Pitching tips?

Question

Alright, Ive been playing for about 2 years now and I just encountered one of my first major problems. I can't pitch anything. I play on my high school team and I have around a 4 handicap, although lately its been worse since Ive hit almost every pitch fat or shank. I don't understand it, my irons are almost always flush and my drives are good. None of my siblings or friends play golf so i don't have anyone to really teach me. I can't really afford lessons so any tips will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Answer 1

Pitching and chipping like putting involves a lot of touch, so the first thing you need is a forged wedge to use around the green for bump and run shot and little lobs.  A 50 or 52 degree works pretty well.  Cast perimeter weighted clubs don't work well for chipping, as you have to accelerate through the ball (even though you may only want to hit it 6 feet) and the faces on those clubs are too hot for you to have any distance control

Work on always pitching the ball as low as the situation allows for; landing on the green about one third of the way to the hole and rolling the rest of the way.  Position the ball back in your stance (right heel), grip down on the club, keep you hands forward (in front of the ball and clubface), then make a pendulum type putting stroke at it.  The face will come down on the back of the ball kicking it up in the air a little to get over the fringe and then roll out to the hole.

Enough practice and you will relish hitting these shots because you know you are going to get up and down for par and maybe even chip in for birdie.

Answer 2

Hi,

Try recutting or sharpening the grooves on your wedges to regain spin and control.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Low bounce wedges, if you're pitching from tight, flush lies.

High bounce wedges from the thick stuff.

Equipment matters also.. technique is more important though..

Answer 4

Are you breaking your wrists when you take a chip shot? I know plenty of people who do that. You want to make sure you're wrists stay straight and in line with your club through the whole swing, then just take it back and follow through as far as you took it back.

Hope that helped.

Answer 5

Had the same trouble...go get a copy of Dave Pelz's short game bible.  My 'cap went from 16 to 5 in a year.  All due to chipping and pitching much, much better....Now, if I can just make a few more 10 footers!

Answer 6

Pitching is one of the few consistently solid areas of my game. However, this is free advice, and you definitely get what you pay for. For what it's worth, here's my approach to pitching:

Keep your arms close to your torso. I was taught to imagine you have to keep a golf ball in each armpit during your swing.

As for swing, think of your irons as a range or a spectrum. With the low irons (3-6 for me) I position the ball more forward in my stance. With high irons (7-LW) I generally play the ball more towards my back foot and try to produce more of a downward "chopping" stroke to get a higher trajectory and better control - possibly at a cost of distance, but I've learned my distances well enough to accomodate this.

At the same time, I concentrate on really following through on my pitches. My goal is normally to bring the shaft to at or near perpendicular to the ground. It may feel awkward at first, but this keeps me accelerating through the ball, and seems to help the distance thing. It also assures a solid contact and when I have a mishit I can usually tell a little better what error I've made.

What I suggest you do is take a handful of balls to a park or grassy area (your school might work, now that it's summer) and try some different shots with your wedges. Start with just some half or even quarter swings, focusing on getting the balls up in the air and going where you aim first. Once you get some control, you can start taking the club further back and adding more follow-through to add distance.

I typically (mentally) draw a small circle where I want a ball to land and try to get it there. If I'm struggling, I'll pick a spot that's closer or easier to build some confidence and get back to basics, then start choosing tougher spots.

To be honest, the only thing that's truly going to work for you: practice.

Best of luck!

Answer 7

The trick to pitching and chipping is really not that difficult to teach or learn. Probably the biggest problems people have when using this technique is that they shift their weight like they are hitting with a full swing.

Pitching and Chipping follow more of the putting type of swing in that it is all upper body movement. Keep your weight forward so that the leading edge of the club will get under the ball and use a short backswing.

You can download a short e-book that shows you how to pitch at this website: http://www.GolfFoundations.com