Lesson. Teacher told me to play wedges off my front foot (!?!)

[Buckeyebowman]

On 7/14/2016 at 0:36 PM, Asmanning95 said:

I recently had a lesson in chipping, just short stuff around the greens, she had me playing shots forward of middle but really moving the ball around based on what kind of flight i was looking for. If i needed to pop the ball up she was saying  do the same swing and play the ball off the front foot. The idea was to use the bounce of the club.

That's exactly what I do, depending on what type of shot I'm trying to play.

On 7/14/2016 at 0:52 PM, DaveP043 said:

This is a little , since the original post was about full swings (I think), but your teacher is recommending a method that gets recommended on this forum pretty regularly.

If you have questions or comments about pitching technique, that would be a good place to post them.

I'll play a pitch shot forward in my stance if I want some height on the ball, like coming out of a steep faced bunker or playing a flop shot with the face of the club laid open. I'll play the ball anywhere in my stance on a pitch depending on the flight of the ball I want. You have to have some imagination in this game. Golf is "imagination with hands".

[dchoye]

On July 14, 2016 at 11:59 AM, Elmer said:

My old teacher taught me to chip with the ball forward and keeping weight forward. He indicated that this allowed the ball to get some height. He told me to keep the ball back in the stance for lower flight.
I constantly argue about ball placement for short chips with my father. I swear by forward ball placement, he is a back foot guy.

I been all over the place with my short game.  This past week tried nice high flop type wedges from just inside 50 yards and felt more comfortable with ball off the back foot . If I was nearer say 25-30 yards and could go lower trajectory then move ball closer to middle but still off back foot . I just move my front foot closer 

I think for putting and chipping really close along the ground then I play ball off my front foot 

Edited August 22, 2016 by dchoye

[Elmer]

1 hour ago, dchoye said:

I been all over the place with my short game.  This past week tried nice high flop type wedges from just inside 50 yards and felt more comfortable with ball off the back foot . If I was nearer say 25-30 yards and could go lower trajectory then move ball closer to middle but still off back foot . I just move my front foot closer 

I think for putting and chipping really close along the ground then I play ball off my front foot 

Since posting my original response I have begun chipping off my back foot, with success!

[Snipehook16]

Everybody is a little different and teach different things. I play all my irons further back than most to help promote a draw. When I want to cut the ball I put it up in my stance along with a couple other things. Also keeping the ball back in my stance helps me flight the ball better because I naturally hit the ball really high.

[Used2PlayALot]

I am not referring to chipping, but to full 100% swings with the 9 or W.

I was told to pay it off the front foot

[Liko81]

On 7/14/2016 at 10:32 AM, Used2PlayALot said:

Started playing after a 10 year break, and decided to take a lesson at a local driving range.

The instructor told me I should be lining up my wedge and 9 off my front foot.   Like where the driver is lined up.
For as long as I can remember, I remember the norm was to play it off the middle of the stance.  
He said that was outdated, and playing it off the front foot is how it's not done.
 

Frankly, I felt he was giving me some kind of short-term Band-Aid hack and thought it was god damned ridiculous.
I politely finished my lesson and never went back that that low budget dump again. 

Was I right ?

He probably should have gone into more detail as to why. Essentially, when playing your short irons, you want less or even no weight transfer, because the ball is further back in your stance; if you move your torso and shoulders forward you bring the swing path forward and risk topping the ball. This is especially true if you're pitching; lower swing speeds than your full swing allow more "yips", so the pitch swing is already prone to "swing depth" issues (topping/turfing). 

A common drill to teach this is to have the player put all their weight over the lead foot, with the second foot just for balance, and pitch from that position. If all your weight is already forward, you can't move your swing path, and you get more consistent pitching behavior and fewer mishits. The correct position of the ball, then, will no longer be slightly back of center, it'll be just behind your leading arch. 

This stance is not recommended on the course, however, and a better overall technique that accomplishes the same result on both the range and the links is simply to put your feet together for a pitch, or even for a gentle full windup. Then you simply place the ball in the same position relative to your torso that will get the club up "over" the ball at impact to avoid turfing, but not so far back that you're now topping. For me that's about in line with the big toe on my back foot.

[iacas]

46 minutes ago, Liko81 said:

He probably should have gone into more detail as to why. Essentially, when playing your short irons, you want less or even no weight transfer, because the ball is further back in your stance; if you move your torso and shoulders forward you bring the swing path forward and risk topping the ball.

Unless we're misunderstanding each other… that's not really true at all. The weight shifts back about the same (just a little), then forward almost as much. The good players we've had on our SwingCatalyst, etc. still get the vast majority of their weight (pressure) forward during the downswing. It's a slower transfer, but they're still hitting 75-90% forward.

[Buckeyebowman]

On 8/24/2016 at 2:52 PM, iacas said:

Unless we're misunderstanding each other… that's not really true at all. The weight shifts back about the same (just a little), then forward almost as much. The good players we've had on our SwingCatalyst, etc. still get the vast majority of their weight (pressure) forward during the downswing. It's a slower transfer, but they're still hitting 75-90% forward.

True, true, true! The surest way to screw up a chip or pitch is to stop your body! Even if your body doesn't move much during the takeaway, it still has to get out of the way in the downswing!