TIP OF THE WEEK

THE most important part of your pitching game is distance control.

This has two facets — being able to get consistent contact and being able to regulate the speed and length of the swing.

Too many amateur golfers make the same length backswing and then use differing amounts of deceleration to change the distance the ball travels. This causes poor contact and no control of how far the ball flies.

To get control of your pitching, try going to the range and start with your sand wedge and make a comfortable half-length, half-speed swing.

The important part in this process is to find something that is repeatable to you.

Keep practising this until you get a reasonably accurate distance range for this swing. You don’t want this to be full distance.

This abbreviated comfortable swing now becomes the baseline for hitting your pitch shots different distances accurately. If your ball lands 10m further away from the flag than your comfortable distance, then you know that you need to make a swing that is slightly bigger and faster than the comfortable swing.

Add to this is the fact that most of you will have a pitching wedge, sand wedge and lob wedge that will give you three different distances to work with.

This process takes a bit of practise to find how to get the ball to travel longer and shorter distances. Remember that you are trying to teach yourself to vary the length of the swings to change the distance, not just swing full and then stop on the way down.

Be patient and your improved pitching will really improve your scores.