Pitch Shots off Dormant/Wet/Tight Lies

I have been working on using the bounce and I can take pitch shots off a practice green with no divots and do decent. However when it is winter time and I have a short pitch shot, I am struggle to hit a decent shot. It is digging.

Just wanted any thoughts or recommendations. Please let me know.

I feel your pain. Use hybrid or putter when you can... otherwise exposing more bounce by opening the face and really controlling your low point works for me (most of the time).

I've had this experience before. Really sucks, and I think the weather just got better LOL. I started using irons the do a little bump (using the bounce on that too), and making sure that although I'm using bounce, don't make it a habit to hit the dirt before the ball. And when you hit the wet dirt, just keep going. Do more practice swings to get used to the feel too.

have to make sure you’re extending very early and keeping the trail shoulder high.

Focus on setup and make sure you have that down, exaggerate the positions. Level shoulders, ball up in stance, minimal shaft lean. If you set up correctly you have a much bigger margin for error.

I battle early extension and getting stuck in my full swing, but my biggest score killer is chunked chips/pitches from 5-50 yards. I always thought the two were related, so this comment is a bit confusing to me... when you say "extending very early" is that something different than the common "early extension" swing issue, or am I just not understanding the concepts?

With the faults in my game, dormant/wet/tight lies are my greatest enemy. In the summer when the course is flush my handicap will fall down into the 2-3 range, and I'll only average like 1 chunked wedge a round; but in the winter when the Bermuda goes dormant it's an absolute joke, I rarely/never break 80, and golf becomes an overall frustrating and unenjoyable experience. I played on Sunday, shot an 83 and counted a minimum of 6 strokes lost to chunked/bladed wedges.

Anyway, I know you're busy, and I really appreciate how you participate on this forum, so if you do get a chance to respond to my first question, thanks in advance!

Here’s a good link

its different.

I'm just glad to hear others struggle in wet winter conditions around the greens. It seems nearly impossible to hit a high, soft shot over a bunker to a green off soft bermuda or zoysia.

I went to Grand Cayman a few weeks ago and felt like a pro getting to play on dry, firm surfaces for the first time in months.

Its a hard shot. Play it to your ability.

Thanks, much appreciated!

In March when the courses here in south western Connecticut open, they are dormant grass mud farms. I have my own insane and not recommended for anyone other than me solution: I have a 60 05 mizzy wedge whose leading edge is quite sharp, cuts through the dormant grass and mud like a hot knife through butter.

The swing is hands high and a 1/4 to 1/2 inch under the ball - low point control is more important than speed. Think you are doing a sand shot out of extremely dry airy powder that is a foot deep.

Mud season here is 4 to 6 weeks, with 6 more often than four. It takes me two weeks to get the low point control necessary to pull this shot off well = 4 weeks of happiness.

I'm sure the course superintendent loves the 1/4" - 1/2' divots around the greens from performing sand shots out of the mud.

Oh, and don't wear light colored clothing.

All the tips are fine, but the real issue with the soggy, dormant, thin bermuda this time of year is that there is ZERO margin of error, and you ARE going to have some ugly stuff happen. Every year this time, I try to remind myself not to take the results of those shots too seriously.

In general, more roll and less carry is your friend because you don't have to hit the ball perfectly to get a decent result. Hybrids are especially useful this time of year. But if you have to hit a partial shot with a lofted club, just relax and make a good, accelerating swing, and then wipe the mud off your club and face and move on.

A few weeks ago, I played a round in the NC Sandhills on a course with overseeded fairways. Drives bounced and rolled, which was wonderful to see, and I hit several shots that I knew to a certainty that I had not hit perfectly but still got a good result, vs. the exploding mud results I was used to.

So the takeaway is this: Do the best you can, think of it as practice, and it'll be spring soon.

Not a sand shot, I use a 12 bounce and not a 5 out of the sand and in the sand I use the bounce to control how deep the club goes in the sand (very light and fluffy sand is a different shot). With the shot I described, the club is a sharp leading edged 5 degree bounce 60 degree digger and depth is controlled by a shallow swing and the effect of the mud is minimized by the sharp leading edge cutting through it like hot butter. This is not a splash or power chunk, it is a clip.

If the greenskeeper can't deal with the divots, don't open the course when it is a mud fest. I see way worse divots all year long.

You can't have too many faults at a 2.6 index. LOL

I was as low as a 3.5 a little over a year ago but some health issues have caused my index to balloon. Back playing for a couple of months now and I've been hitting my irons all over the face. Heel, toe, chunks and blades. And have only recently discovered my problem.

It's the head. Recently started concentrating on keeping it as still as possible (especially vertically) and I'm now finding the SS like my old self. Now if I can just figured out how to hit it straight again. LOL

As for all the tough lies, what's the general rule of thumb for a poor lie ? Correct, play the ball a bit further back in your stance to make sure you make clean contact, And if it's really muddy, you might want to pay attention to how far your feet "sink in". That relatively small distance might make you want to choke down on the handle just a slight bit to avoid a chunk.

Hope this helps.

Oh I understand. I was just breaking your balls a little.

i'm sure i play it the wrong way , but i play wet lies the same way i play super tight lies.....i actually close the face a bit , add shaft lean and come down steep on the ball to try to make sure i hit the ball first. I might end up taking a massive divot on wet lies but if i hit ball first i don't care.

If it works for you it isn't wrong. It's the way I've felt comfortable playing the shot for a long time too. I've been working on opening the face and playing more of a bounce shot like you would off of firm conditions and it hasn't been terrible. Some of your lies this time of year are equal to being standing water knowing that unless you clip it absolutely perfect you're going to chunk it. For those I'd say if you don't have to carry anything I'd club up and just make some bad chicken salad out of chicken shit. If it's fairly soft, but you're not laying the sod over on practice swings I'd give playing the bounce shot a chance. Get closer in your stance and work on returning the shaft to where it was at setup.

Small target, you have good aim.

Hard shot for any skill level (I.e. Hovland on 11 in Puerto Rico on Sunday). The biggest thing I think about is just staying aggressive through the hitting area. More troubles come from deceleration in my experience.