How do I perfect my pitching?

[sebsmash]

Hi everyone,

Another quick question for you guys,

So I have realized a pattern in my play, I lose a lot of strokes around the green to two putts.

I usually every time I miss the green, or have an approach shot from <100 yards in I can land the ball within 20 feet of the hole, but have trouble sticking it within 10.

This means that I rarely hole my putts in one, I get more 3 putts out of them then 1's.

Now if I can solve this problem, and land my pitches within 10 feet or closer to the pin I think I can improve my scores by at least 5-8 strokes a round.

Does anyone have any good approach shot tips? Especially on pitches from about 50 yards or in?

I think I'm going to see an instructor about this in the next few weeks, but wanted to know if anyone had any advice for me.

I know that it probably comes down to practice time, and practicing a variety of techniques, but I want to know what you guys think.

Thanks a lot,

Seb

[Ernest Jones]

Search for "quickie pitching video" Game changing stuff. Learn about bounce and how you can "cheat" with it and your short game will become your strength. I owe Erik and Mike a couple of single malts for turning a weakness into a strength with a few incredibly succinct posts.

[sebsmash]

Thanks, I'll check it out

[Rick Martin]

http://thesandtrap.com/t/39411/quickie-pitching-video

Here's the link to the thread with their video. And that pivot motion on follow-through is so important, imo.

I think other important things to think about is to get the weight on the left side along w keeping the sternum toward the left side as Padraig demonstrates here (I think this is a very good video - it is labeled as a chipping instruction, but he's appearing to be pitching with a longer swing). The sternum being at the bottom of the arc is an important concept for this (and sand bunker shots as well, imo).

[antnee94]

Originally Posted by sebsmash

Hi everyone,

Another quick question for you guys,

So I have realized a pattern in my play, I lose a lot of strokes around the green to two putts.

I usually every time I miss the green, or have an approach shot from <100 yards in I can land the ball within 20 feet of the hole, but have trouble sticking it within 10.

This means that I rarely hole my putts in one, I get more 3 putts out of them then 1's.

Now if I can solve this problem, and land my pitches within 10 feet or closer to the pin I think I can improve my scores by at least 5-8 strokes a round.

Does anyone have any good approach shot tips? Especially on pitches from about 50 yards or in?

I think I'm going to see an instructor about this in the next few weeks, but wanted to know if anyone had any advice for me.

I know that it probably comes down to practice time, and practicing a variety of techniques, but I want to know what you guys think.

Thanks a lot,

Seb

See the instructor and practice.

Last year I was looking to take my game to the next level. My instructor gave me a pitch shot from 50 and 65 yards out. He also got me to hit a flighted 100 yard shot that checks. Those were three distances I was absolutely dead from and now they are preferred lay up distances (especially the 65 yarder). It was a simple pitch. The one thing you have to do is trust the shot though. It took some time. I practice it all the time now, in the house and at the range. It's a very arm oriented type shot but when struck my ball bounces and stops. I started getting into that 10 foot range to either save par or make birdie on par 5s. I would say that shot was one of the reasons I took two strokes off my game last season.

If you want I can try and explain how the instructor explained it to me. I feel like I wouldn't do it justice and you might be able to find a video on youtube that demonstrates it better. Or just go to the instructor like I suggest. Let me know. I don't mind taking the time to write it out.

[mdl]

Another vote for the quickie pitching video.  I was a decent pitcher/chipper on standard trajectory shots before seeing that video, but my only high trajectory shot was the flop, which is unfortunately not available (with confidence at least) because of the lie fairly often when you're short-sided and want a high shot.   The non-flop high shot in that video really helped me.