Tips from the Pro

In order to pitch the golf ball it involves having good set up and proper technique. The pitch shot should be used when your golf ball is situated roughly anywhere from 3 to 50 yards away from the putting green. The idea behind pitching the ball is to get the ball up into the air and to land the ball on the putting green and to avoid the area in front of the green. The club to use for this shot is either a pitching wedge or sand wedge.

The common error I see with people try to hit pitch shots is that they try to lift the ball up into the air with their swing verses letting the loft of the club do the work. You actually need to hit down on the back of the ball and the let the loft of the club send the ball up in the air.

As far as set-up and the swing are concerned, here are a few things to keep in mind. First, you want to put the club behind the ball and aim it properly at your intended target. You do not always aim the club at the flag. Take the slope of the green into consideration when aligning your club. Pick a spot out on the green where you want the ball to land. Once you have set the club behind the ball and aimed it properly you should get your body aligned and in a good address position. Widen your feet roughly about shoulder width. Play the ball in the middle of your stance. Set your weight leaning a little bit onto your left foot. Your hands should be placed slightly ahead of the golf ball. Both leaning forward and having your hands slightly ahead of the golf ball at address will help your impact on the golf ball.

As far as the swing is concerned, match the length of the back and forward swings to keep in good time and accelerate through the shot. If you take the club head back a foot on the back swing make sure you accelerate through the ball at least a foot on the forward swing. Try to lengthen or shorten your swing to alter your distance you want to hit the shot. Some people have a tendency to take the club back and chop and stop at the ball. This leads to inconsistent ball striking and bad distance control.

Tour pros spend a lot of time working on their short game because it can make or break their tournament results. As for most of us, we all can’t drive the ball 300 yards every time, but we have the ability to have a great short game like a touring pro…well, almost as good!