Golf Pitching Tips

Golf Pitching Tips

Pitching the golf ball with pinpoint accuracy is one of the quickest ways to knock strokes off your scorecard. Once you can consistently move the ball from tee to the front of the green, being able to get up-and-down with a consistent pitch shot is exhilarating. We’ve put together some pitching fundamentals and a couple of our favorite pitching drills to help you perfect the shot.

Pitching Fundamentals

• Keep your eye on the ball at all times. Even when you are following through you should be focusing on the ball. Too often, golfers want to watch the ball floating in a high arc onto the green and lift up too soon topping the ball in the process.

• Position the ball in the middle of your stance. Keep your feet closer together. This gives you the best opportunity to hit the ball cleanly through the swing plane. A ball too far back in your stance will throw off the swing plane and leave you chopping at the ball.

• Never decelerate on your downswing. Only draw the club back as far as you need to and follow through cleanly. The further you are away from the green the further your backswing should be.

• Put about 60% of your weight on your front leg.

• Keep your hands and the grip of the club in front of the ball. This will happen naturally as you shift your weight forward so refrain from pushing them too far forward. Let the loft of the club and the club face grooves do all the work.

Thanks to Peter Finch Golf

Golf Pitching Tips – The 7-8-9 Pitching Drill

In order to perfect your pitch shot, you must become familiar with the “touch” required to gain consistency. Use a notepad and record your results when on the practice range until these shots are second nature. Visualize a huge clock behind you. Address the ball with your pitching wedge in your lead hand (left for right-handed golfers and the right for lefties). Draw the club backward to the seven o’clock position for a short pitch shot and start pitching balls with the lead arm only. When you start gaining some consistency, record the distances. If you’re getting 20 yards on average, this will be your 7 o’clock shot. Repeat the drill by drawing the club to the 8, 9, and even 10 o’clock positions and record the results.

These will be your benchmarks for when you are on the course. If you are 30 yards from the pin, you’ll use the 8 o’clock swing. Perform the same drills for your 8 and 9 irons as well and you’ll be “deadly” by the green.

Golf Pitching Tips – The Towel Under the Arm Drill

An ideal pitch shot is performed when the arms and body move in sync with one another. You’re basically taking the wrists and hands out of the equation. To practice this, place a folded towel under each arm and practice short pitches. To keep the towels in position, you must move your torso and arms together during both the backswing and downswing. It may be a little frustrating at first, however, you’ll quickly get the hang of it. Before long you’ll pitch like this automatically and your golfing partners are going to wonder why your score keeps dropping. Like any stroke in golf, it takes practice to gain consistency. Give these drills a try at the practice range at least once a week and you’ll be challenging the pin on a regular basis.