New Pitching Idea

[hammersia]

Speaking as someone who has been pretty horrible at pitching….

 

A thought that has helped me the last couple of weeks is to be using the bounce to make a ground impact sound just before the ball, an inch before the ball.

 

Yes, make a sound.

 

Get that Open style Whump even on the short ones. 
 

I reckon a lot of my pitching faults were trying to get the low point, Clampett Impact Zone style, target side of the ball. 
 

Rose has talked a bit about the slightly heavy chipping and pitching hit, I’m sure it’s not actually heavy, it’s a way better contact than trying to clip it. 

[larrybud]

Monte might want to chime in about his "Use the bounce" series.

I often use the "heavy" method of chipping out of the rough.

[me05501]

Monte's Use the Bounce 2.0 has really helped me a ton. I have more confidence with a pitch shot now than ever. Best $30-odd bucks I've spent on instruction. 

[dlygrisse]

You are headed down the right track.  Lots of good info out there.

 

Monte

Utley

Azinger

Rinker

Malaska

Find the old Phil Rodgers videos on SITD.

 

The key is to NOT let the leading edge dig, you have to make contact with the middle to back of the bounce.  Hitting it a bit fat is a safety net.  But yes simultaneous contact with ball and turf is about ideal.   

[hammersia]

Yes I do credit Monte of course, and Rosie, but I am highlighting using the bounce a little behind the ball, which maybe intuitive for some golfers but not for me, I was always struggling to picture the impact position.

[me05501]

3 minutes ago, hammersia said:

Yes I do credit Monte of course, and Rosie, but I am highlighting using the bounce a little behind the ball, which maybe intuitive for some golfers but not for me, I was always struggling to picture the impact position.

 

The thought of sliding the wedge along the turf under the ball, combined with trusting the inherent human skill of tossing a ball close to a target without too much conscious thought, are the two ideas that have really sunk in with me.

 

I'm using a 58* wedge bent to 57* for most of these shots. I'm using/trusting my feel to control the distance, and in a lot of cases I'm coming up awfully close to the hole. This wedge allows the ball to stop pretty quickly. 

 

There've been times lately when I used the same technique with my 54* wedge and failed to account for the additional rollout. I realized I've gotten in the habit of throwing the ball almost all the way to the hole and trusting it to park itself there more from trajectory than from spin. So far so good.