HomerJSimpson
Hall of Famer
Had my first of several short game lessons today. We looked at pitching from <100 yards. My coach got me to talk me through my wedge choices and what I'm looking to do when I play the shot. He seemed quite keen on having a 60 degree in my bag but that is an ongoing topic of conversation between us.
He watched me hit a few pitches with my 56 to a target about 35 yards away and asked me to describe what I was trying to achieve technique wise. After seeing my efforts which were erratic in terms of height and length he started to work on my swing. It turns out my right shoulder was really low at address which has had the effect of shallowing out my swing and making it hard to come down onto the ball without any intervention from my hands. This explained why I get the fats, thins and can't get too balls to go the same.
He set me up with my shoulders level. It felt really strange like I was going to topple over onto my left especially when he narrowed my stance as well. He got me to take the club back on a much straighter path which had the feeling of the club being shut (it wasn't). From there he really got me working on nipping the ball and keeping the blade from rotating over and pointing at the target after impact.
We did the old towel under the arm routine to get the feeling of keeping the arms close to the body thoroughout the swing and to exaggerate the feeling of the body rotating through the shot and not the hands. The towel helped maintain a better tempo.
The last thing we worked on was varying the length of the swing and not the speed. He wants me to work on the well known 7.30, 9 and 10.30 positions and wants me to chart how far I hit each club. I am going to Ascot to mark out 30, 40 50, 70 and 80 yard distances and use a variety of clubs (PW, 52 and 56). He has said that with pitching it isn't the club that dicates the choice but the length of swing and so has impressed on me the need to know and be able to control my yardages.
I have plenty to work on but now the technique has been ironed out I'm up for the challenge.
He watched me hit a few pitches with my 56 to a target about 35 yards away and asked me to describe what I was trying to achieve technique wise. After seeing my efforts which were erratic in terms of height and length he started to work on my swing. It turns out my right shoulder was really low at address which has had the effect of shallowing out my swing and making it hard to come down onto the ball without any intervention from my hands. This explained why I get the fats, thins and can't get too balls to go the same.
He set me up with my shoulders level. It felt really strange like I was going to topple over onto my left especially when he narrowed my stance as well. He got me to take the club back on a much straighter path which had the feeling of the club being shut (it wasn't). From there he really got me working on nipping the ball and keeping the blade from rotating over and pointing at the target after impact.
We did the old towel under the arm routine to get the feeling of keeping the arms close to the body thoroughout the swing and to exaggerate the feeling of the body rotating through the shot and not the hands. The towel helped maintain a better tempo.
The last thing we worked on was varying the length of the swing and not the speed. He wants me to work on the well known 7.30, 9 and 10.30 positions and wants me to chart how far I hit each club. I am going to Ascot to mark out 30, 40 50, 70 and 80 yard distances and use a variety of clubs (PW, 52 and 56). He has said that with pitching it isn't the club that dicates the choice but the length of swing and so has impressed on me the need to know and be able to control my yardages.
I have plenty to work on but now the technique has been ironed out I'm up for the challenge.
