By Derek Hooper

In this instructional golf video lesson, Derek Hooper teaches us how to pitch shots from different distances.

Golf Lessons with Derek Hooper

Playing accurate pitch shots to the distance you want can be challenging for a lot of players. A player will do the correct preparation prior to playing the shot in that they laser an exact yardage, check their lie, wind and elevation change, but then guess at how long to swing the club to produce the required distance. Then they wonder why they are unable to pitch the ball close to hole on a regular basis. There is a better way. I have been teaching my players a pitching distance matrix for a number of years and it has made a huge difference to their ability to regularly get the ball close to the hole with a pitch shot. It is a system that I copied from Dave Pelz, it is simple to understand and learn, as well as implement on the golf course. The feedback from my players after learning the distance matrix is that this transforms their ability to pitch the ball close to the hole. As they set up to a shot there is no guesswork as to how long the swing should be or which club they should use. All the guessing is taken away and you are free to execute quality pitch shots. It will do the same for you also.

The Fundamentals of Playing A Pitch Shot

In this video, Derek Hooper explains how to correctly play a pitch shot as well as how to control your distance on these shots.

Golf Lessons with Derek Hooper

Long drives are only so helpful if you do not know how to play a pitch shot. A pitch shot is played when you are too close to the green to play a full shot, but too far away to chip. It is a shot that has a lot of air time and very little roll time and is the perfect shot when you need the ball to stop quickly on the green.

Too many players struggle with this shot as they try to lift the ball into the air rather than using the loft on the club to do that for them. This lifting motion exposes the leading edge of the club to the ball and the result is a low shot with no spin that rolls across the green.

The other mistake Derek Hooper sees players making is that they have been told to hit down on the ball as this will make the ball get up on the air. What typically happens with this swing thought is that the club digs into the ground and the ball goes about the same distance as the divot.

The Fundamentals of Playing a Pitch Shot - Hitting Pitch Shots Different Distances

 

The Fundamentals of Playing a Pitch Shot - Hitting Pitch Shots Different Distances

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