Golf tips: Overcome your pitching struggles

A wee pitch shot around the green where you need loft on the clubhead, or a tricky greenside shot where you need to get the ball up in the air… a lot of people don’t actually realise how the wedge works and how you use the sole of the club to hit the shot.

What they’ll tend to do is take a nice big hinge action – which is fine if you’re hitting a 5-iron – but the club then closes at impact, the clubface turns over, and that’s it, job done.

If you do that with a short club, you’ll immediately lose the loft. You also may hit it further left as you’re closing the clubface so quickly.

The solution

Here’s my fix to this problem – and it’s very simple. Try actually using the loft on the golf club! It’s designed for you to use the back of the club on the ground, so there’s no need to force it.

Think about it, if you close the face, you’re taking the back of the club away from the ground. So, my simple tip is just to weaken your grip.

Rotate your grip to the left (as you look down) and then just play your normal shot from there. Even if your hands roll over and go back to their normal position, you’ll have more loft on the club for the shot. Now, you’ll have your clubface nice and square at impact.

Just weaken your grip. If you bring the clubface back square, you’re fine. If it comes back slightly open, you’ll open the clubface just slightly. It’s a win-win situation.

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Steve Johnston is the Head PGA Professional at Peebles Golf Club. For lessons, call Steve on 01721 720197. Follow him on Twitter @SteveJohnstonPGA.

Originally published on bunkered on August 16, 2016.

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