Golf Pitching
Setup
We are trying to eliminate setup and swing factors that create ball speed. Slow down ball flight, increase spin
- Feet close - just a club head away
- Balanced
- Ball just off lead foot heel
- Club face square to slightly open
- Shaft positioning - want to encourage open face, engage bounce. Stack the margin of error in your favor. Shaft should be in a neutral position.
- Grip doesn’t really matter. Just use normal grip for full swing.
- Spine should be neutral, don’t lean forward or back. Stacked right on top of the hips.
- Knees not extremely flexed, just slightly bent. Want knees mostly out of the swing. Pivot at the hips.
Swing
- Rotate upper body and chest (not hips).
- Width vs narrowness - we want to be narrow in terms of where the club head is. We don’t hinge our wrists or get handsy (save that for rough shots, flop shots). This helps reduce ball speed.
- Path – avoid a steep angle of attack by keep club head on the hands or slightly behind them (imagine looking from behind down the target line.
- Backswing - setup so that you don’t have to slow down the club towards the ball. Avoid breaking wrists. Keep the same structure, but I think we manage distance with upper body rotation. Club won’t go past parallel.
- Allow head to release towards the target (maybe watch Sorenstam, Duval examples). Practice releasing head early to encourage shallowing and lots of rotation.
- Through swing - where should it be at follow-through? Mirror the backswing, club about parallel and belly pointed down target line with club.
Drills
Setup drills
- Put club grip in belly, rotate / pivot away to find the back position, then re-attach hands on the grip.
- Trail hand only - get it on the club, pivot to the top, then attach lead hand. You’ll feel a big stretch which emphasizes the upper body pivot
Rotation drill
- Freezer drill: start with good setup, go to backswing stop point and freeze. Check everything out. Then rotate and release.
- Weight transfer drill: we want to avoid weight transfer as it will add ball speed. Put one ball under lead foot toes, then do a hit. Ball will make it obvious if you are shifting weight into lead foot.
- Worst ball scramble drill: two ball worst ball scramble. Start from about 30 yards with pitching wedge, keep playing worst ball until you hole out. Track score to par.
- 30 yard pitch: awkward yardage. Find where your stop position in backswing is for that distance. Work on landing it at 30 yards. Probably don’t want to take a divot.
- 10 yard pitch: maybe 10 yard carry, 15 to the hole. How far back should you take it? Won’t go all the way to parallel, but use the same rotation, mirrored.
- 50 yard pitch: same stance, create width on backswing. Try to create speed and flight it a bit lower. Don’t throw at it with hands.
- Low spinner: club face open, longer backswing than normal because we need a bit more speed. Long to short follow-through. Probably a bit more divot.
- Awkward yardages: drill this with cones, 20 to 50 yards (or 10 to 40) at 5 yard intervals. Find a good landing spot. Three balls at each cone to try and land within 2 yards (longest distance), 1 yard when you are close.
- Pitch over the bunker: may not have to do a flop shot; keep it simple. Maybe do a standard pitch shot and take a bit more loft.
- Bad lie: sitting down, maybe in a divot. Similar to into-the-grain Bermuda grass. Don’t move the ball back in stance, instead use the bounce and use a draw path (inside-out) by dropping right foot back a bit. Use a less lofted club. Maybe 58 is my normal pitching club, but use 54 here.