Golf Throwing Tips to Eliminate Skull Shots

The pitch is basically a shorter throw anywhere, say 20 to 60 yards, where the ball flies most of the way and rolls only a short distance on landing. This is a shot that many people have a hard time with and it’s definitely easy to post a great score if you have trouble hitting these feel shots, especially over ponds or bunkers. So what would be a good tip for shooting shots?

Well, the first thing to remember is that when approaching the green from shorter distances, it’s a good idea to try to keep the ball as close to the ground as possible. What this means is that if you can chip the ball, you should, as it is a lower risk shot to shoot. Sometimes, even though there is an obstacle between you and the target, you have no choice but to go over it.

The term pitch can sometimes lead people to believe that they should use your pitching wedge when in fact you generally want to use your highest club; a sand wedge or perhaps a balloon wedge. The objective of these shots is to get the ball high so that it lands softly and doesn’t roll too much.

So, once you’ve chosen the right club, what exactly is the correct way to hit the shot? As with most shots in golf, opinions vary, but some generally accepted basics are:

1 – tackle the ball with an open stance,

2 – the position of the ball should be slightly ahead of the center,

3 – slightly open the stick, and

4 – assuming you play golf right handed, approximately 60% of your weight should be on your left side

Aside from these fundamentals, probably the best tip for good shooting is not to flip the ball with your hands. A good way to ensure this is to think of your hands and arms as “staying connected” to your body.

1 – A great starting point is to try to make your backswing and follow through the same length. This does two things; First, it encourages a rhythmic swing in which there is no sudden acceleration or deceleration of the club, and second, it forces you to think about how long your swing needs to be to hit the ball the required distance. This is where the term “mark in your distance” is used.

2 – Once you’ve done this, the key to avoiding being over-skilled or “flipping” the ball is to think about rotating your body throughout the shot and not fall into the trap of stopping once you hit the ball. A great exercise to ingrain how this should feel is to tuck a golf glove under your left armpit and then hit a few pitches. The goal is to make sure the glove doesn’t come loose. This forces him to keep his body spinning until the end of his follow through if he hopes to generate the necessary spin speed to execute the shot.

For most people throwing is something that requires a lot of practice and the truth is that not many people do it. If you really want to cut some shots out of your game, it would be a good idea to spend at least half of your practice time on pitching and other aspects of the short game.

All the best,

Steve

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