14 January 2010
The Art of Pitching From The Fairway
Posted by Mick Euan Tait under: Golf .
Most golfers worry about their driving and how to increase the distance off the tee. So they visit the practice range and hit a bucket of balls with their driver and forget about their short game. The fact is that most shots in a round of golf are from within 100 yards from the green so they should be practicing their short game more. You can actually lower your handicap by perfecting your pitching than you could by lengthening your drives by several yards.
Learning the art of pitching can lower your score and your handicap. With a good pitch you can turn 3 strokes into 2 by pitching next to the flag. Learning to pitch correctly from the fairway is imperative to improving your game of golf but it requires good distance control which is hard to accomplish, even for a Golf Swing Guru!
Pitching Sequence
To perform a successful pitch shot you must position the ball in the middle of your stance as you want to get under the ball and put it up in the air. Stand with your feet closer together, with an open stance, and place more weight on your lead foot. Then aim the club face at the target and make sure you strike the ball with a perfectly square club-face. The length of your backswing will establish the distance the ball will fly - it may be waist height, shoulder height or a full swing. Hit the ball with a crisp, descending blow so that you hit the ball then the turf.
Even though you feet are in an open position, aim the club-faceat the target, just as if your feet were parallel. By opening your stance you are restricting your backswing; you can also lower your grip on the club which will also shorten your backswing but it will give you more control. Release the clubhead openly through impact and then move smoothly into your follow-through.
Select One Club to Use for Pitching
Most golfers mistakenly use too many different clubs for each distance. For shots up to 100 yards you could efficiently use a full sand wedge, pitching wedge, or you could even use a 7, 8, or 9-iron by controlling your backswing. But there is no need to complicate things; the best strategy is to select a distance that you are comfortable with and 1 club that you can consistently use to reach that distance.
For instance, let us say that you're great at hitting the ball 85 yards with an 9 iron and using a shoulder length backswing. The idea is that you use this distance as your pitching zone. If you hit a wayward drive on a par-4 you will want to hit the ball out to the fairway so that your ball ends up in your pitching zone. If you have practiced sufficiently you should be able to get your ball close enough to the pin to give yourself an opportunity of a par. The same thing for a par-5; instead of going for the green in 2two which is a low percentage shot, you should hit a smaller club to your pitching zone which still gives you a chance of birdie.
Practice your Pitching Distances
Obviously, there will be many times that you will have an approach shot of somewhere between 35 and 100 yards. Here is where you will have to know your pitching distances. Again, it is a good idea to select one club that you can control and adjust the length of your backswing for every distance. You will need to practice this a lot until you can calculate the distances consistently every time. Pitching and chipping are more about finesse and control but it is extremely important as you can reduce your score a lot with a good short game. Just remember to practice your putting and The Simple Swing as well!
Mick Euan Tait had been golfing for many years until he had major back surgery. After several years without playing golf he learned of a Golf Swing Guru that teaches a Simple Golf Swing that is suited to people with back problems.
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