CHAPTER FIFTEEN: PITCHING – THE OTHER SECRET WEAPON.

Pitching is a term used to describe a shot which is played from not far from the green. It is usually played with a lofted club such as a pitching, sand or lob wedge. The purpose of this shot is to fly the ball high through the air, land it on the green, and hopefully stop the ball quickly near the hole. The increased loft of the wedges puts more backspin on the ball to help it stop more quickly. The nature of this shot creates difficulty because the player needs to use varying amounts of force and different length swings. Also, the distances are further than chipping, and the spin on the ball can vary. Greens can be hard or soft, grass short or long etc, etc. But with a planned approach, such as Dan was learning in other areas of his game, pitching would not be the mystery that many golfers find it to be.

Earlier I divided the short game distances into 2 areas; less than 20 yards from the green for chipping, and more than 20 yards and less than 60 yards from the green for pitching. The pitching distance will vary from player to player. The purpose of doing this is to help the average player make a better choice about which shot they might play. The two areas do overlap from time to time, but as you become more advanced, and if you follow my simple system, you will be able to make the right choice.

Some advanced players who are longer hitters regard shots from 100 yards and more as pitching, but this book is about the average player, and most will fall into the 20-60 yard category for most pitching. It is a shot that shouldn’t require a full swing with a wedge from you to reach the green. Beyond this range many players find they have to make a full swing with something less lofted than a pitching wedge, such as a 9 iron. The distance that you hit the ball is not important in pitching. What is important is that you know what you are capable of. For the most part, pitching applies to that distance which is shorter than the full swing with your wedge, and longer than a chip shot. If you are an advanced player with more distance, you can still apply the information in the upcoming chapter to your game, but you will need to apply your own distances.

Dan met me at the chipping green for our next lesson. His Golf Club has good practice facilities, and the short game area allowed for shots to be played from up to 100 yards away from the green. We took up our positions at 30 yards from the green and after a review of his last few rounds we started the lesson. His scoring was much more consistent – low 80’s up to low 90’s.

“I felt that my worst rounds were all to do with bad decisions and bad pitching – my chipping, putting and full swing were pretty good for me.” Said Dan as we looked at his scorecards. I nodded in agreement and looked towards the green in front of us.

“Well, let’s see if we can fix one of those problems here today. What club do you normally use from here Dan?” was my opening question.

“I always use my sand wedge from here” he answered. On the chipping green there were 3 flags; the first one was 5 yards on the green in front of us, the second was 15 yards and the third was up near the back edge; 25 yards on the green. So Dan’s distances to each flag were 35, 45 and 55 yards respectively.

““O.K Dan show me what you can do – hit 3 balls to each flag, but one to each flag at a time, starting with the furthest.”

Dan’s first pitch flew straight over the back of the green on the full! His second pitch to the 45 yard flag landed on the front of the green and stopped about 20 feet short of the 45 yard flag. The third shot was to the nearest flag, but finished near the second ball, about 3 yards past the 35 yard flag. This third attempt was quite good.

On the next round, his first pitch again went over the green, then the next two shots both finished short of the green.

By the third round of shots Dan had warmed up and managed to get all three shots onto the green and within 20 feet of their respective flags. Only one of the wedges was a chance of a one-putt opportunity. Generally, the standard of Dan’s pitching was typical of an average player – a bit hit and miss. Dan turned to look at me and said; “I can’t get any control over the contact or the distance with these shots; what causes that?”

“The first reason is because you simply don’t practice them enough, and the second and more important reason why you have so little control is because you were making a full length back swing with each shot. But because the distance to the hole varies with each shot, you are forced to subconsciously compensate in your down swing by slowing down, or ‘decelerating’ the club head at impact to avoid hitting the ball too far. This leads to mis-hitting. Also, a deceleration at impact is like trying to throw a ball with your arm slowing down as you let go of the ball – it is virtually impossible to have any ‘feel’ with an action like that. Dan, this is an aspect of golf that nearly everybody neglects for different reasons. It is more difficult to master than chipping or full swing, because the distance is longer than a chip, and the swing length differs from that of a full swing which usually stays the same. But if you are really serious about becoming a single figure handicap golfer you must become good at these shots.”

“I know; and you’re right – I have been avoiding practicing these shots. I guess I was just hoping they would improve as I went along.” said Dan.

“Well, the good news is we are going to break the whole thing down to an easy system you can follow. This will take away all the confusion and indecision you have been feeling up until now. There are three pitching clubs in your bag, and we are going to teach you to use all of them; but one club at a time.”

“That sounds good to me!”

“Because you always use your sand-wedge for pitching, we are going to learn with it first, then apply the same procedure to your pitching and then lob wedge. Your first lesson in pitching is to learn how to make a ‘half length’ back swing, then hit the ball from there with a full length follow-through. I start with the ‘half-swing’ because it is the easiest of the swing lengths you will need to learn. Because your backswing length is cut in half, it restricts how much speed you can generate as you hit the ball. The result should be a shorter distance shot even with a full length follow-through; roughly half what your full swing distance would be with that club.”

“I see; so if my full swing distance with my sand wedge is say; 90 yards, then my half swing should be around 45 yards?” asked Dan.