Pitch Like the Pro's - by Paul Williams - CGA Qualified Coach

When watching the British Open one of my favourite shots was by Tiger Woods (who else) on the 16^th hole on the Saturday. He was by the greenside bunker with an almost impossible shot! Well not for him. He proceeded to hit the ball in with some speed only for it to stop after the 3^rd bounce right by the hole. I thought someone had hit the pause button on the TV!

 

So how can you do this? Well the key to mastering how to control the ball with your pitching is to have the correct spin and trajectory for the shot you are trying to play. Pick either a pitching wedge or gap wedge and experiment with hitting the ball on different trajectories with the intention of travelling the same distance, while you are doing this don’t forget the golden rule that the club face will instruct the ball what to do. This means if you hit the ball with a good strike with the club face in a lofted position you will get the height from the shot. Obviously it’s the opposite for a low shot (clubface pointing forward not so up at impact.)

 

When you feel comfortable with this its time to experiment with the back spin. The easiest way to think of this is like hitting a cue ball in snooker. Where would the cue have to strike the ball to get lots of spin? Answer – a downward/forward blow enough underneath the equator of the ball and not too much to take a big wedge out of the table! Therefore you should hit the ball low enough to take just a shallow divot from the ground. For the real pros out there try hitting the ball with a little fade spin or draw spin and see how this makes the ball react when hitting the ground.

 

These two things will have you controlling the ball like never before! Good luck