Very worried!

Today I went up to my local club to take part in a three man playoff to decide the winner of an important competition. Having not touched a club in a 1 and half weeks I was nervous. I went on the range first - struck my irons beautifully. Went to putting green next - putted OK, not great. When I started to pitch with my lob wedge, first shot was an air shot and not because the club went directly over the ball, it took up a divot but actually missed the ball to the side ! Next few shots I managed to hit but the strike was appalling - they were mostly fat and out of the toe. After a long time I started to strike them OK but they were all leaking miles out to the right. I was very concerned! Luckily for me the playoff was postponed because of heavy rain but I need to sort this problem out very soon or I'm in big trouble! Any ideas.

Sam

Why are you chipping with a lob wedge? Use a pitching wedge...much easier.

all in the mind, dont stress, you know you can make the shots, done it a thousand times +, so go out and show em what your made off and stop thinking about all the bad stuff

Hi Sam,

I think you may be taking your wedges back on the outside then cutting across the ball with an open face causing them to slice right or come off the face incorrectly.

Remember that when pitching it is a shortened version of the full swing so you must take the club away on the correct plane and come back down from the inside. Another thing to watch for is that you are not releasing your wrists too late causing the hands to get too far ahead at impact.

Please check these things out and let me know if they help?

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Best Regards
Brian

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Funny o'l game!

Having played a few competitive matches recently, you really cannot think about swing thoughts. All you can really think about is the target and how you want the ball to get there. Establish a preshot routine and stick to it. If you need a swing thought, keep it simple. For eg, follow through to the target. Try to become more target focused than ball focused, ie look at the target and glance at the ball.

Since the match is coming up soon, I would not try and change my swing. Review your setup - grip, alignment and stance. Chances are you will find the technical problem here.

Well! you don't need to think too much during your match swing I agree, but I still suggest you try some things out on the range fairly soon.

Dont concentrate on anything being wrong in your swing. This is just a bad dose of nerves. It happens to us all. Just go back to basics. Think low and slow

Thanks for the suggestions guys I think I'm on to fixing the problem now! I found what Brian said to be very helpful, I now make an effort to go more inside on the way back and I seem to be striking them a lot better. I think nerves may also have had something to do with it as Rob said.

Sam