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Serve up Perfect Pitches
| A key shot in any golfer's bas is a soft pitch from 15 to 30 years off the green. Touring professionals only hit about 12 greens a round on averagel the recreational player is obviously hitting far less than this. This leaves the average player with a lot of pitching opportunities. As a teacher, I can tell you that pitching is one of the worst shots in an amateur's arsenal. The most common problem I see in nearly 90 percent of students is a takeaway that travels too much around the body (too inside) and with a closed clubface. This shaft and face condition causes shots that can be fat or thin with a trajectory that's way too low for the demands of the situation. Great pitchers of the golf ball are precise in their takeaway mechanics, setting the shaft and face in perfect position for crisp contact and a high, floating trajectory. To help golfers get a feel for this motion, I've created a drill using a paper dinner plate. This simple tip is sure to put height on your pitches, helping you to get up and down more often. 1. Cup the plate in your right palm, with the plate flush to the inside of your right forearm. Imagine that the plate represents the face angle of your club and plane of your golf swing. At address, the plate looks at the target. 2. Swing your right arm halfway into the backswing. Now, the plate should angle at about 45 degrees to the ground, representing the ideal shaft plane and face angle for a perfect pitch. The back of the right wrist should be flat, contrary to the serverely bent right wrist featured in an inside takeaway. A flat right wrist is the key to getting desired height on any pitch. 3. Replace the plate with your wedge and go for the same feel in your right wrist. At the halfway position, the face and shaft should match at a perfect 45 degree angle. |  |
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