Pitch and Half Wedges

[saevel25]

One of my biggest weaknesses in my golf game. I am more accurate from 130 yards than i am from 100 and in. So i had a lesson today, and i found out i was dipping my right shoulder down and hitting behind the ball.

I hit alot of ball, trying to figure out a good feel to work. What worked for me was,

1) at set up, kick the right knee in, to keep the weight on the left leg and on the inside of my right foot.

2) Do not focus on the hands at all, just rotate the chest through impact, and let the hands fall naturally to the ball.

When i do these two things, i was pin seaking the 75 yard target, the divots were not as deep, i was hitting the ball first.

So just some concepts to hitting the half wedges and pitch shots, maybe these will help out someone else.

[Paradox]

just a little add-on..

when I start struggling with these shots, its usually the weight shift that gets me.  When I really feel my weight on my left side on the downswing..its always good, clean contact and on target.  If I don't shift...its fat, its thin, its all over the place.

Oh..and I ALWAYS visualize my landing area, not my end spot.

[BugDude]

Oddly enough, that's the strongest part of my game.  To me, it is also the most fun because there are so many different ways you can hit those shots.  You can get very creative.  I personally like bringing those shots in low with a lot of spin and getting the one hop and stop action.  You can actually hit a sand wedge very low, and it will spin a lot.  I often also hit the shot with a gap or pitching wedge if I have a lot of green to work with and can skip it back and stop.  Keep your weight forward and your follow-through low...and you've got to catch the ball first and very clean.  Work on trying to hook that shot hitting the inside of the ball.  Play a soft cover ball like a Pro V1 and you'll get addicted to this shot.

[Paradox]

Originally Posted by BugDude

Oddly enough, that's the strongest part of my game.  To me, it is also the most fun because there are so many different ways you can hit those shots.  You can get very creative.  I personally like bringing those shots in low with a lot of spin and getting the one hop and stop action.  You can actually hit a sand wedge very low, and it will spin a lot.  I often also hit the shot with a gap or pitching wedge if I have a lot of green to work with and can skip it back and stop.  Keep your weight forward and your follow-through low...and you've got to catch the ball first and very clean.  Work on trying to hook that shot hitting the inside of the ball.  Play a soft cover ball like a Pro V1 and you'll get addicted to this shot.

ditto..I see my playing partners always trying to fit the same basic shot into many different situations and don't understand why they don't use the frustration of missing to work on hitting different types of pitches.

I love opening up the face a lot on that downhill pitch and landing it perfectly and then hear the others say "man, I wish I could do that!"

my favorite shot of all is the low trajectory PW that bites hard on the green and stops.

[Stretch]

Agree with Saevel that you need nice, quiet hands for these. I also focus on keeping my elbows very "soft" so they slide a little along the right side in the backswing and left side on the follow through. Helps you keep the loft and bounce on the club, gives you more margin for error and promotes a high, soft-landing shot. Weight favors the left side, control the distance with the size of your pivot.

[Dave H]

I'm a higher handicap so take this as you will, but I have struggled with the same thing as the OP and what I have found this year in addition to what he said is this. I concentrate on taking a shorter back swing and staying aggressive through the ball. What I would often do is get way too long in my backswing and then decelerate on the downswing causing me too dip and hit fat shots. This simple thought has vastly improved my 100 yd and in approaches.

[DaSportsGuy]

It's simple-manage your game. Don't put yourself in that position. If it's a short par four that a driver will take you inside 100 yards, take less club off the tee. Remember, closer isn't always better. I'd much rather have a full 8i from 145 than a partial wedge from 60 yards.

[Stretch]

Originally Posted by DaSportsGuy

I'd much rather have a full 8i from 145 than a partial wedge from 60 yards.

Probably not a great play for most people. The very best players on the PGA tour average 8 - 10 feet from the hole from 50 -75 yards and 18 - 20 feet from 125 - 150 yards. I would guess the spread is even higher for us mere mortals.

[Precis1on]

I'll let my wedges take me in any day. Go play a short par 3 course and learn your wedges there. Even on longer holes where I can't reach the green with a wedge, I'll play them anyway, just for distance training.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by Stretch

Probably not a great play for most people. The very best players on the PGA tour average 8 - 10 feet from the hole from 50 -75 yards and 18 - 20 feet from 125 - 150 yards. I would guess the spread is even higher for us mere mortals.

The "average" golfer likely misses the green either way, but for me, it depends on the hole layout and pin position.  If there's no specific reason I need to come into the green with a full shot, I'll take the longer tee shot up to about 100 yards. After that, I play for 100 yards until it's about 30 yards.

[BugDude]

It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to manage your way around a golf course and never encounter a less than full shot.  It may never be your strongest part of your game, but you should work on it so you aren't paralyzed by it.  Playing a short par 3 course will help, as will practicing from various yardages on the range.  Our range has 25, 50, 75, and 100 yard markers just for this purpose.  Find a field with a couple buckets and shag balls and dump them out with the buckets at varying distances apart and pitch them back and forth working on various trajectories.

The key is choke down a tad on the club, shorten the backswing a lot, and from that point power through the ball swinging "full" if you will from that shortened point.  I'm talking about a backswing that for some distances ends up pralell to the ground to not much higher.  Hands never passing the shoulders.  So, in essence, you're still swinging "full" on the downswing, just not full back.

[sean_miller]

I agree with that first paragraph. I have confidence in landing the ball on my spot from any distance, and that comes from a lot of practice. I don't prescribe to both choking down and a shortedned back swing, but different strokes for different folks.

I still prefer to shoot for the 150 or 100 marker though. If I'm a club longer or shorter that's okay, but from 100 and 150 I know what the ball's going to do once it hits the green - nothing.

Originally Posted by BugDude

It would be very difficult, if not impossible, to manage your way around a golf course and never encounter a less than full shot.  It may never be your strongest part of your game, but you should work on it so you aren't paralyzed by it.  Playing a short par 3 course will help, as will practicing from various yardages on the range.  Our range has 25, 50, 75, and 100 yard markers just for this purpose.  Find a field with a couple buckets and shag balls and dump them out with the buckets at varying distances apart and pitch them back and forth working on various trajectories.

The key is choke down a tad on the club, shorten the backswing a lot, and from that point power through the ball swinging "full" if you will from that shortened point.  I'm talking about a backswing that for some distances ends up pralell to the ground to not much higher.  Hands never passing the shoulders.  So, in essence, you're still swinging "full" on the downswing, just not full back.

[saevel25]

i use to agree with the thought, just don't put yourself in that position, but i rather change that position into an advantage. Because when i outdrive most people by 30-40 yards in my league, thats tough to throw that away. If i can get the ball with in 15 feet consitantly, then i will have a huge advantage.

[Paradox]

its not a shot/distance to be afraid of.  Once you realize that you CAN hit the shot(through practicing distance control off the course) then you have opened the door to shaving a couple strokes off your round.

Theres nothing difficult about the half-wedge, really.  Its mostly mental.  The swing is the same(just shorter) and all other facets are the same.  I think most people run into trouble with half-shots because they immediately think of a slower swing instead of a shorter swing.

Its a swing thats easy to get lazy with(guilty..as noted above) and anything less than 100% focus will usually lead to bad results.  Give me 50 yards to the green vs. your 150 any day of the week...the only time I lay up outside of 100 is when its an easier position to be in than whats closer to the hole.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by Paradox

its not a shot/distance to be afraid of.  Once you realize that you CAN hit the shot(through practicing distance control off the course) then you have opened the door to shaving a couple strokes off your round.

Theres nothing difficult about the half-wedge, really.  Its mostly mental.  The swing is the same(just shorter) and all other facets are the same.  I think most people run into trouble with half-shots because they immediately think of a slower swing instead of a shorter swing.

Its a swing thats easy to get lazy with(guilty..as noted above) and anything less than 100% focus will usually lead to bad results.  Give me 50 yards to the green vs. your 150 any day of the week...the only time I lay up outside of 100 is when its an easier position to be in than whats closer to the hole.

Not sure who this reply's aimed at since the only person who specifically mentioned "150 yards" did not express any fear over partial shots.

[BugDude]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

...I don't prescribe to both choking down and a shortedned back swing, but different strokes for different folks....

How do you hit a 40 yard shot without shortening the back swing?  I agree, different strokes for different folks...that's what makes golf interesting.  You can lay a sand wedge open and hit it very high with a long slow lazy swing, but lets say the green is a little lower than the fairway, the pin is in the back, and there is a drop off behind the green.  For me, I like to choke down on the club, stand in a little closer, hit a gap wedge or pitching wedge with the swing stopping about paralell and punching through the ball hard keeping the hands low.  Pinch it clean and it comes in very low, lands about the center of the green, takes a big skip, and then slams on the brakes.  That shot gives me a much better margin for error than a high sand wedge shot.  For me, less can go wrong.  It is a shot that I learned watching Lee Trevino and Raymond Floyd play and fell in love with it.  23 yeard later, it is still my favorite shot...the low punch spinning wedge.

[sean_miller]

I said I don't prescribe to choking down "AND" using a shortened backswing, but I guess I shoud have chosen the word "WHILE", and pointed out that you were taking a full swing and that even though I can hit a fine little knockdown punch shot, I also prefer other types of shots that are more consistent for the varying greens I play on.  end detour /

Originally Posted by BugDude

How do you hit a 40 yard shot without shortening the back swing?  I agree, different strokes for different folks...that's what makes golf interesting.  You can lay a sand wedge open and hit it very high with a long slow lazy swing, but lets say the green is a little lower than the fairway, the pin is in the back, and there is a drop off behind the green.  For me, I like to choke down on the club, stand in a little closer, hit a gap wedge or pitching wedge with the swing stopping about paralell and punching through the ball hard keeping the hands low.  Pinch it clean and it comes in very low, lands about the center of the green, takes a big skip, and then slams on the brakes.  That shot gives me a much better margin for error than a high sand wedge shot.  For me, less can go wrong.  It is a shot that I learned watching Lee Trevino and Raymond Floyd play and fell in love with it.  23 yeard later, it is still my favorite shot...the low punch spinning wedge.

[Paradox]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Not sure who this reply's aimed at since the only person who specifically mentioned "150 yards" did not express any fear over partial shots.

It wasn't you.

DaSportsGuy said he'd rather be 145 out than have a partial shot from 60 yards.