Accurate pitching reduces your golf handicap. Turning three strokes into two by pitching close to the pin cuts strokes from your scores. Cut enough strokes and you’ll lower your handicap significantly. Learning to pitch accurately from the fairway is crucial to improving your game.

Pitching accurately from the fairway, as I mention in my golf lessons, requires good distance control. That’s not easy to achieve. The tendency is for your swing to be either too long, in which case the clubhead decelerates through impact, or too short, in which case the clubhead is jerked through impact. Either way costs you strokes, inflating your golf scores and your golf handicap.

Learning to pitch accurately from the fairway is a two-stage process. One stage involves building better technique. You can work on technique in golf lessons and on the practice range whenever you go. The second stage involves learning how to judge distances. While you can’t learn to judge distances simply from taking golf lessons or reading golf tips, they can facilitate the learning process.

Here are 6 keys to building better technique:

1. Make changes at address
2. Open the stance
3. Aim clubface at target
4. Make a shorter backswing
5. Clear the left side
6. Release the clubhead

Two subtle changes at address help with technique. Since you need to strike the ball with a crisp, descending blow, (1) position the ball at your stance’s midpoint and (2) make sure that the club’s shaft and your left arm (for right-handers) are in a straight line, ensuring ball-then-turf contact.

Also, open your stance a little at address. It enables you to clear the left side through impact. While it seems like a minor thing, it has an impact, just like the two changes discussed above. Despite the open stance, aim the clubface directly at the target, just as if your feet were parallel.

Opening your stance shortens your backswing, since it curbs movement of the lower body. Gripping down on the club also shortens your backswing, while providing increased club control. The closer you hands are to the ball, the better control you have. Nevertheless, you still need to transfer your weight correctly, despite the shorter swing,

With the open stance and the left side clear, your hands have room to strike the ball squarely. Release the clubhead freely through impact and then move smoothly into your follow-through. Use these suggestions to help build better technique.

In addition to working on your technique, you need to improve distance control. Unfortunately, the only way to do that is by practicing. The more you practice, the better you’ll get. Below are two other suggestions to remember the next time you’re practicing your pitching:

Practice the Body-controlled Method
One approach to help with distance is the body-controlled method. It’s an approach I’ve talked about in my golf tips. Assume your normal pitching address position, but place a towel across your chest and under your armpits. Choke down on the grip for added control and make short compact swings, keeping the towel under your armpits as you swing.

At the same time, vary the speed of your body turn. If you have a 20-yard shot, think in terms of turning your body 20 miles per hour. If you have a 30-yard shot, think in terms of turning your body 30 miles per hour. The longer the shot, the faster you turn your body. Try this method to help improve your distance control. Also, vary the length of your shots so you will get practice at different lengths.

Establish a “Pitching Zone”
Work on establishing a pitching zone—a safe area where you’re not only comfortable and confident pitching from. Once you’ve developed the zone, try playing to it the next time you golf. The goal is to land your shots in the zone when approaching the green, so you’ll have an easier shot.

Jose Maria Olazabal used this approach during a tournament. Having driven into trouble off the tee, he asked his caddie: “What club will give me 92 yards to the flag for my next shot.” Thinking one step ahead, Olazabal was aiming for a spot on the fairway where he was confident he could get up and down from to save par. That was strength for him. Establishing a “pitching zone” gives you a strength to play to, just like Olazabal.

Use these six keys to help with pitching from the fairway next time and you’ll be sure to start dropping shots fast.

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80…And Shoot Like The Pros!”. He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that was able to figure out the secrets of shooting in the 70’s on a consistent basis without quitting your day job. Jack has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately.

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How To Break 80 Newsletter

May 17, 2006

“The Web’s Most Popular Golf Improvement Newsletter”
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In this issue we’ll discuss…

1) Hitting Fairway Woods and Long Irons
2) Improving Your Touch on Short Delicate Shots

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1) Hitting Fairway Woods and Long Irons 
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Hitting a fairway wood or a long iron intimidates many golfers. But players who hit the ball average distances must master these clubs to drive down their scores and golf handicaps.

Because fairway woods and long irons are “straight-faced” clubs, golfers often think they have to “help” the ball get airborne. As a result, they take a quick, relatively short backswings, throwing their rhythm and timing off and mis-hitting.

Here are 5 keys to hitting fairway woods/long irons.

• Take a normal address position
• Position the ball slightly back
• Take a complete backswing
• Focus on clipping the grass
• End with a full and balanced finish.

With fairway woods and long irons, you hit the ball at the bottom of the swing. This contrasts sharply with short irons, which you hit with a descending blow, and drivers, which you hit with an ascending blow. Take advantage of this and position the ball just behind where you’d tee the ball for a drive.

Also, keep in mind that these clubs don’t create large divots. In fact, most times they create a shallow divot or no divot at all. So when you swing, think in terms of just clipping the tops of the grass as you make impact.

Next time you’re hitting a fairway wood or long iron, don’t panic. Make a real effort to complete your backswing and slide your right shoulder under your chin as you rotate your body. If you do both of these things well, you’ll transfer your weight correctly and make good use of your body pivot.

Here’s a drill for practicing fairway woods and long irons:

Place a tee where you would normally position your ball, with the top of the tee just sticking out of the ground. Take a fairway wood or long iron and try clipping the tee as you swing. When you’re comfortable doing this, substitute a ball.
 
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2) Improving Your Touch on Short Delicate Shots
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Few things in golf are as challenging as the short greenside bunker shot. With the flag only a few feet from the bunker, it’s a difficult shot to make. If you decelerate the clubhead upon entering the sand, you’ll leave the ball in the bunker or mis-hit it. If you strike the ball firmly, you might hit the ball beyond the hole, leaving a long return putt.
Either way is not good.

You need a lot of finesse to make this shot. Here are 6 keys to doing it successfully.

• Widen your stance a little
• Stand a little more open than normal
• Place your hands behind the ball
• Swing aggressively
• Cup your right hand through impact.
• Exaggerate clubface’s open position

You need to take a shallow cut of sand from beneath the ball, just as you would for most bunker shots. But you need to make a couple of adjustments to your set up to generate the flight and soft landing this shot demands.

First, widen your stance a little for more stability. Also, stand a little more open than normally, which allows your hands to clear your hips as you swing. And finally, lower your hands and place them behind the ball, adding loft to the clubhead. Remember: you want to maximize the clubhead’s loft. That way you can be aggressive through impact yet only hit the ball a few feet.

Also, try “cupping” your left wrist as you bring the clubhead back, exaggerating its open position so that the clubhead’s face points skyward. As you come forward from the top of the backswing, accelerate the clubhead into the sand. Try to feel your right hand (for right handers) work in under your left as you complete your downswing.

Finish with a short follow-through. As you do, check to see that the clubhead is fully open and that you’re looking directly at the face of the clubhead. If you are, it probably was successful.

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If you want to truly discover the secrets of shooting like the Pros
and creating a more reliable and consistent swing,
check out: http://www.HowToBreak80.com 

Also, for past issues of this newsletter and some of my most
recent articles, visit our blog at www.HowToBreak80.com/blog

Until next time, Go Low!

Jack
 
P.S. Feel free to share this newsletter with family and friends. If you
would like to subscribe to this newsletter, send a blank email to
break80ezine@aweber.com
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About the Author
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Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80 and Shoot Like the Pros!“. He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicaps quickly. His free weekly newsletter goes out to thousands of golfers worldwide and provides the latest golf tips, strategies, techniques and instruction on how to improve your golf game.

Players taking my golf lessons often confuse length off the tee with muscle power. They’re not the same. While you may never drive the ball as far as John Daly, quite possibly the Tour’s longest driver, you can generate additional power off the tee—and improve your golf handicap —by developing a sounder technique.

Here are 7 keys to a great drive:

• Widen your stance for stability
• Point your left toe slightly toward target (for right-handers)
• Hover the clubhead above the ball
• Don’t rush the back swing
• Hit hard with your right hand
• Take advantage of playing elements.

If you’ve read my golf tips, you know I often mention improving your technique. That’s because good technique promotes good shots, whether you’re driving, pitching, chipping, putting, or just hitting an iron. And good technique starts with your address.

Once you’ve selected a target and determined the ball’s flight path, take an address position designed to generate power. Widen your stance slightly, which improves stability and provides a solid base from which to swing for power, and place about 60 percent of your weight on your left side (for right-handers), promoting a good power coil.

Greg Norman does two additional things to generate more power: (1) he points his left toe toward the hole slightly, encouraging his left side to clear out of the way more easily through impact; and (2) he hovers the club above the ground, promoting a smooth one-piece takeaway. The takeaway produces a wide arc and builds rhythm, as I’ve written in my golf tips, both of which are required to generate additional power.

At the top of the backswing, your shoulders must turn a full 90 degrees, and you should end up with your back pointing at the target. Lifting your chin away from your chest encourages the shoulder turn. John Daly drives the ball great distances. Many players ask about him during their golf lessons, wanting to know his secret. In addition to sound technique, Daly takes a massive shoulder turn and maintains a wide swing arc, yet he’s never out of sync. He always has rhythm and tempo throughout the swing.

Once you’ve completed the backswing, you start the downswing phase. This transition is critical. If you rush it, you narrow and cramp your swing arc. You also create a tendency to swing straight down on the ball, sapping your power—the opposite of what you want to do. Fred Couples’ transition is nearly flawless. He shifts his weight to his left side and tucks his right elbow in at the right side, all while maintaining the right angle between his wrists and the club, which generates power.

Maintaining a straight left arm is also critical during the transition, as most golf instruction points out. A straight left enables the clubhead to be returned to the ball squarely and at the right attack angle. This move re-establishes the swing radius, keeping it wide and power laden. Curtis Strange provides a good example of someone who makes the transition well. Even though his left elbow is bent during the backswing, he straightens his left arm in the downswing, re-establishing the radius of his swing and generating power at impact.

The position at impact is something that distinguishes all great drivers. Whether they have a herky-jerky swing or a smooth big-hitting one, their swings are identical at impact. The image to keep in mind at this point is that of swinging through the ball, not to it. Another key is hitting hard with your right hand. As Henry Cotton said, “it’s not possible to hit too hard with your right hand as long as the left had works in unison.”

In addition to improving your technique, taking advantage of the playing elements helps generate more distance. Those elements include the wind. Use a following wind to add extra distance to your drive. Also, teeing the ball higher than normal generates higher ball flight, with more carry through the air, so that you can get more distance.

Playing into a headwind, on the other hand, kills power. In this situation, you want a shot with a more penetrating trajectory, but be careful not to swing down on the ball, as we said previously. Doing so creates excessive backswing, which has the effect of putting backspin on the ball, making it climb higher. (However, teeing the ball lower also has a tendency to make you swing on a more upright plane, creating a fade. Bear that in mind.)

Whether you’re taking advantage of the wind or working on your technique, try to maintain your rhythm and tempo. Swing about 75-80 percent, allowing the club to do the work.

Once you’ve mastered these suggestions, you will see some well-deserved distance improvements and can start taking serious aim at lowering your golf handicap.

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80…And Shoot Like The Pros!”. He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that was able to figure out the secrets of shooting in the 70’s on a consistent basis without quitting your day job. Jack has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately.

Although hitting from a bunker is straightforward once you learn the basics of stance and posture, the thought of hitting into a greenside sand trap unsettles many golfers. Improving your technique reduces the fear of bunker play and builds self-confidence in your shot-making capabilities.

Assuming the texture of the sand is similar, and the ball is not plugged, the technique for hitting out of a greenside bunker remains the same for shots up to 30 yards (27m). The key to making this shot, as I’ve explained in my golf tips, is hitting the sand about 1 to 2 inches behind the ball, throwing the sand forward with the ball. For longer shots the only thing that changes is the swing’s length. Rhythm and tempo remain the same.

Below are 5 points I cover in my golf lessons on bunker technique. They’re the focus of my golf instruction once I’ve reviewed how a wedge works and the fundamentals of stance and posture.

1. Move Arms Away in Unison

Having taken a slightly open stance, resist the temptation to get too steep early in the takeaway. Keep the wrists passive as you sweep the club away. Try to synchronize the arm swing and body turn. In other words, make the first part of the takeaway a one-piece movement. Also, make sure the clubhead follows the path away from the ball parallel to the line of your toes.

2. Rotate and Open

Rotate your left arm and wrists as the swing continues, as if you were looking at a wristwatch. It’s a visual I often use in my golf instruction to help players remember to make the move. It opens the clubface and helps maximize the bounce effect on the sand wedge at impact. Also, start hinging your wrists as the clubhead passes your right thigh. Keep your head still, turn the left shoulder in under the chin, and turn your back to the target.

3. Turn to the Top

As your body turns, you should feel as if your clubhead is pointing toward the sky and your wrists are cocked. Keep your head and body centered over the over the ball. Swing the club down on a slightly flatter plane, with good rhythm and tempo, as always. This is a key move any time you swing a club.

4. Make the Right Contact

Hitting the right impact point is critical when playing from the sand. In golf lessons I tell students to visualize the ball sitting on top of a tee instead of the sand, then focus on clipping the tee beneath the ball, which just happens to get in the swing’s way. Executed properly, this move will throw the ball out of the bunker with just the right amount of sand.

5. Create a Controlled Explosion

As the club comes down in the downswing, you should feel your hands drag left, pulling them across the ball through impact. Make sure that your right hand doesn’t cross over the left and that you clear your left hip as the club comes through. If the stance and clubhead are open sufficiently, the ball will fly straight, with a high trajectory.

Of course, the technique for longer bunker shots differs slightly. The key with longer shots is in the follow-through. Use a full finish for long bunker shots, and a short finish for shorter bunker shots.

Below are two exercises that I use in golf lessons to help students improve their bunker technique:
• This exercise establishes how the sand wedge should really work. Stand in a practice bunker without a ball. Adopt your normal bunker stance and take several swings down into the sand. The object is to get the feel of the clubhead dragging through the sand, not digging into it. After a dozen shots, try hitting a ball. Pick out a spot where you want the ball to land and then go for it. Repeat the exercise until you’re comfortable with the feel of the wedge splashing through the sand.

• Focusing on a spot where the clubhead hits can divert attention from where it emerges, resulting in a fluffed shot. The “Two Lines” exercise helps eliminate the tendency to lose focus. Stand in a bunker and take your normal bunker stance. Draw two lines in the sand about 6 to 7 inches apart. The lines represent the length of the sand you should carve from under the ball. Line up several balls between the two lines then hit them. The clubhead should enter the sand where the first line is and emerge where the second line is.

Practicing these two exercises while keeping the 5 points in mind will help build better bunker technique. As you become more and more comfortable with hitting out of a bunker, you will increase your self-confidence. And that, as I often tell my students, leads to better play and lower golf handicaps.

Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book “How To Break 80…And Shoot Like The Pros!”. He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that was able to figure out the secrets of shooting in the 70’s on a consistent basis without quitting your day job. Jack has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicap immediately.