Distance Control With Pitches

[birdie_man]

How do you guys do it?

Pick a spot?

How specific of a spot? or just a general area? (i.e. a spot...but not a tiny one)

...

Or do you pick the club that's appropriate (i.e. a lob wedge- to get you over a hump) and just hit it. (hopefully the right weight)

Or other ways? (w/e the F those are)

 

[bts]

How do you guys do it?

Pick a spot?

How specific of a spot? or just a general area? (i.e. a spot...but not a tiny one)

...

Or do you pick the club that's appropriate (i.e. a lob wedge- to get you over a hump) and just hit it. (hopefully the right weight)

Or other ways? (w/e the F those are)

Clubhead speed.

 

[tongzilla]

Before you learn distance control, learn how hit it pure with every pitch. Most intermediate level golfers has bad distance control for pitches not because of "bad feel", but because their quality of impact is different from shot to shot. Once you can hit it a certain distance every time (e.g. 40 yards) plus or minus 5 yards, then start playing around with distance control via lag pressure and/or stroke length...it should be quite easy!

 

[Perfect Impact]

If you don't "pick a spot" for your approach shots, whether full, pitches, or chips, you lose out on the behavior of the ball due to the surface it will impact: a sloping vs. a flat surface, a hard vs. a soft one, and the direction of the slope. HUGELY important for where the ball finally comes to rest.

The spot method allows you to visualize and adjust for whether the ball will be deflected left, right, back, or forward, and how it will roll afterward. Failure to realize or choose a spot is to leave yourself wide open to a deflection you failed to respect.

It is facile to imagine all PW chips will roll the same ratio of the total distance to the cup. And of course, getting such a handle on the whole shot in the air and on the ground will reduce a 30-50% GIR game score by A LOT of shots where you end up with only one putt.

 

[birdie_man]

Cool....thanks for the responses.

I pretty much knew the spot way would be pretty much the way.

....

So...

-lag pressure (happens naturally really.....but different than, say- the clock method)
-hit er pure
-assess and pick a spot

...

Question 2....

How would you guys teach chipping and pitching, respectively?

...like in "Flipper": "Gimme a chipping (and pitching) lesson."

...

Setup, ball position, weight distribution, etc.....mostly interested in ways to position yourself at Address.....but say w/e you wanna say for sure.