How often will you face a shot between 20 and 100 yards away from the pin during a round a golf? On almost every par-4 hole on the course, if you hit a nice drive, your second shot will be inside 100 yards. To give yourself a good chance of making a birdie, you need this shot to be very accurate but this is not always easy to do. In fact, many beginner players struggle when playing pitch shots inside 100 yards and there a few reasons why this is the case.
Firstly, you are so use to making a full swing, you have never adjusted the length of it to compensate for the distance of the shot. You have become very comfortable taking a full swing, having worked hard to perfect it, even though it is not appropriate for the pitch shot you are playing, you do it anyway, simply because it feels right.
To compensate for making a full back swing, many players will decelerate on the down swing and the club speed will be slowing down on impact with the ball. This will result in a poor contact and a lack of control on the shot.
Therefore, you must learn to vary the length of your back swing depending on the type and length of shot you are trying to play. The main reason for doing this is to allow you to accelerate into the golf ball. By taking a shorter back swing, you can swing faster in the down swing, knowing you are not going to see the ball sail over the green.
The best way to do this, is to establish three different lengths of back swing, which correlate to different distances on the golf course. If you imagine your arms being the hour hand on a clock face, you can use this is a guide to establish your three lengths of back swing. You could have one at 7 o’clock, the second at 9 o’clock and the third at 11 o’clock. Each of these swings will allow you accelerate the club as it moves towards the ball and will result in good contact and keep you in control of the shot.
You can practice using different lengths of back swing and judge the distances you are generating with each of them. As you will be accelerating through each shot and making a solid contact, the distance the ball will travel will remain the same each time. This will give you the confidence to use the shot when you are faced with a pitch inside 100 yards on the green. For example, you know by taking your back swing to 9 o’clock you will hit the ball 60 yards, so when you need to hit the ball anywhere around this distance, that will be your go-to shot.
Practice the three different length back swings and you will hit good, consistent pitch shots inside 100 yards.
