For the purposes of this tutorial we will call anything 25 yards and in a chip while anything past 25 yards to about 75 yards will be considered a pitch. The main difference between chipping and pitching is that pitch spends more time in the air than rolling on the ground.
There is something about those “weird” distances, when you cannot take a full shot but a half shot may not be enough, that is just really difficult. We spend so much time trying to perfect our golf swing, and all of a sudden we are trying to hit ¾ or ¼ swings with a pitching wedge and everything just changes.
In this tutorial we will offer our 6 best golf pitching tips. It is a difficult part of the game, but especially for amateurs, we run into these distances often and the more golf pitching tips we can get…the better.
6 Best Golf Pitching Tips
1. Know Your Equipment
Since you are probably carrying at least 3 and maybe 4 wedges in your bag, it can be difficult to know all of your equipment really well.
In terms of pitching, you need to know how far each club will carry at a full, half, and ¾ swing and you need to know what type of spin you typically put on each shot out of different lies.
It seems like a lot, especially starting out, but the more you play the more of a feel you get for what each of your wedges can do in different situations.
It can be just as difficult to get to know your golf ball performance unless you use the same golf balls each round. Many golfers, however, use what they are given for gifts or what is the least expensive at the store, so a general knowledge of what different types of balls will do is important as well.
For instance, the amount of spin you get on a Pro VI is a lot different than what you will get on a low spinning distance ball.
2. Understand Your Lie
Your lie is another important aspect of the pitch. Pitching out of deep rough is a lot different than hitting a pitch shot from the fairway in a lot of ways.
In general, you have to swing harder to get the ball out of the rough, you will get less spin on the ball, and most of the time you will open your stance and your club more when hitting out of the rough than from the fairway.
Playing from the fairway, of course, is easier, but you have to learn to pitch the ball from any lie.
3. Distance Is Key
When it comes to pitching the ball onto the green, distance is key. You should learn what distance you can expect a ¼, ½, ¾, and full swing to produce with every wedge in your bag.
You should know that your lob wedge will fly about 40 yards with a half swing, 55 with a ¾ swing and so on while also knowing the trajectory the ball will take and the softness on the green.
4. Tweak Your Normal Wedge Setup
A full wedge shot looks a lot like any other iron swing. For a pitch shot, you will make a couple of small setup adjustments that will help your trajectory and swing.
the first thing is that you want to open your stance just a little which subsequently opens your club face as well. This gives you a little extra loft and a little softer landing.
The other adjustment is that you will narrow your stance slightly because you will not use your lower body to pitch the ball like you would for a full shot.
5. Smooth and Easy
If you are swinging your club hard for a pitch shot then you are probably using the wrong club. Pitching the ball is all about feel, and you lose that when you over swing. Your swing should be smooth and easy, letting the club do the work.
6. Down and Through…Not At
You always hit a pitch on the downswing, ball first, and then follow through with the club. Many golfers have a tendency to try to scoop the ball up with their club or to swing under the ball almost sliding the club face across the ground.
A pitch shot is simple. Your angle of attack is steep and you swing down on the ball making contact with the ball first and then the ground so that your divot should be an inch in front of where the ball was.
Final Thoughts On Golf Pitching Tips
When you find yourself at a “weird” distance that does not allow you to swing your club like you are used to, you have to have a pitch shot in your arsenal.
With this tutorial you have seen our 6 best golf pitching tips and we believe that following these tips will help you conquer those weird distances. You need technique and a great swing, but over time the most important thing you can develop is a feel for each of the wedges in your bag.
We hope you learned something from these tips, and that you were able to put them into practice during your last round of golf. Let us know how they helped in the comment section of this post and share these tips with your friends if you think it would help their golf game as well.
