80 yard pitch shot video

Graeme McDowell explains the fundamental techniques required to effectively play the 80 yard pitch shot

80 yard pitch shot video

I am going to show you how I have two shots for key pitching yardages. Remember, your wedges are your scoring clubs and to get the ball close in different weather and ground conditions, and when attacking different pin locations, you need to have more than one option in your armoury.

I have one full swing shot with more loft that goes higher and stops quicker, and one slightly shorter swing shot with less loft than flies lower and spins less.

There are three factors I use to control the distance of my wedge shots: the loft of my wedge, how far up or down the grip I set my hands and how far back my arm swing goes.

I need to stress that you really don’t want to change your rhythm in any way, shape or form to hit different yardages.

I don’t like seeing guys taking a long backswing and then decelerating into impact, that’s certainly not the way to do it. A shorter back swing with the same tempo as a full swing is a much more consistent way to control distance.

I’ll show you how to hit one yardage with two clubs by keeping your rhythm the same and controlling distance through the length of the swing and the loft.

From 80 yards, I want two ways of hitting this distance: my 58˚ wedge I can still spin quite a bit from 80 yards with a chest high swing, which is great for tight or front pins; but again, to a back pin, that 58˚shot might spin too much so for that I’ll use my 52˚wedge.

80 yards should still be far enough for you to generate some spin with your most lofted wedge, especially with modern grooves. Even from the rough, if you have a good lie you should still be able to get some purchase.