aack! Thin lies and chili dips

I recently have made a marked improvement in my full swing mechanics producing more consistent, on target shots and more solid contacts. This of course has put me great positions for scoring. But then poof! My ability to make short pitches has vanished. I am digging the blade into the ground or overshooting the green a lot on short pitches. Before my swing changes I had really good feel for these shots. I am setting up the same way but obviously something is not working. Let me also say that one of courses at which I play has mostly thin lies to deal with even around the greens which makes things even more difficult.

I try to hit down on the ball with my short pitches rather than sweep the ball. This works in getting the ball up in the air but I have no feel for distance now. All of this has been very sudden and dramatic. I could really be improving my score a lot if it weren't for this problem. I can still chip from a flat angle to the hole pretty well but if I have to pitch up to an elevated green, disaster has been striking. This goes for sand shots now too. Terrible. I need help.

Let me just mention that my full swing changes involved letting the body pull the arms around the spine. Relaxed arms and shoulders and less directing the club with the hands and arms. Could that translate to something bad in pitching. I am still using mainly an arm and shoulder swing with short pitches as I did before my full swing changes. In other words I tried not to change anything about my pitching because is was working well.

Jaamb,

Have you read the Dave Pelz Short Game Bible? His methods on wedge shots is great for what you are describing, it did a lot for my short game.

He has a 4 x 3 system where you use 4 wedges and three back swing positions with each, they are like a clock face: 7:30, 9:00 and 10;30, this gives you 12 permutations of wedge distance. He also covers lob shots, bump and run, sand shots and short pitches.

The swing philosophy is similar to your full swing, you allow the hands to be passive but you do not generate any coiling between the hips and shoulders., you have to synchronise the turning of the body and arms together throughout the shot.

he has some information on this site, I would recommend the book though.

http://www.golfonline.com/golfonline...484171,00.html

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Best Regards
Brian

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Funny o'l game!

brian
ive been studying the pelz method and it starting to pay off
had a lot less putts to make this weekend due to more accurate pitches and chips

I haven't read the book but have seen Pelz demonstrate the method in a series of shows on the Golf Channel. I will take a look. I did figure out one problem. For some reason I started to take a death grip on the club when pitching. I kept a stiff wrist and a very firm grip to maintain the wrist angle and the hands ahead of the club face. This caused me to lose all feel in the shot. I read somewhere that we need soft hands when pitching and chipping which makes sense. One cannot feel much through the club with a very firm group. I also was not contacting the ball first. Thanks for the tips guys.

By the way, when I go to the Pelz web page and click the "Two Parts to Pitching" link, he shows a swing to the halfway point which looks to be like a slight shoulder turn, cocked wrists, forearms rotated back. I am sure I do not cock my wrists that soon. Am I reading what he is doing correctly?

IMO Jam, to go back half way, the shoulders would need to rotate 45° in order for the left forearm to get back comfortably to horizontal.

As for the wrist cock, all I'd suggest is that you try it with and without and see what works best for you...

The Pelz Short Game Tips section of his website have been of immense value to me. For me, the critical thing has been committing to a full follow through on pitch shots and only varying the length of the back swing in order to vary distance.

I am far more confident inside 100m now than I was when I first joined GTO last year.

Good luck with it.

Cheers

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Look at the Target, Look at the Ball, Swing... Dr Bob Rotella...

As I said earlier he suggests three backswing positions with each wedge, the one you saw was the 9:0 o clock, the others 7:30 and 10:30.

The nine o clock is a shoulder turn much like you use in the take away. He says you should let your wrists cock naturally through the back swing and use "Dead Hands" in the down swing, do not consciously uncock the hands. The reason for this is that when playing adrenalin will tighten your grip (sounds like what is happening to you Jamb) this will make you lose control, so keep hands passive.

__________________
Best Regards
Brian

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Funny o'l game!