Why does my pitch shot always check and not release?

[echoes77]

I am new to TGM and have sought answers to this question on this forum but am a little confused with angle hinging, vertical hinging, etc. as it relates to my pitch shot.

I have played 5 rounds of golf this year (i live in pennsylvania) but will be playing alot in the next 3-4 months. On almost all my pitch shots the ball checks once it hits the green and barely releases towards the hole thus leaving me with a minimum of a two putt or a three put. In my mind, it is what is holding me back from shooting a mid 80's score or better. My last two rounds I shot 93 and 90, respectively. I think I am leaving 6 to 8 strokes on the greens because I consistently leaving myself in a two to three putt situation. I have tried to knock it closer to the pin but that doesn't always happen. I am spending alot of time practicing and working on this aspect of the short game.

 

[vjcapron]

It could be your playing conditions. If the greens are slow, slanted from back to front, the grain runs towards the fairway, and the greens hold well, you really don't have an option to hit a releasing pitch shot...at least not with a sand wedge.

Take out your pitching wedge or 9 iron which will put less spin on the ball to cover the required distance and hit a little knuckleball to the front edge of the green and watch it release up to the flagstick.

 

[echoes77]

I do play a lot of municipal courses that have decent to lousy greens. I have been experimenting with 8 and 9 irons and hopefully that might help.

 

[Brian Manzella]

Have you seen "Flipper"?

 

[rchang72]

The other part of your question was the hinges. The "hinge" is the clubface action through impact at the ball. It's best seen if you take your arms to all the way straight. Then looking at your clubface/back of left hand will tell you what hinging you did. If the back of the left hand is parallel to the target line, that's horizontal hinge. If perpendicular to the line, that's vertical. If somewhere in between, that's angled. In theory, with slow chips, you could feel your left wrist either roll fully (horizontal), not roll (angled), or roll backwards (vertical) to feel each type.

Horizontal closes the clubface the most, vertical adds loft, angled does a bit of both. Horizontal should let your pitches run more than if you used the same amount of swing.

 

[dbl]

Well, if you like your chip as is, you could just throw it closer to the hole right?

If you are really asking about knowing what you are doing and why, then I too suggest the Confessions of a Former Flipper, as well as the video answer on accumulators, and also the "Video Short #2" which has the three hinge motions for a swinging pitch.

 

[SundayHacker]

Is this implication here that an improperly struck pitch or chip will check?

 

[rchang72]

Is this implication here that an improperly struck pitch or chip will check?

Only speaking for me, if I don't use the correct hinge, I will get less roll than I purpose. It could be a properly struck ball with inside-out impact, on-plane, etc. but done with a different hing than the player desired, it would a perfectly struck, improper pitch.

 

[echoes77]

Brian Manzella]Have you seen "Flipper"?


**************

Brian:

I ordered it but have not received it. Hopefully this week.

 

[Brian Manzella]

You didn't get the Web Version yet??