How To Break 100 Lesson 4: Pitching

As we build our skills farther from the hole, it’s time to add a pitch shot to your repertoire. A pitch shot is essentially the last partial-swing shot we’ll hone before moving into the full swing, but it’s still part of your short-game arsenal. A pitch shot is almost an extension of a chip shot, where you add some wrist hinge to hit the ball a little farther, and higher in the air.

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Breaking 100: Pitching Benchmarks

To evaluate your chipping benchmarks, and to give you an idea of when you’re pitching game is strong enough to break 100, we’re going to look at shots from between 25-50 yards. Once you can exceed these three benchmarks consistently in practice and hit them regularly on the course, you know you’ve got a 90s-caliber pitch shot.

PREVIOUS LESSON: How To Break 100 Lesson 3: Chipping

How To Hit a Pitch Shot

Christopher Toulson, who has enjoyed a very decorated teaching and playing career, demonstrates exactly how to hit great pitch shots. 

Setup For Pitch Shots

Follow these guidelines to nail the proper setup for pitch shots:

• Feet underneath your hips, slightly narrower than shoulder-width
• Ball in the center of your stance
• Weight favoring your front leg, about 60-40
• Club shaft leaning forward (toward the target) slightly
• A slightly open stance is acceptable if your prefer

The Pitch Shot

After you’ve got the perfect setup, it’s time to hit the shot. During the pitch shot, your weight should stay on your lead leg, there’s no weight transfer during your takeaway or downswing.

• Bring the club back with a combination of your arms and some wrist hinge
• Allow your trail arm to bend at the elbow
• Once you’ve completed your takeaway, let your mid-section dominate the through swing. A good feel from the top of your takeaway is to rotate your belt buckle so it points to your target, letting everything else follow

Toulson’s hinge, turn, and hold method is an easy three-step checklist to practice your pitch shots. Hinge your wrists in the takeaway, turn your belt buckle to your target, and hold your finish, resisting any break in your elbows or wrists in the finish.

Checkpoints For Success

When practicing your pitch shots, pay close attention to a few details to make sure you stay on the right track.

• Make sure your divot is in front of the ball (on the target side of the ball)
• Avoid a long follow-through. Instead, make sure you have an abbreviated finish where you can feel some resistance in your arms.

Pitch Shot Practice Drill For Perfect Contact

Steven Bann, who has served as instructor to PGA Tour players Stuart Appleby, Robert Allenby, and K.J. Choi, demonstrates an excellent technique for ensuring great contact on pitch shots. 

As Bann demonstrates, employing a longer follow-through than takeaway ensures you accelerate through impact while controlling your distances.

Begin the drill by practicing pitch shots with a thigh-high takeaway, and waist-high follow-through. Once you’ve hit several of those with good contact to consistent distances, build the motion out to a waist-high takeaway and a chest-high follow-through.

Take Your Pitching to the Next Level

Once you can hit these pitch shots consistently with a solid, ball-first strike, you’re well on your way to sub-100 scores. However, hitting solid pitch shots only does you good if you can hit the shots the distance you need in any given situation.

To master your pitching distances, grab your three most lofted clubs and start with the two lengths of chip shots Steven Bann just taught you, the thigh-to-waist pitch, and the waist-to-chest pitch. 

Hit the thigh-to-waist pitch shot repeatedly with your most lofted wedge until you can establish a predictable distance for that shot. Repeat the process with the waist-to-chest pitch shot. Write down those two distances and move on to your next club to establish your thigh-to-waist and waist-to-chest distances with that club, and write them down. Repeat this same process with your third club.

Remember, your target proximity on shots from 25-50 yards from the hole is 30 feet, or 10 yards. After completing this exercise, you’ll be able to identify exactly what length pitch shot, and with which club, you need to hit to get as close to the hole as possible.

The Final Pitch

While this is your final short game lesson before we move on to the full swing, it’s a good idea to test yourself against pitching and chipping benchmarks regularly, and always give those areas of your game some love. Just because you hit your benchmarks one day, doesn’t mean you’re done practicing your short game for good. 

There’s a good chance that as your skills develop, your yardages with different length pitch shots and different clubs will change. Make it a point to regularly update your table of how far each pitch shot with each club goes. Simply going through this exercise will build some great pitching practice into your routine, and these pitch shots will become second nature.

NEXT LESSON: How To Break 100 Lesson 5: Wedges