Pitch shot from 30-60 yards

[Jokerdooby]

Hi
Can anyone give me some advice on how to play these shots as I'm struggling for consistency with them. One minute ill fat it 10 yards in front of me and others thin it through the green. What club would you use out of my vokeys 60,54,50? Ball position in stance,narrow open stance,grip lower?? Any help/advice would be much appreciated!!

 

[CliveW]

Same answer as your post re putting.

 

[Foxholer]

Definitely worth getting a lesson this.

And the sooner you do, the fewer bad habits to correct.

I tend to use my Gap wedge (52) but rarely the 60*. So whichever you feel more comfortable with for the particular distance out of the 50 or 54.

Again, practice is the key to recognising distance and the shot to play, with whichever club!

 

[bobmac]

I would try the following...
Narrow stance, 3-4in apart
Ball in the middle of your stance (maybe an inch back)
Weight 80% on your front foot.
Hands in front of the ball at address
Take your 50 wedge and hold it at the bottom of the grip.
Then swing back HALF WAY and swing through half way
If you swing back too far, you will decelerate which is a no no
TAKE A DIVOT no mater how small
Make sure you accelerate through impact
And keep your grip soft and tension free dont try and strangle it.
That should go about 50-60 yds
If you want to hit it less, use your 54 or shorten your swing

[video=youtube;rbNPX5ZT9FY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbNPX5ZT9FY&list=PL7Uf2W3sfvqYBJ3OUldKvQT7ZWYEmPOyW[/video]

 

[Maninblack4612]

This works for me. On the downswing make no effort to move the arms. Feel as if you are swinging down by pivoting the shoulders & upper torso, with the arms just being dragged along I got this info from Stan Utley's great little book "The Art or the Short Game"

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Art-Short-Game-Tour-Tested/dp/1592402925

 

[London mike 61]

I'm reading the Dave Pelz short game bible and I would definitely reccomend it. There is some great teaching in there and his drills are excellent too , and I am sure that if you followed them you would find the answer to your problem .

Welcome to the forum BTW

 

[garyinderry]

slightly back in stance. grip down a touch, strike down sharply.


use a soft ball if you want it to sit down quickly. you can throw it most of the way to the pin with a soft ball. you will have to factor in more run if you use a harder ball.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

I would advocate a lesson (you guessed that though). Get the technique right so you aren't doubting yourself over the ball and hit as many shots as you can with different clubs and learn how to develop feel, change trajectory and get it stopping or running out. I am working hard on my own pitching at the moment and absolutely loving it. I am losing hours on the practice ground doing exactly what I describe and playing around with it all. Played my first round of 2014 last weekend and to be honest my pitching wasn't as sharp as I wanted but still getting it in tighter than last year.

 

[the_coach]

Hi
Can anyone give me some advice on how to play these shots as I'm struggling for consistency with them. One minute ill fat it 10 yards in front of me and others thin it through the green. What club would you use out of my vokeys 60,54,50? Ball position in stance,narrow open stance,grip lower?? Any help/advice would be much appreciated!!

First thing to consider is how the land lies, anything in your way to the green (bunker etc.) is the pin near the front or the back, is it windy.

As a generalization handicap players are less consistent trying to play the high floater (but some will consider it a strong point) you have to find out what you feel most comfortable doing and whether the land and conditions will force you to play something else. Usually the more consistent results will be with the mid flight shots (until you get more used to it all) but you have to pick and visualize where you want the ball to land, it won't be right at the pin.

The only way you'll find out what your comfortable go to pitch is, practice, there is no other way.

Get your self over to the practice ground pace 60 yards and stick your umbrella in, or go to the driving range and find the markers at the right distance, either way don't take any other clubs with you other than the 3 wedges then you won't be tempted away from the proper goal.

These distances are all about control, not creating 'distance' so at set up there are a number of things to look at.

You don't need to be transferring weight, left to right and back again, so the weight stays on your left leg (70-30 as a guide, 60-40 see what feeling works best as you practice. but keep mostly it on the left leg right way through the shot.)

You'll get the distance you need for these shots through your upper body pivot and arm swing and just a controlled set and natural, not forced release of your wrists/hands. Note: at and through impact you want to maintain some of the angle formed in the set still there in your right hand/wrist. Don't try to whip them of flip the hands through, quieter hands not over active ones.

As your looking for control and at these distances 80, 60 inwards you don't need your hands at the end of the handle as you would in a full swing with your clubs, so have your hands in the middle of the handle, this will mean as a guide your right hand will be around 3" from the shaft.

Again no real distance here so no real excessive movement with the hips and legs, this being so its better to set your feet and hips slightly open to your ball target line, Note: your shoulders and chest must be square though to your ball target line.

Feet at set up slightly open left foot flared open a little to target, right foot nearer 90 degs to ball/target line. As a guide with this sort of stance if the distance between your heels is say 10" the distance between your big toes will be around 15", as i said just a guide to work with if you're unsure.
Your hips are pre-set open at address because with these little shots there's no active clearing of the left hip needed to help create distance, so pre-setting hips a little open allows your arms, hands & club still have the space to get through impact.

Address the ball feet together, then find you stance width doing it this way it's easier to keep the ball in the middle of your stance more or less directly under your sternum.

So grip, middle of handle, stance at address as above, weight through the whole stroke stays left, leading edge of club square to target (whether at the flag or not, depending on what's prudent on the course, maybe better 15ft right of flag to avoid say going directly over the bunker then if you don't make good contact you've got a putt or a little chip and are not in the sand) then build the address/stance around that square face.

Hands directly over the front of the ball so you have a forwarding leaning shaft, you want that forward leaning shaft through impact so you contact back of the ball then the turf, (as long as you keep weight left throughout, and keep your posture and retain some angle in the back of your right hand through to impact) that will happen ball then turf.

So at practice now imagine an analogue clock face, every thing else at set up as described above, with your 50d wedge swing from 9 o'clock to 3 o'clock, swing smooth no sudden hit through impact go through 10 balls or so and just note the distance most of them go with solid contact and you in balance.
Repeat with other 2 wedges, you'll notice as long as it's hands leading club through impact with your weight left, & you're striking down and through to take a little divot, do all this the ball will go up, try to help it up by leaning back or flipping your hands and you'll skull it or hit it fat, so weight left, hands lead, angle still in right wrist.

Get used to a smooth pivot/turn through the backswing and forward through swing, they both will feel the same pace as you swing back and through.

Work through the clock face 8 to 4, 9 to 3,10 to 2, 11 to 1, small pitch 7 to 5. It helps your rhythm if you count 1 & 2 to yourself as you swing so you get a regular tempo, (the & coming through impact).

Do this with all 3 wedges hands in the middle of the handle and over time you'll become familiar with the height and flight and all the varying distances, flights, roll & check that these different swings with the different 3 wedges will give you.

Takes some work, quite some practice, but get it down and you'll be approaching these shots on the course in a positive confident way.

 

[SocketRocket]

Like this:

[video=youtube;vZWPee66M1s]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZWPee66M1s[/video]

 

[G_Mulligan]

+1 on the Mickelson/Pelz technique that is what I use and it is a method which works very well for me.

There is also much to be said for a bump and run in these situations using a 5 or 6 iron depending where the flag and any bunkers are.

Practice though, find the technique that works for you and practice, practice, practice

welcome aboard