Pitch Perfect

My keys to sticking your 50 yard shots tight to the flag
By Frank Murray

Our Academy by Olazabal is an amazing place to hone your short game skills, but we had a little fun with this temporary inflatable green during Golf Digest Middle East’s recent visit to Velaa Private Island.

Learning how to control shots of this distance is such a fundamental part of good scoring and I wanted to share a few ideas for good pitching with you. If your game is sharp from 50 yards, you’ll save yourself a ton of pars and set up plenty of birdies, too. Here’s what to focus on during your practice.

At impact, make sure that your hands are ahead of the ball.

The primary way that pitching differs from chipping, other than the length of the swing, is that on a pitch, the downswing is initiated by your lower body. From the backswing position pictured here, which is all you want to swing to for a 50-yard shot, your hips begin moving towards the target, allowing your arms to drop across the chest.

You know that low, controlled ball flight the pros have on their pitch shots? They do that with forward shaft lean at impact, which lowers the loft on the club. Help achieve this by setting up with more weight on your left side, and have your shaft leaning forward at address. You want to feel like your hands are ahead of the ball to achieve optimum impact.

Frank Murray is the Director of Instruction at the Academy by Olazabal on Velaa Private Island in The Maldives. The academy is managed by Troon Golf. For more info, visit velaaprivateisland.com

Photograph by David Bernard