Lower Your Golf Scores: Pitching To The Green

A solid pitching game is essential to the game of golf. If you are inside your normal iron distance and need to achieve a soft landing on the green, your pitching game must be solid. Here are a few tips to help you stick the ball near the cup with increasing accuracy.

During the address, you want to keep you hands just a slightly ahead of the ball. If you are finding that you are pushing your shots, you can have your hands even with the ball. Having your hands at proper position is essential. Try checking the positioning in a mirror to confirm that you are on target.

Stand with your shoulders and hips square to the target. Make sure that your feet are slightly open. In a pitch shot the ball is going to be played at the middle of your feet. You should have just a slight bend to your knees for the set up.

For a great shot to the green, shift your weight forward throughout the swing. This swing will allow you to have more control over the distance of your shot.

Keep a light grip so that on the backswing, your club will hinge naturally. This will prevent the club from going behind your body, which would make you overshoot your target.

Your grip position is a great way to control your shot as well. If you are in close range, moving your grip down slightly will help you keep the distance of your shot under control. If you find yourself gripping down too far you may want to consider switching to a sand wedge.

Although there is some debate on this one, I recommend not taking a full swing on a pitch shot. Your swing length should be matched to the length you have left to go to the green. If you are far enough out to make a full backswing, then you aren't really making a pitch shot.

Combine switching up your grip length and changing your swing length to form a potent combo for accuracy. If you take length out of the club and length out of the swing you will have a tight controlled approach to the ball.

Keep your left wrist flat during the impact to keep your shot steady and to avoid overshooting the target. Practice this technique to get down the feel so that you can do it easily on the course.

In a pitch shot. you should finish with your torso pointing towards the target. Again, this is a move that requires practice to make perfect.

Another popular way to control distance is to imagine yourself as a clock face and to swing back and through varying lengths on the clock face for varying distances. Pitching is all about control and accuracy, and can be improved through lots of repetition. Consider taking golf instruction to make sure you are on the right track with how to play this important shot.

With all these tips, make sure that the swing feels natural to you. If you feel like you are forcing it, you may need to adjust certain aspects of the swing to make it feel comfortable to you. The more comfortable you feel in the approach and swing, the better your shot will be.

One of the most important steps to perfecting your pitch shot is to practice, practice, practice! Getting down the feel of this swing will go a long way to helping you shave off strokes. Take the tips we've gone over and head out to the range to practice. You can also practice your stance and swing at home as well to really get down the motions involved. With a great pitch game, you will see a huge improvement in your golf game.