This video by director of training Steve Dahlby shows you how to accomplish both as you continue your quest of becoming a better driver.

More Golf Driving Tips

A pitch or “Golf Pitch Shot” is a shot played with a highly lofted club (pitching wedge, sand wedge, lob wedge) that is designed to go a short distance with a high flight path. Golf Pitch Shots are usually played into the green, typically from 40-50 yards and closer. It’s easy to picture a pitch shot when it is contrasted with the chip or chip shot. A chip shot is played from much closer to the green and the ball is in the air only a short (1/3) amount of time; the point is to get the ball onto the surface of the green and let it roll (2/3) toward the cup. Most of a chip shot is roll. A pitch shot, on the other hand, is in the air for most (2/3) of its distance, with much less roll (1/3) once it hits the ground.

If your Golf Pitch Shot method is not correct it becomes very difficult to generate enough air time. If you are someone who is sick of topping, grounding and sculling when you pitch, you will really benefit from this information.

Some of the typical issues amateurs have with their Golf Pitch Shots include:

1. Topping the ball – A shot in which the golfer very nearly swings over the ball, with impact between club and ball occurring near the crown of the golf ball.
2. Grounding – A shot in which the clubhead hits the ground to far behind the ball.
3. Sculling – To “skull” the ball, or to hit a “skulled shot,” means to contact the ball with the leading edge of the iron. On a skulled shot, the leading edge hits the ball near the ball’s middle, sending the ball screaming off on a low trajectory with little or no spin.

The primary thing to remember for the Golf Pitch Shot is

A Low Follow-Through = Maximum Airtime

Most amateurs say that they are trying to follow-through high after impact so that their golf pitch shots will go up in the air. However, topping, grounding and sculling are often the result of a high follow through after impact (forcing hitting the ball during the up swing).

Setting up to the golf ball just like you were going to chip will get you half way there.

1. Position the golf ball in the middle of your stance. Keeping the ball in the middle of your stance will provide more consistent impact. Placing the ball too far forward in your stance will have you topping the ball, hitting the ball thin or pulling it to the left. Conversely, having the ball too far back will cause you to top the ball, shank it and push it to the right.
2. For right handed golfers, 75% of your weight should be on your left foot. This makes sure that you are hitting down on the ball as opposed to hitting up. It is important to make sure that you keep your weight on your front foot during the back swing.
3. Grip down on the club to the end of the grip and point the grip end of the club to the middle of your left leg. When you grip down to the end of the grip you will make certain to have more control during impact. To eliminating topping and thin shots, try moving the grip part of the club further across your left leg which provides the necessary downward angle.

The back swing for the golf pitch shot is generally longer than your chip shots. To avoid transferring your weight, keep your weight on your left leg. As the golf club starts to swing down towards the ground, be sure you follow thru low to the ground after impact. You want to feel as though you chopped the back of the ball with the club head.

Golf can be a healthy and rewarding game when you learn some simple and basic techniques. The cause of most golfer’s frustration is the fact that they take the game for granted and think it is easy. They watch a golf tournament on TV and say “I can do that!” They believe that because the ball isn’t moving that it is easy to hit. It’s not until they pick up a club and try it that they realize that not everyone is a natural golfer.

More Golf Tips from J. Cavell

Why do I always slice the ball?

Why can’t I get more distance from my drives?

Why do my fairway shots cause me grief?

Why does it take me three swings to get out of a bunker?

Why do 50% of my chip shots go over the green?

Why do my putts always fall short?

When I really began to get serious about learning to play golf I had no idea that Learning The Golf Backswing was one of the most (if not THE most) important skills to learn. I realized that if this portion of my golf swing wasn’t perfect, I would never be able to solve any of my problems.

The biggest mistake I made was to watch other amateur golfers to see what they did. I realized very quickly that although some of them hit the ball fairly well, there was very little consistency in what they all did. It was hard for me to pick one thing that they all did the same so I could say “That’s it!” Some were very deliberate (jerky) in every part of their swing while others were more fluid and natural. Some teed the ball high while others claimed they needed the ball almost hitting the grass. When they aligned themselves for each shot, some aimed straight while others played a natural (or not so natural) slice or hook.

So what did I end up doing? I stopped trying to learn from other amateurs and got some professional help. The very first thing the pro worked on was my backswing and how it compared to the backswing of some professionals. It wasn’t very hard for me to see the difference once it was pointed out. I realized that my backswing was too steep when compared to the pro’s which was flatter.

The Takeaway

OK, let’s define what steep and flat mean to me when discussing the takeaway portion of the backswing. What I was doing was moving my wrists before my shoulders and mid-section. This caused the club to create an imperfect plane (too steep) forcing my hands to turn away from the ball. To correct this I needed to place an object (in my case a chair) at a distance far enough to my right that caused me to leave my wrists still while my shoulders, arms and mid-section moved the club towards the chair. Although this felt very awkward at first, it certainly flattened out my initial move. The trick is to find a distance to place the chair that makes you stretch without wanting to fall.

Now that I knew how to do this portion of the backswing correctly, I had to practice it for 100 times a day for one week. The goal was to commit this movement into muscle memory before learning the next step which was to keep my weight on the inside of my back (right) foot while doing it. Once again, I was asked to perform an unnatural and uncomfortable act for the sake of hitting a golf ball in the intended direction.

So, once again I introduced a practice method that helped me accomplish this. My natural tendency and comfortable thing to do was to allow my right knee to turn out and shift my weight to my right side. I was told that this was all wrong and I needed to keep my right knee still and the weight on the inside of my back (right foot). To accomplish this I needed to force pressure on my right knee to keep it straight and this was very hard to do.

Here’s what I did to learn how to keep the weight on the inside of by back (right) foot. I placed a book (1″ thick) under the right side of my right foot. I immediately felt the difference, and you will too. Take the time to practice this and make it part of muscle memory.

This covers the take away portion of the backswing. If you put some effort into Learning The Backswing, your golf game can’t help but improve.

Here are more golf tips.

Coming Over The Top – Why does it happen?

It’s all about controlling the golf swing.

The golf swing is a chain reaction event. What you do at set up determines what you do on the takeaway. What you do on the takeaway determined what happens half way back on the swing. What happens halfway back in the swing determines what happens at the top of the swing and continuing on to impact. So you can see that if you do not begin the golf swing correctly, it will have a compounding negative effect causing you to come over the top.

So How Can You Fix Coming Over the Top?

The first place to look to correct coming over the top is the set up. Most people that I see that have this problem set up with their feet closed and shoulders open which is a very contradicting set up position. This inevitably causes an improper takeaway where the golfer breaks the wrist prematurely and pulls the club back (inside) instead of away. This creates a very flat swing plane with the club shaft pointing way out past the ball. The premature rotating of the shoulders during the takeaway is the main cause of Coming Over The Top.

At halfway point of the swing, you want your left arm to be straight and parallel with the ground and the club shaft pointing to about where the ball is lying or slightly inside. The improper position will inevitably prevent the golfer from hitting the ball at all, so they over compensate by bringing the club over the top to hit the golf ball. Basically your subconscious mind is forcing a compensation by swinging over the top in order to make contact with the ball.

Watch a before and after video that shows the causes of Coming Over The Top and the proper swing technique to avoid this common problem.

Every golfer wants to have The Perfect Golf Swing and is looking for Golf Driving Tips that will help them accomplish just that.

Creating The Perfect Golf Swing requires that you know what one actually looks like. Here is The Perfect Golf Swing of Tiger Woods.

Additional Golf Driving Tips