That 30-40 yard pitch…

[baudi]

The variety of shots between 30-40 yds is enormous.  

Key is learning to deal with the variety; the distance is just one variable in the equation. 

[umamimami]

5 hours ago, SNIPERBBB said:

So many words...about nothing.

 

You're making 

 

if you can’t see the value in hitting to a number you know you have a shot from then I’d love to play you in a match

[SNIPERBBB]

12 minutes ago, umamimami said:

 

if you can’t see the value in hitting to a number you know you have a shot from then I’d love to play you in a match

Well I know all my numbers so... 

[Pepperturbo]

11 hours ago, Nard_S said:

Use one club for everything sub 90 yards. Have an arsenal of shots not of wedges.

True, true and some more true.

 

With one wedge the user can gain confidence in knowing what is possible with one club and ball combo.  It doesn't tax the mind with congestion.  I can use 48, 52 or 58 for sub 90yr shots, may even use 9i.  I practice with them near daily, so self-confidence in execution is high; wedge play is my favorite part of golf.

 

To the point of having an arsenal of shots, I've also had 3 distances for each iron, short, standard carry and pushed; translated; there is no such thing as not having the right club for a weird yardage.

[Roejye]

4 hours ago, RacineBoxer said:

I use to really suck at 30-40 yard shots. If you haven't practiced it and you don't know how hard to swing or whether or not you're using the right technique a ton of doubt will creep into your mind and it'll be a disaster. Here's what I did:

I started with my 60 because at the time, that was my go-to club around the greens. At my course's practice green I found a spot where I could hit 30 yard pitches. That was about the limit for my practice green. I studied up on technique and shifted towards using more bounce and less leading edge. And then just went to work on practicing that 30 yard shot over and over and over. What I found was that by taking my left hand back to about waist height I was pretty consistently getting 30 yards. So I just honed that feeling, that swing length, that tempo and voila, I had a "go-to" 30 yard shot. 

 

Later, maybe a year or two later, I decided to start using the same exact swing & technique with my 50 & 54 degree wedges. I don't know if it's luck or coincidence but these 3 clubs (same swing) end up being 30, 40 and 50 yards for me. Which is very convenient! Easiest option is to just stick to the club that gets the yardage and do the same swing all the time. Once you get more comfortable you can start blending shorter/longer swings with each of the 3 wedges and then getting just a ton of different flights and options around the green. But step 1 is to get that "go-go" shot that you know you are comfortable with because lack of confidence is a killer on these short shots. Confidence makes all the difference and you only get that from practice. 

I'm not really a short game maestro that the op was asking about, but that's my strategy. It's a different presentation of the clock method, I should practice it more to get the feeling and tempo down lol.

Edited July 7, 2023 by Roejye

[me05501]

On 7/5/2023 at 10:54 AM, SNIPERBBB said:

I would have to say keeping your speed up on this shot is imperative. When I see fellow players, and occasionally myself, when I mess this shot up is because I got lazy and didn't put any speed into the swing. 

 

Yup. Seems like the most popular ways to duff these shots are decelerating into impact and coming out of the shot early. 

[umamimami]

1 hour ago, SNIPERBBB said:

Well I know all my numbers so... 

Great!

If you can tell me honestly that you have as solid a hold on your partial wedges then you do on near full wedges then I bow in deference to ye. If we blindly follow the stats that show SG improves based on proximity, you in-fact need to be more accurate with your partial wedges than your full ones.

For me personally, I can hit a medium spiny wedge 75-100+ or a high one that bounce bounce checks from 65-125. It's a reliable shot that lands me within 13 feet most-all of the time (the 125 shot it's probably out to 15 or 16 in all honesty). Most greens are receptive to this shot. I can aim it COG if there's nasty trouble near the flag or I can go pin hunting if it's receptive. I really feel like 35-55 is this dead zone where you can't get enough spin to hold flighted ones and low ones you're having to rely on bouncing off terrain and real good pace estimation.

Each game to his/her own though.

 

Edited July 7, 2023 by umamimami
spelling

[Sean124]

24 minutes ago, umamimami said:

For me personally, I can hit a medium spiny wedge 75-100+ or a high one that bounce bounce checks from 65-125. It's a reliable shot that lands me within 13 feet most-all of the time (the 125 shot it's probably out to 15 or 16 in all honesty). 

What is your handicap?

[PracticeSwinger]

Might be off topic, but :

[glk]

11 minutes ago, Sean124 said:

What is your handicap?

Tour avg this year from 75-100 is 17' 10".   from 100-125 20' 4" for reference.   5 total get it, on avg,  inside 13 feet from 75-100 .   best from 100-125 is 15' 5".     Tour avg all approaches from 30-100 yards is 17' 5" - 2 guys it inside 13 feet.

Edited July 7, 2023 by glk

[umamimami]

GLK - they play on much harder courses than I do.
My greens aren't sheets of glass, Nor do they have huge run-off areas and brutally placed pins. Lets not pretend that those PGA stats would go way, WAY up (down) if they played on public courses.

My main point is that its comparatively easier to do the following: Size up the distance to the hole. If you can't get to 10 yards from the green (which is what I think happens when people end up 30 yards out, it was a lower quality result of a shot that you thought you could make it to), lay up to your full wedge distance and spin the thing.

Why put yourself in no mans land? because you want to make your prior shot go far? If that's the case you're playing for a different reason than low scores.

But don't take this from me: Heres DJ saying it
 

 

Edited July 7, 2023 by umamimami
spelling

[glk]

Ridyard has a huge sale going on - for $40 you can get his scrambling, approach wedges, and bunkers videos.     He'll tell you more than all of the replies to your OP.

 

https://shortgamesecrets.tv/collections/wedge-game

[SNIPERBBB]

8 minutes ago, umamimami said:

Great!

If you can tell me honestly that you have as solid a hold on your partial wedges then you do on near full wedges then I bow in deference to ye. If we follow the SG improves based on proximity blindly, you infact need to be more accurate with your partial wedges than your full ones.

For me personally, I can hit a medium spiny wedge 75-100+ or a high one that bounce bounce checks from 65-125. It's a reliable shot that lands me within 13 feet most-all of the time. Most greens are receptive to this shot. I can aim it COG if there's nasty trouble near the flag or I can go pin hunting if it's receptive. I really feel like 35-55 is this dead zone where you can't get enough spin to hold flighted ones and low ones you're having to rely on bouncing off terrain and real good pace estimation.

Each game to his/her own though.

 

Why do I have to be more accurate with the 40 yard shot than the 80? SG doesn't require me to do a darned thing other than to use some grey matter. It does not say I have to be more accurate with the 40 than I do the 80. It says it expects the FIELD to be more accurate from 40 than 80. 

 

There's some situations where you'll need to lay back a bit farther and they should be self evident to anyone using the grey matter mentioned earlier. 

[umamimami]

9 minutes ago, SNIPERBBB said:

Why do I have to be more accurate with the 40 yard shot than the 80? SG doesn't require me to do a darned thing other than to use some grey matter. It does not say I have to be more accurate with the 40 than I do the 80. It says it expects the FIELD to be more accurate from 40 than 80. 

 

There's some situations where you'll need to lay back a bit farther and they should be self evident to anyone using the grey matter mentioned earlier. 

Look I'm on board with everything you're saying. My initial argument was more with Sean124 than you. It seems like you're playing well.

If you want to win you need to do better than the field. Use the grey matter as you said. I think that everything I've been aruging for involves using that grey matter. Situations always have their specifics, so there better be a reason that you're in the 30+ yard but still inside 125.

Just like you improve your putting by improving your shot game (placement and proximity). You Improve your short game by improving your tee / 2nd shot game (placement and proximity)

[MattC555]

Closer is better.  Practice your partial wedges/pitches if you don't have better proximity and dispersion the closer you are.  30-40 yards should be a feel just like a 50-75 foot putt.  I'm getting up and down far more often from 40 yards then I am from >75 yards.  If you can't go read Daniel Grieve's 3 releases and practice till you can.

 

 

[iacas]

Dude…

 

5 hours ago, umamimami said:

My main point is that its comparatively easier to do the following: Size up the distance to the hole. If you can't get to 10 yards from the green (which is what I think happens when people end up 30 yards out, it was a lower quality result of a shot that you thought you could make it to), lay up to your full wedge distance and spin the thing.

Why put yourself in no mans land? because you want to make your prior shot go far? If that's the case you're playing for a different reason than low scores.

Because you will hit it closer. There’s really no such thing as “no man’s land.“

 

Stats do not bear out what you keep saying.

Edited July 7, 2023 by iacas

[Hawkeye77]

7 hours ago, umamimami said:

Great!

If you can tell me honestly that you have as solid a hold on your partial wedges then you do on near full wedges then I bow in deference to ye. If we blindly follow the stats that show SG improves based on proximity, you in-fact need to be more accurate with your partial wedges than your full ones.

For me personally, I can hit a medium spiny wedge 75-100+ or a high one that bounce bounce checks from 65-125. It's a reliable shot that lands me within 13 feet most-all of the time (the 125 shot it's probably out to 15 or 16 in all honesty). Most greens are receptive to this shot. I can aim it COG if there's nasty trouble near the flag or I can go pin hunting if it's receptive. I really feel like 35-55 is this dead zone where you can't get enough spin to hold flighted ones and low ones you're having to rely on bouncing off terrain and real good pace estimation.

Each game to his/her own though.

 

Someone has to be better than Tour pros I guess. 

[umamimami]

No sorry I meant it lands in a dispersion pattern that large. Like it has a proximity of that many feet. I aim centre of green a lot my and I’d never be able to estimate my average proximity to holes cause balls roll and what not. 

[SNIPERBBB]

4 hours ago, umamimami said:

No sorry I meant it lands in a dispersion pattern that large. Like it has a proximity of that many feet. I aim centre of green a lot my and I’d never be able to estimate my average proximity to holes cause balls roll and what not. 

You can't estimate how far away the ball is from the hole because of roll out? Proximity to hole is how far away the ball is from the hole after it quits moving. Has nothing to do with landing spots. 

[Zitlow]

30-40 yards is 90-120 feet, if you miss a green short and the pin is on the back or you miss it on the long side don't you get those length shots? 

 

 

[vernon]

Ten to fifteen years ago and beyond I used to practice A LOT and I was pretty good in the 30 - 40 yard range.

 

Now I don't and I completely suck at that range and get so pissed at myself thinking about how good I used to be after I just chunked or bladed another one.

 

Finally started laying back 80 - 100 earlier this year and am MUCH better at that distance.

 

My problem is mostly ego driven - I'm getting old and have lost a ton of distance and know that it not only ain't coming back but is only gonna get worse.

 

Consequently I find myself wanting to hit every full shot as far as I can while I can!

[Hawkeye77]

FWIW, I spend most of my short game practice, when I do, from 45 and in with different shots.  Seems to translate to 80-100. I’m not one of those who thinks Broadie discovered nuclear fission, but he got me out of the dumb idea (for me) that 80-100 was a better lay up. 

[lance1420]

I know I’m about to give you the answer you don't want but don’t leave yourself with those distances. 
 

When I was younger it was hit as far as you can and clean up afterwards. 
 

I would always play with older and wiser golfers that based their rounds on course management. 
 

The scorecard showed the maturity from their games. 
 

When I was younger I’d practice from 70 yards in with a 60° wedge in 10 yard increments. 
 

I can still hit those but rarely do as I keep to comfortable distances now. 
 

Find an app you like on your phone that will help you with lay up yardages. 
 

It’s really helped me plan my next shot. 
 

The result isn’t always as I planned but more often than none I’m at a comfortable distance. 
 

Hope this helps in some way. 

[MPStrat]

27 minutes ago, lance1420 said:

I know I’m about to give you the answer you don't want but don’t leave yourself with those distances.  

If you play golf, these distances are unavoidable even if you’re trying to avoid them. 

[stryper]

10 hours ago, MPStrat said:

If you play golf, these distances are unavoidable even if you’re trying to avoid them. 

Agree with this, and also agree with the sentiment that my misses from 30 yards are still going to be better than my misses from 100 yards.  Furthermore, my misses  from 30 are still likely to be within the range of my average 100 yarder.  (For reference, PGA touraverage from 100 yards is 18 feet.)

 

[bluedot]

Some of this has to do with expectations; we can accept a 100 yd shot that ends up 30’ from the hole, but a 40 yd pitch that ends up 30’ from the hole triggers the “Boy, do I suck at that shot!” response.

 

But of course there’s a flip side to that.  The 40’ pitch is far less likely to miss the green entirely, ending up in a creek or a bunker or heavy rough.  The question is, ON AVERAGE, how many shots it takes you to get the ball in the hole, and good players understand that it takes at least marginally fewer shots to finish from 40 yds than from 100 yds.  
 

I know all of you have read this many, many times, but that’s because it’s true.  If you think you’re better from 100 than from 40, you’re probably wrong.  But if you track your stats and that’s actually true, then the answer is NOT laying up to 100 instead of trying to get closer.  The answer is to practice the 40 yd shot so that you don’t suck at it anymore.

[Zitlow]

It looked like DJ was using his standard swing for shorter distances. He was hitting a 64* lob wedge and the YouTube pros remarked about how low he was hitting it. 

 

I played golf with Mike Dunaway, he had a terrible short game. He used a smaller version of the technique he used in his long game. 

 

 

Edited July 9, 2023 by Zitlow

[Louis_Posture]

On 7/7/2023 at 11:30 AM, umamimami said:

My main point is that its comparatively easier to do the following: Size up the distance to the hole. If you can't get to 10 yards from the green (which is what I think happens when people end up 30 yards out, it was a lower quality result of a shot that you thought you could make it to), lay up to your full wedge distance and spin the thing.

Why put yourself in no mans land? because you want to make your prior shot go far? If that's the case you're playing for a different reason than low scores.

 

You have written traditional good sense golf strategy. Were Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods reading this forum I am certain they would agree with you.

 

[Louis_Posture]

For those players who routinely leave their ball 30-40 yards from the hole, the 64* wedge is made for that shot.

[Louis_Posture]

On 7/8/2023 at 7:58 AM, Zitlow said:

30-40 yards is 90-120 feet, if you miss a green short and the pin is on the back or you miss it on the long side don't you get those length shots? 

 

 

 

Next to the green one may play bump and run shots with a low lofted club.