There are 4 things you need to look at when playing pitch shots.
- The set up
- The backswing length
- The impact
- The through swing
The set up is fairly similar to the chipping set up. I like to have a narrow stance, slightly wider than the chipping stance, but the feet are close together.
The weight should be almost fully on the left leg and the hands are forward of the clubhead to the point where there is a line from the left shoulder to the clubhead.
The length of the shot should be controlled by the length of the swing.
For this shot my backswing gets my hands just past waist height. This is enough swing to hit the ball 60 yards with my 56 degree sand wedge.
If I was to hit the ball 80 yards the hands would swing back to about shoulder height with this club.
By using the length of the backswing to control the distance we can swing through fully to at least the same length in the through swing if not a little longer.
This will help with striking the ball, as players who make fuller backswings and try to control the distance by slowing down often suffer from fat and thin shots.
The impact should see the weight fully on the left leg, the right knee moving in towards the left and the hands in front of the clubhead.
This forward lean of the clubshaft ensures that the clubhead is moving downwards through the strike allowing ball then turf contact.
In the through swing the hands never allow the clubhead to pass the hands. My feeling for this is that the hands are swinging left of the clubhead in the through swing.
The clubhead swings much further in the through swing than it did on the backswing and the hands will reach at least the same height as they did on the backswing.
Get more videos here: http://wefixanyswing.com/videos/
Filmed at Ralston GC.
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