how do you hit the "Tour Pitch"

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Seanmx

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Ah that makes sense

tongzilla said:
No.

Brian is talking about the pitch he teaches in his FLIPPER video (confessions of a former flipper) which is a ben doyle style pitch.
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That makes complete sense. In fact I am trying to adopt the Ben Doyle style pitch myself to cure my short game woes.
 
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neil

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Brian Manzella said:
How do you HIT the Tour pitch?

Well you DON'T hit it like a "Flipper/Ben Doyle" pitch, or any other "up the left arm at the end of the follow-through" pitch.

You have to have the club go down to a VERY SLIGHTLY forward leaning shaft at impact, and then havet he clubhead go RAPIDLY BACK UP with lots of face layback.

You will BARELY brush the grass if you have good lie.

I have gotten MUCH BETTER at this shot as of late, so good, in fact, that I can do it on shots up to 60-80 yards.

Have to do a video...
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Do you mean a vertical hinge action?
 
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Jared Willerson

Super Moderator
No...it's more like a pingman pitch. The left wrist bends as soon as possible after you "hit the box." Almost a flip, but your trying to hit the ground with the middle of the flange on your wedge.....not the leading edge.
 
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Chris Sturgess

New member
So should the weight be pretty centered? As opposed to leaning left. Meaning, does the weight start out about 50 50 and then shift to the right foot on the backswing and then the left foot on the though swing? Or should the weight be kept left the whole time?

Also, obviously this shot can be hit from the fairway, but where else? Off hardpans (seems like you could run into blading problems with the flange thing), tight lies, deep rough, etc.?
 
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Chris Sturgess

New member
I don't mean to be a pain in the gluteus, but I sure would like to hear some skidding pitch shot afficianados chime in on those questions.
 
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revert

New
A friend of mine, a club pro and very talented guy was helpng me with these type of shots a few weeks ago. From 10 to 15 yards he can hit it in fairly low, one skip then stop and on not very soft greens.

Rather that me explaining exactly what he was teaching i'll see if he'll agree to have me video him hitting the shots and post for you all to see.
 
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dmurfet

New
I hit quite a few of these this afternoon from a practice mat onto a real green from about 50 yards. The ball was not stopping on the second bounce, it would release about 8 feet afterwards - it was very easy to hit from the mat. Then tried from the turf, which was not so clean a lie, and the release distance increased from 8 to 12/15 feet. It would certainly seem the lie has a lot to do with it, plus the shaving the ball idea mentioned earlier.

I tend to think of the face of the club scraping down the back of the ball at impact rather than it just hitting it smack on - wether this changes the angle of attack or it's just a mental image I couldn't tell you.

Next time I'm up there I'll take a video - but I don't have a 50 foot camera tower!
 
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Jon Hardesty

New
"tour pitch" advice

Here's how I hit the "tour pitch" and how I suggest to do it:


1. Open the face of your lob wedge (just slightly) to raise the leading edge off the turf to discourage any digging. This will encourage the use of the mid-sole of your wedge.

** Don't forget to open the face first and then take your grip. Don't take your normal grip with the face of your wedge square and then open the face.

2. Play the ball towards the front of a slightly open stance, with your weight slightly favoring the front foot.

** If you play the ball too far back in your stance and/or favor your weight too much towards the front foot, you will tend to hit the shot with too much of a decending blow and you won't get the spin required for the shot.

3. Hit the shot with a good pivot as you would any good pitch shot. However, some of the keys to the spin are: clubhead speed, angle of approach (shallow, not steep for this shot,) shaft leaning only slightly towards the target, acceleration through the shot.

** You will definitely "utilize" the bounce/ mid-sole of your lob wedge on this shot.

4. Apply the clubhead underneath the ball with a shallow angle of attack, utilizing the mid-sole of the lob wedge to skip off of the turf.

** Think of contacting the turf with the mid-sole and not the leading edge or the club will dig into the turf and you will "drive" the ball forward and not get the friction required for the spin.

This is how I would describe how to hit the "tour pitch."
 
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Kevin Shields

Super Moderator
Chris Sturgess said:
So should the weight be pretty centered? As opposed to leaning left. Meaning, does the weight start out about 50 50 and then shift to the right foot on the backswing and then the left foot on the though swing? Or should the weight be kept left the whole time?

Also, obviously this shot can be hit from the fairway, but where else? Off hardpans (seems like you could run into blading problems with the flange thing), tight lies, deep rough, etc.?
Click to expand...

Weight distribution varies with the club. More left the more bounce your wedge has. I hit this shot very well. I start with shaft lean and an open face. Rounded, shallow takeaway with not a ton of wrist set. Really shallow feel into the ball, then....ZIP! Lots of speed thru the ball as the face lays back and left arm wings out behind my left lat. Almost no divot and a skidding feel thru ball. Lob wedge with a longer impact with shaft lean off hardpan. BTW, skill trumps strength on this shot. ;)
 
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