HOW TO MASTER THE 50 YARD PITCH SHOT

Nice. That was pretty masterful, Andy. It was pretty masterful, wasn't it? Hello and welcome to Me and My Golf. We're your coaches, Andy and Piers. And it's time for the Impact Show. Piers, what are we talking about today? We're talking about mastering the 50-yard pitch shot. Let's take charge of your game. So you've joined us on the 13th fairway here at the Asbury. Now, before we get into today's content, Brake90 is now live. Six-week coaching plan to help you, guess what? Brake90. So if you haven't seen it already and you want a Brake90, make sure you check that out. We'll put the link in the description, guys. So go and click the link there and go check it out. What a good idea. You've done this before, haven't you? Right. OK. So August at Me and My Golf is all about 50 yards and in. So we thought, well, what better shot to do than a 50-yard pitch shot? But before we get into that, question time. What shot do you struggle with most from 50 yards and in? Let us know. Post them down below so that we can actually have a look and get some content up later in the month based on maybe the most common faults that you guys are doing there. So look, Andy, 50-yard pitch. It's a hard shot for most. Is it a full shot? It's not. It's a pitch shot. And I think people find it hard to get that distinction between what is a chip and what is a pitch. But also and we won't go so much into that. But what we are going to go into is the shot we have here. You've got to go over some semi rough over a bunker. We've got to get the ball in the air. But I think people's intention or golfer's intentions when they're playing this shot is wrong, isn't it? Yeah, they have the wrong thought in their minds. And I think a lot of golfers actually, you guys watching this would probably prefer to be 80 yards away because you can hit that sort of full shot and be aggressive. Well, if we can get closer to the green and pull the shot off, it is going to be a lot easier. Now, the intention for most, I think, because they know they're playing a pitch shot here and they need to go over something, a bunker and some rough. Their intention is to actually try and get it up high and then almost help it in the air to get it landing softly, which is fine. But we have to remember that we've got clubs designed to do that. So I've got a 58 degree here. If I strike the golf ball, well, it's going to go up in the air pierce and it's going to give me a little bit of spin, which is fine. We don't have to try and encourage that even more, maybe in some severe ones, but certainly not a basic pitch shot like we have here. So the intention needs to be right. And we don't really want to try and help it in the air. And that's what often causes some poor issues in the swing. Yeah, look, when we show people what they actually do when they get this wrong, they're like, oh, I didn't think I was doing that. But because the intention was in there, it actually changed the technique. It's got a bit of sand in the eye there. Right, OK, so just go through the stereotypical sort of setup and swing that we see. We'll actually hit a shot on Trackman and see what we get. OK, so this is what we see. The guys who come to us for a lesson pierce, especially when faced with this situation here over a bunker, they will stand here and they will tilt their spine back like this, a bit of weight on the right leg like this. And then as they swing through here, they'll swing very much in and very much up down the target line, almost in an effort to get that ball up in the air. The problem is here. It brings all the grass and the ground into play first. They can either duff it, thin it, and they don't really get much of a turn on the way through. And it compromises the strike. And if we compromise the strike, there's got no chance we're going to get this close. OK, so and I think we will see people come up short a lot of the time, even if they get a good strike on this. So do your best to hit a good one from this position. A good one. Good one from a bad position. I'll do my best. Let's see what you can get. Let's see what Trackman can say for you. Very stereotypical. So there's a good one with a poor strike, actually. I mean, we're lucky there that the ground's very firm. I did actually hit the ground first on that one. It's a little bit of a duff, but you can get away with it this time of year. But it is still short. It's only on 38 yards in total, so it didn't get you 50 yards. Attack angle, we can see there 1.1 degrees down. Apologies for the wind noise, if you can hear. It's very windy here. So 1.1 degrees down. That's perhaps, well, it's definitely not enough down. Spin 4,000 RPM. So you can tell that you hit the ground before the golf ball there. Yeah. And you can see your launch angle, 38 degrees. OK. But we look at these numbers here, a little high. We look at these numbers here and we go, yeah, well, that's a ball that went into the ground. It's probably going to run a lot as well. The height might help it out. On a lush lie, you may be OK. But actually, on a tight lie like this, which you're often going to get when you're pitching, hopefully, it's not going to be any good for you. So I'll tell you what. Let's give you another ball. Chance to redeem yourself, Mr. Proudman. OK, well, this is what we want to do. OK, so strike. And I think one of the best players in the world, Jordan Spieth, does this very well. Let's talk about the setup, first of all. So in the setup, as opposed to having our shoulders tilted like this, we actually want to get more of a neutral setup and body angle. So Jordan Spieth, you'll notice when he plays a pitch shot, his shoulders are almost level. So his right shoulder is a lot higher. And what this does, it allows him to get a slight downward strike on his shot. Now, you'll notice that Spieth does a lot of these when he hits the shot. So actually, in his practice swings, this is consistently getting his low point in the right place. I like that. He'll be brushing exactly where he wants to strike it. But certainly getting the shoulders more level will help him to do that. And that's what's going to help guarantee the strike. So ball position pretty central. We're going to get right shoulder feeling a little higher. That might move the weight forward a little bit. But from here now, as opposed to trying to lift it and swing down the target line, we're actually going to make sure we do a good backswing. But on the way through, this is the key. We're allowing the club to swing in from the target line and allowing the chest to turn to face the target. You can see the difference there. My clubs move left. My chest is facing the target. And again, it's bringing my low point slightly closer to the goal pole, even after the goal pole. And that is the secret piece. If we can get that, that's going to give me the strike. And the loft is going to take care of itself. It will actually go a little lower, but it's going to have more spin, more check. And on this shot, that's exactly what I need. And I think it sounds like there's a bit of information there. But when you're literally hitting the shot, it's level shoulders are set up with the ball in the middle. A turn on the backswing, a brush and a turn. So turn, brush, turn. Let's see you do it. You've got to get it closer than that. I mean, you were 38 yards in total. So you're 12 yards short right on that one. So on this one, you'll see I'm not trying to help it in the air. My focus is sort of turning and allowing the club to brush. It will definitely come out a little lower. You can see there, a nice lower ball flight, crisp strike, a little bit of spin. And from there, I'm in a much better place, Piers. Yeah, very nice. Let's see what we have here. And no big divot either. We don't want to hammer down into the back of the ball. It's a slight descending blow into the back of the ball. That's the important thing. Okay, straight away, launch angle. Let's see how much that's down. It's six degrees down. Your launch angle at 32 degrees. I think it's got suntan cream on. 46 yards in total. So a lot nearer to the flag. 6,700 RPM spin rate. And your attack angle is four degrees down. So you can see just by change of intention, but then also change of setup and then obviously getting the swing moving the right way with the rotation there. That's a massive difference. And you'd be pretty happy with that as an end result because it's a tough shot. It is a tough shot. I'm not going to roll that one in from there as well. I don't think you'd miss that as well. Definitely would. Maybe you should watch some more videos. 50 yards and in this one. Okay, so look, hopefully, I think the thing for you to do is to actually video yourself on a pitch shot and actually see what you are doing. If you're doing the first guy, it's not going to help you. You're not going to be consistent from there. So you need to do what the second guy did. Short and speed is pretty good. Copy, Jordan, and you'll be doing all right. I can tell you that. Or I wouldn't be all right. And if you did enjoy the video, guys, please hit the thumbs up there. It enables us to actually reach and help more golfers all over the world. Thanks for your support, and we'll see you next time. How would you like to have myself and Andy as your personal online golf coaches? Well, if you do, we've created an amazing platform where we coach you each month to help you play the best golf of your life. So if you do, head over to meandmygolf.com and become a part of this exclusive community. Click the link in the corner and we will see you over there.