John Jacobs offers his punch shot golf lesson to master the punch shot and keep the ball down on those windy days.
Punch shot golf lesson
Try the tips below if you struggle to control your ball flight in the wind and your game suffers being one-dimensional.
There are certain occasions when every golfer needs to be able to hit a punch shot. Keeping the ball down, whether you’re playing in the wind or hitting below the branches of a tree, requires some relatively minor tweaks. Firstly, you need to club up.
As you have less loft in your hands, you won’t have to swing the club as hard to find the desired distance. The ball should come out on a lower, flatter trajectory and will be affect less by the wind. Andy Sullivan offers a great explanation about how he puts this into practice out on Tour.
This will also reduce the backspin created at impact – the cause of the lift that you’re trying to avoid. You will want to play for the ball to pitch short of the pin and skip up the green.
This makes this type of shot a safer way of getting to pins located at the back of a green, as it reduces the chance of hitting the ball over the green.
Then, move your hands down the grip and put the ball back in your stance. With the ball position more towards your right foot, your hands will lead the shaft through impact, reducing the loft of the club - this de-lofts the club at address for a lower initial flight.
Finally, a shorter swing will further help to cut down on the backspin you create - Clive Tucker offers a great tip on how to do that. Although this may sound like a lot of things to remember, most of it relates to your static address position, so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t get this right.
By taking some time to practise these adjustments on the range, you should see exactly how simple and invaluable the punch shot really is.
Key tips
- Take one extra club than you would use for a normal shot from that distance
- Less loft means you won't have to swing the club as hard
- Choke down on the grip
- Move the ball back in your stance
- Let the hands lead the shaft through impact
