Hi, I'm at the beautiful Bali National Golf Club. This is hole number 8.
And we've had one of our subscribers at Search 4 Scratch Program, Roman,
write into us about varying the trajectory on chip and pitch shots.
The first thing I want to say,
is a lot of people are a little confused about chipping and pitching;
What's the difference between the two. So with my golf club here,
if this was the green and green extends further this way,
and this is off the green, chip shots are played very close to the green.
In our program,
it's about no more than about two meters off the green or two big steps off the
green. So in this case,
it's a very short shot that travels just over the edge of the green and rolls
out a long way. So that would be a chip shot.
So whenever you see shots played very close to the green by the pros,
they're chipping it onto the green and running it out. That's a chip shot. Now,
as the ball gets further back away from the green and the ball has to carry into
the air more and land on the green,
it now becomes a pitch shot and there are two types. Well,
there are actually three there's a pitch and run shot where you're playing quite
a low shot that can land short off the green or run out.
There's a mid-range shot,
something that flies through the air,
lands on the edge of the green and runs out. It can be spinning of it.
And then there's a lob shot, which is also a pitch shot,
that travels much higher in the air to tight pins. So,
Roman,
I'm just assuming that you probably pitch a lot with the same club around the
greens and that you are talking about pitch shots.
You're talking about shots that are a bit further away,
because when we're close to the green,
we don't need to hit too high,
a shot when we just off the edge of the green in actual fact,
we just want to get it to get onto the green.
So we'll use whatever loft's required for that. But if we're further out,
sometimes we have to pin back of the green and we've got to hit a flat shot in
there. And sometimes we got a pin like this one at the front of the green,
and we've got to hit a high shot. Now I've got the pitching wedge here,
and I'm going to use that and show you two different shots with it.
So the first shot I'm going to show you is a lower shot that spins more.
It comes off the face, a little faster,
hits the green and spins up a little bit more.
And it's good for mid pins to back pins. So the way I teach it is...
In all my teaching system, it's knees, hips, and shoulders,
and all the shots around the green,
the club never travels higher than the shoulder. If it's a chip shot,
the club will never travel higher than the hips. So all chip shots,
the club is swinging under my hips. And in fact, close up,
right off the edge of the green. It's definitely down around the knees.
So I'm going to show you a shot where in this case, Roman,
it's a little more advanced, but we're going to go right knee on the back,
swing, left hip on the follow-through.
The ball's played slightly back of center.
So middle of the stance just back of there handle is ever so slightly forward of
the ball. And when we strike this shot,
we're going to keep the handle in the same relative position through the whole
stroke. So I start here, the golf club's going to swing back about knee high.
And the club is also going to stay in front of my body, Roman.
It is not going to travel behind. It's always going to be in front.
And then from here, using my shoulder and my arm against my chest,
I'm going to pull the handle through,
maintaining that relationship with the handle slightly forward the face,
and then just pull it through to this place here.
The ball will come out low and quick and spin up. Looks like this.
[Inaudible].
So, the stroke will look like this. So we've gone here, pull it through to here.
All came in, low, spins up a lot.
Pin got in the way in this case.But it would normally finish more at the back of
the green. So that would be your lower trajectory pitch shot.
The second shot, Roman is the higher shot. And again, using pitching wedge,
of course I could use a more lofted club than that,
but for the exercise we're using pitching wedge and the golf shaft is a little
bit more neutral. In other words,
it's more or less where the other club was positioned slightly forward to the
target. This is a little bit more at my belt buckle here,
and the ball is played about middle of the stance. So middle stance position,
handle's more neutral and in this shot,
I'm going to swing back to the height of my right shoulder and through to the
height of my left shoulder and maintain that relationship.
So it's going to go back. Club's staying in front. Here,
you see how wide that is,
and then it'll come through and come back to the bottom of the swing in a very
neutral position. Won't be leaning forward as much.
The club will brush the ground and then we come through and bring it all the way
through to here. Now, my shoulders are turning with the golf club, Roman.
So as the club's coming through, I'm turning with it,
holding onto it at this place here. It is a very common shot;
these two shots are very common with pros. Okay, let's have a go at that one.
Clubface is straight.
I'm not opening it up or anything right shoulder to right shoulder.
It looks a bit like this.
[Inaudible].
Good. So it just rolled off the back, which I expected. Got a little bit thin,
but you get the idea.
It definitely travels higher and it's mostly due to the way the club was swung
through the ball. So, right shoulder to left shoulder,
chest moving with it, Roman. You'll notice my body's just flowing with it.
I'm not doing anything about my body.
My body's just responding to my arms swing.
That's the stroke. So there are two strokes, Roman,
that'll help you vary the trajectory on your pitch shots. Again,
you can use a number of different clubs,
pitching wedge all the way through to your more lofted clubs you need to
practice it. It doesn't come easily,
but there are definitely very advanced shots that will help you enormously with
your ambition to get your handicap better.
And I wish you the best of luck with it. And thanks very much for the question.
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[Inaudible].