the handle back and lay it down towards the ground (you will have to bend your knees a bit to do this and point the handle towards your trail knee) you can hit the ball ridiculously high. Last summer I was hitting balls over a pine tree in my yard from about 5 yards from the base of the tree.

[boogielicious]

Went out and put this into practice today.  Hit about 300 pitches of varying lengths.  I was very surprised at how easy it was to 'get' and repeat.  Best pitching session ever, even my decent hits were inside 20ft.  There was nice groupings of balls around each hole as I went.  Looking forward to mastering this, it was also pretty fun to do.

Thanks @iacas!

Welcome to the site @jsposato !   It is a great technique and @iacas and @mvmac have been a great help to many forum members.  There is a lot of other good information in the Swing Thoughts section.   I encourage you to browse through that section.  We look forward to to contributions on other threads as well.

[AbsoluteTruths]

I have a Cleveland 56/14. When I open the face up the leading edge comes up off the ground. Also When I lower the grip to tie raises. Am I doing something wrong?

[saevel25]

I have a Cleveland 56/14. When I open the face up the leading edge comes up off the ground. Also

When I lower the grip to tie raises. Am I doing something wrong?

Don't open the face up that much if you are worried about how high the leading edge gets off the ground. You have 56 degrees of loft, it isn't like you need 70 degrees of loft. Really, it is rare to get a situation were you need to hit a flop shot from a tight lie. Still, the leading edge being off the ground will not cause too much issue.

[AbsoluteTruths]

My next club up is a 50/8would that be okay for doing this pitching technique

[saevel25]

My next club up is a 50/8would that be okay for doing this pitching technique

You can basically use any club for a pitching technique. The idea is you want to engage the bounce. It is OK for the leading edge to be above the ground. As long as it doesn't strike the ball near the equator of the ball then you'd be fine. Even if you catch it a few grooves thin it will just launch a tad lower but with more spin. If you catch it a bit heavy the bounce will give you some leeway.

[AbsoluteTruths]

You can basically use any club for a pitching technique. The idea is you want to engage the bounce. It is OK for the leading edge to be above the ground. As long as it doesn't strike the ball near the equator of the ball then you'd be fine. Even if you catch it a few grooves thin it will just launch a tad lower but with more spin. If you catch it a bit heavy the bounce will give you some leeway.

Thanks @saevel25 cticing the technique in a field that has "tight lies" like I experience on the cheapo courses I play.

I am beginning to get the feel and overcoming the hit instinct. I do not really understand what the bounce angle of a club is.

My Cleveland CG14's have two dots which means "standard bounce".

What I think I understand from what I read on the Cleveland site is the the 50/8 would be better in a firm greenside bunkers because

it would dig a little more than the 56/14 which would be good in soft sand to prevent too much digging.

Can you direct me to a place where I can gain some understanding of wedge bounce?

[mvmac]

Can you direct me to a place where I can gain some understanding of wedge bounce?

[AbsoluteTruths]

Sorry @mvmac but that does not explain what bounce is. It is an advertisement for Edel wedges.

[Golfingdad]

Sorry @mvmac  but that does not explain what bounce is. It is an advertisement for Edel wedges.

It's really both.  He's explaining what bounce is, why its good AND why he believes Edel does it the best.  Regardless, if you don't want to read it, then here:

Hope that helps.

[saevel25]

Sorry @mvmac  but that does not explain what bounce is. It is an advertisement for Edel wedges.

It might not physically describe what bounce is, but it does clarify the fact that just picking up a wedge with a bounce measurement is not taking into account the full picture. Not many stores sell enough variety of wedges with both grinds and bounce to meet the swings of the golfer. Does it specifically talk about Edel Wedges, yes. Edel is one of the few companies that actually offer a wide variety of options for wedges. It shows a good example at how lacking the major golf companies are lacking in wedge design when talking about bounce and grind.

Still bounce isn't a static measurement. It changes with how the club impacts the ball. Opening the clubface will add bounce, but how much depends on the grind of the sole. Leaning the shaft forward will decrease the bounce.

In basic terms bounce is the curve of the sole that brings the leading edge above the ground. Basically it helps keep the leading edge from digging into the ground. The word, "Glide" is a good term to describe how bounce helps the club with turf interaction.

[Abu3baid]

It's really both.  He's explaining what bounce is, why its good AND why he believes Edel does it the best.  Regardless, if you don't want to read it, then here: [URL=http://thesandtrap.com/content/type/61/id/111489/] [/URL] Hope that helps.

I had to do a double take of the picture you had up (no pun intended) and I wasn't sure if you were joking for a minute. ;)