Hitting good pitches shots shaves strokes off your score. It also helps lower your golf handicap. Good pitch shots can help you save par when your chances of doing so are slim. Players adept at hitting pitch shots can save hundreds of strokes over the course of a season. They also can record dozens of pars they might not have had otherwise—thanks to their ability to get up and down. If you want to take your game to the next level, master the pitch shot.

But mastering the pitch shot is easier said than done. Pitches are unforgiving. There's no room for error in accuracy or distance control. A pitch shot landing 10 to 20 feet from the hole doesn't do much for you. To hit god pitches, you must know how to change shot trajectory to match your lie. Creating the right trajectory takes the guesswork out of hitting pitches. Eliminate the guesswork from hitting pitches and you'll shave strokes off golf handicap.

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Use Your Wrists
The key to controlling trajectory is in your wrists, as we tell students who take our golf lessons. You must use your wrists properly to match the lie at hand. If you fail to match shot trajectory to your lie, you'll probably struggle getting short wedge shots close. So work on using your wrists to control height of your shot. Below are golf tips on how to use your wrists to hit high and low pitches:

To hit a short wedge shot high, cup your left wrist (bend it back) on your downswing. This opens the clubface and adds lift to the shot. Use the logo on your glove as a guide. If you can see the logo on your glove when cupping your wrists, you've done it correctly. Use a high pitch shot when you have to carry a bunker or don't have much green to work with.

To hit a low pitch shot, bend your left wrist forward on your takeaway. This bowing action closes the clubface and takes loft off the club. Use the logo on your glove as a guide. If you look down and can't see the logo, you've done it correctly. Use a low pitch shot when the front of the green is open or you have a lot of green to work with.

Ball Position Is Also Key
Ball position also helps you control shot trajectory. The further back you position the ball at address, the less loft you'll get on your shot. The further forward you position the ball address, the more loft you'll get on your pitches. Below is a drill we use in our golf instruction session to teach players how to vary shot trajectory by moving the ball back and forward at address.

Using your basic pitching stance, play three shots with the ball positioned off the heel of your forward foot. Next play three shots with the ball positioned in the middle of your stance. Finally play three shots with the ball positioned off your back foot. Use the same stance and swing for each shot. Do this repeatedly until you get comfortable hitting from the different ball positions and confident making shots from each position.

One word of caution: Make sure your head remains stationary on all three shots. It will be behind the forward ball position and ahead of the back ball position. This may seem strange at first if you're not used to playing the ball at different address positions, but you'll get used to it.

Accurate pitch shots save strokes. But hitting accurate short pitches is easier said than done. To do so you must learn to vary the shot trajectory. Use a high trajectory when you have to go over an obstacle or don't have much green to work with. Use a low trajectory when the front of the green is open or you have a lot of green to work with. Hitting accurate pitches will help you shave strokes off your golf handicap and take your game to another level.

If your ballstriking is off, you may be thinking about changing your swing. Swing changes take time and work, so before doing it re-examine your swing one more time. For starters check your setup. It determines how well you swing the club. Setting up correctly increases your chances of hitting the ball solidly. Setting up incorrectly decreases your chances of hitting the ball solidly, leading to bad shots, poor scores, and a high golf handicap.

To ensure that you're setting up correctly, check your setup in a mirror without a club—something we encourage players at our golf lessons to do periodically. Seeing your address without a club eliminates the tendency to let the club's lie dictate your setup. When you do that, you tend to bend too far forward in your stance, making it hard to hit the ball solidly. Weak shots can add extra strokes to your scores. Over time, these extra strokes can add up, inflating your golf handicap. Below are golf tips for reviewing your setup.

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Posture Is Key
Posture is the key thing to check when standing in front of the mirror. Poor posture leads to mis-hits. More specifically, you want to check your arm-hang and your knee flex. To check your arm-hang, stand in front of a mirror and bend over, as if you were going to grip a club. Let your arms hang straight down and look at your fingertips. They should point to the tips of your shoes. If they point inside the tips of your shoes, you're too upright. If they point outside the tips of your shoes, you're bent over too far.

The second thing to check is your knee-flex—a trouble spot common in the players we see in our golf instruction sessions. Start by looking at your kneecaps. They should be over the insteps of your feet. Many of us don't flex our knees enough when setting up to the ball. Instead, we slump our shoulders, which restricts our shoulder turn. To remedy this, flex your knees slightly. Keep your spine straight. And bend forward from the waist. Golf swing analyzers show that most Tour pros bend forward from 55 degrees to 60 degrees at address.

Another Exercise To Work On
If after looking at your setup in the mirror, you find that your armhang, knees, or other body parts are out of place, you need to change your setup to hit the ball solidly. We encourage golfers who take our golf instruction sessions to do the following exercise at home until the correct setup is ingrained.

Step 1: Stand erect with your arms at your side. Your feet should be about 18-20 inches apart. Look straight ahead.

Step 2: Place your hands on your hips. Wrap your thumbs and forefinger around the openings of your pockets

Step 3: Push your rear end out and tilt your spine forward. Flex your knees so they are in line with your shoulders.

Step 4: With your hands still on your hips, rock your eight back until your toes lift off the ground. Maintain your posture.

Step 5: Rock in the opposite direction, until both heels lift off the ground. Place all of your weight on your toes. Maintain good posture.

Step 6: Rock back to your normal address position. You're now in a perfect position to swing a club.

This exercise teaches you to not only assume the right spine angle, but also spread all of your weight over your feet—a must if you're going to hit solid shots down the middle of the fairway. Players from our golf lessons that have used this exercise have found it helpful.

Bad shots aren't always the result of bad swings—as we've pointed out in our golf tips newsletter. Sometimes, they're the result of a poor setup. So before changing your swing, check your setup. If it's incorrect, use the exercise above to guarantee you always assume a good setup when playing. Setting up to the ball correctly on every shot is a key to solid ballstriking.

In this issue we'll discuss...

1) Use Practice Swings Wisely
2) Master This Pitch Shot To Go Low
3) Question of the Week: New Clubs Take Time
4) Article - Nail Your Address To Improve Ballstriking
5) Article - Taking Your Game To The Next Level

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1) Use Practice Swings Wisely

We see it all the time. A golfer walks up to the ball, takes a quick practice swing, and then hits the ball. The golfer took her practice swing or swings without having a purpose in mind. That's too bad. By taking her practice swing for granted, she missed an opportunity to groove her takeaway for her real shot and it could end up costing her strokes. If you want to cut down on bad shots, use your practice swing wisely.

Below are five keys to a good practice swing:

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* Take your normal stance
* Picture your ball flight
* Waggle the club
* Hinge the club up
* Rotate the clubface open

You want the clubface to stay square to the arc of your swing during your takeaway. This is often hard for players to visualize, so they do it poorly. Rehearse this move in your practice swing. Here's how:

Take your stance with a picture of your ball flight in mind. Now waggle the club and start your takeaway. As you go into your takeaway hinge the club up and rotate the clubface open relative to the target line. Now complete your backswing, make a smooth transition to your downswing, and accelerate through impact to a balanced finish.

If you keep the clubface shut relative to the target line, you'll bring the clubface back to impact closed. Or, you'll try to open it just before you hit the ball—and you'll probably open it too much. Neither of these things is good.

Take practice swings seriously. Use them to groove your takeaway and start your swing off correctly. If you do, you'll eliminate a common cause of bad shots and greatly improve your ballstriking.
2) Master This Pitch Shot To Go Low

Making good pitch shots is critical to going low. Landing it close from within 100 yards turns three shots into two and a bogey into a par. But hitting a good pitch shot is easier said than done. These shots are hard when you're in the fairway. When you're in the rough, they're even harder. The last thing you want to do is come up short. If you do, the ball could bounce anywhere. It could jump into a nearby bunker or even land onto hardpan.

Here are six keys to this shot:

* Choose the right club
* Pick out a landing spot
* Position the ball in the middle
* Shift your weight to your front foot
* Make a controlled backswing
* Accelerate through the ball

Your first priority on wedge shots from the rough is carrying the green. If you're putting on the next shot, you've given yourself a chance to save par.

Start by picking the right club. For shorter pitches, use a lob wedge. For longer pitches use a sand wedge or a pitching wedge.

After choosing a landing spot set up with the ball in the middle of your stance and your weight favoring your front foot. This encourages you to hit down on the ball. Now make a controlled backswing and pause briefly at the top. Then shift your weight forward on the downswing and accelerate through impact to a balanced finish.

Don't try to scoop the ball in the air. Instead, let the club's loft do the work of creating the height you need to reach the green. And don't ease up on the shot. If you do, your weight will stay back and the clubhead will pass your hands, which could result in hitting the shot fat.

Good pitches are the secret to going low. Master the pitch shot from the rough and who knows how low you'll go.
3) Question of the Week: New Clubs Take Time

Q.

Hi,

I've played golf for 6 years now and went from hitting around 110 to low 90s using the same clubs. I even broke 90 a few times. I went and had my clubs fitted to my length and lay of the club. From that point on I've been hitting fat shots and just spraying the ball all over the place. I am guessing this is a mental thing. But right now I'm confused and haven't a clue as to what is going on with my swing.

Confused,
Steven Newland

A.

Thanks for the question, Steven. It takes time to get used to new clubs—even clubs that have been fitted to you.

Also, you're could be swinging too easy, which is why you're hitting them fat. Or, you could be taking an excessively V-shaped swing. A rushed backswing and a desire to scoop the ball also cause bad shots.

When you swing, visualize a U-shaped swing, with a pronounced "flat spot" through impact. Use that visual aide as a guide. Also, focus on hitting the ball at the right impact point and taking a complete backswing.

With your irons, remember to strike the ball with a descending blow. Try to hit the ball just before the lowest point of the arc. Also, there's no need to try to scoop the ball or get under it. If you strike it properly, loft sends the ball skyward.

Here's a drill for eliminating fat shots:

With an iron, take your normal stance and ground the club. Make a slight mark there. When you swing, try creating a shallow divot just past where you ground the club. Concentrate on executing a complete backswing and follow-through.

Good luck with your new clubs. In time you'll recapture your old swing.

If you've got a golf question you'd like answered, send an email to us at questions@howtobreak80.com and we'll review it. I can't guarantee that we'll use it but if we do, we'll make sure to include your name and where you're from.
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

Here are some of my recent articles:

4) Article - Nail Your Address to Improve Ballstriking
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/nail-your-address-to-improve-ballstriking.php

5) Article - Taking Your Game To The Next Level
http://www.howtobreak80.com/articles/taking-your-game-to-the-next-level.php

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, go to http://www.howtobreak80.com/newsletter.htm

A recent article PGA standout Sergio Garcia stressed the importance of hitting good wedge shots. We couldn't agree more with Sergio. Good wedge play is the foundation of a solid short game. A good wedge shot—whether hit with a pitching, sand, lob, or flop wedge—can turn three shots into two and bogies into pars. Over the course of a round, good wedge play can mean the difference between breaking 100, 90, or even 80. If you're serious about shaving strokes off your golf handicap, master your wedges.

Below are five keys to help you hit solid wedges consistently.

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Set-Up Correctly
Not all bad shots stem from bad swings. Sometimes, they're the result of not setting up correctly. That's why in individual golf lessons we emphasize setting up properly for all shots, not just wedge shots. The keys to setting up correctly for wedge shots are to bend natural from the hips, keep the knees flexed slightly, use a one piece takeaway, position the ball back in your stance, and employ a three-quarter swing to better control the shot. More importantly, use a slightly open stance. It helps you clear the left side (right side, if you're left-handed) in the downswing. Setting up properly delivers the clubface back to the ball on an ideal path and angle of attack.

Smooth and Simple
You must keep your swing smooth and simple when hitting wedges. Wedges aren't woods. You don't need a lot of power to hit them. You also don't need a lot of lower body action. You can hit solid wedges with a minimum of effort. When you hit wedge shots, you should almost feel flat-footed. They require so little effort to hit you should be able to hit a bucket of balls without tiring. Simply turn through the ball.

Open The Face
If our golf lessons we see a lot of weekend players close the clubface during their takeaways. Holding the clubface closed as you go back is fatal. It kills you're rhythm and stops you from rotating the clubface naturally. If you don't allow the natural rotation of your forearms both back and through your swing, you can't stay connected during the swing or accelerate through impact. Opening the clubface during the takeaway creates a smooth accelerating release that produces clean, crisp contact.

Natural Rotation
You must avoid a forced rotation of your forearms when taking the club back. Let it happen naturally. It's easy to see in golf instruction sessions how some students confuse opening the clubface with twisting the wrists, which whips the clubhead behind you. It's not the same. Opening the clubface is more natural than twisting. So let it happen. The feeling you're after is a gently rolling of your forearms. You'll know you're doing it correctly, if the top of your club points out in front of you when you complete your swing, not toward the sky.

Knuckles Down
Ball position with wedges is toward the center. This back ball position is where the bottom of your natural wedge swing occurs in front of the ball. It's what allows you to hit down on the ball, but only if you maintain a descending swing path. To make sure this happens, focus on keeping the left-hand knuckles (right-hand knuckles, if you're left handed) pointing toward the ground. If they point up, you have no chance of making crisp contact.

Wedges are key scoring clubs. They're invaluable when you need to hit it close after missing the green with an approach shot. The five keys discussed above—along with the accompanying golf tips—will help you hit clean, crisp, accurate wedges. If you're serious about shaving strokes off your golf handicap, master your wedges. They can help you turn three shots into two, as we often said in our golf tips newsletter, and bogies or double bogies into pars.