Pitch it pin high
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Maintain set-up loft to control distance on shorter shots
Fault: Poor distance control on chips and pitches
Fix: Focus on your trail wrist to maintain face loft
When it comes to pitching, the club golfer is typically more out for distance than direction. Failure to send the ball the right distance normally comes down to inconsistent angles during the swing; alter your wrist hinge/cock or vary the club’s attack angle and you’ll be prone to either adding or reducing clubface loft, which affects how far the ball goes. If you can set face loft at set-up and maintain it during the swing, you’ll become much more consistent with distances. Here’s how….
[This tip comes from TG Top 50 Coach Adrian Fryer: Based at the Liverpool Golf Centre. See more at www.solidgolf.com ]
Set-up: (Pic #1)
Trail wrist kink I’m addressing the ball for a standard pitch – ‘though with the trail arm only. The ball is central in my stance and I’ve created a little shaft lean (a small kink in the back of the trail wrist). The bungee helps illustrate swing arc, or radius.
Backswing: (Pic #2)
As a unit Your most effective backswing sees that set-up relationship maintained. As you move the club back,keep a similar angle in the back of your trail wrist. The bungee helps you gain a feel for maintaining the radius.
Attack Control
Keep the tension constant in the bungee through to the finish. That ensures you’ve kept the radius of your action consistent throughout – helping you create a brushing attack, control attack angle and keep face loft consistent.
Through-swing
Now swing through – but again, keep focused on the back of your trail wrist. Allow the pivot of the body to move the club through and you’ll be able to maintain that small trail wrist kink – and the loft on the clubface.
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