Do You Flick (And Fat) Your Wedges? These Drills Will Help You To Play The Perfect Pitch Shot

Pitching drills to help you improve your wedge play by Barney Puttick PGA golf pro.

You've hit a perfect drive, 260 yards straight down the middle of the fairway. Feeling good, you pull out a wedge only to hit it heavy (really heavy) - and you walk off the green with a bogey. Does that sound familiar?

If you're struggling with your pitching, we have some excellent advice on how to pitch with Dan Grieve's beginners guide to pitching, which explains the importance of the basics and what you need to do at set-up in order to produce a clean strike.

In the article below, Top 50 Coach Barney Puttick demonstrates a couple of drills that can just help you to rediscover your best best ball striking with your wedges.

Often, it's just a case of slipping into some bad habits, so we recommend trying these drills out on the range to help eradicate those awful fat shots and the destructive thin ones that shoot through the back of the green.

PITCHING DRILLS TO GROOVE THE PERFECT STRIKE

Nail the basics

For consistent pitching, your spine must remain over the ball at address and impact. Do some plumb-bobbing to self-diagnose where yours is (see below).

Check where your spine is positioned at address (Image credit: Dan Gould)

The picture directly below is something I see a lot of - and this is what we're trying to get away from. If the spine tilts away too much, you’ll struggle to strike it consistently and catch lots of pitches fat or thin.

When the spine tilts like this, you'll struggle to strike the ball well (Image credit: Dan Gould)

Right hand on left shoulder

Try hitting one-handed shots with your right hand on your left shoulder (see below). This will get the feel for maintaining shoulder height through impact, rather than lifting the left shoulder in a desire to help the ball up.

Try this one-handed pitching drill to get the feel for maintaining shoulder height through impact (Image credit: Dan Gould)

Right hand only

Hitting shots with your right hand only will give you a feel for the natural sequence and stop you flicking it. With two hands, golfers often flick it, but with the right hand only, they never do!

This drill will help you to stop flicking your wedges (Image credit: Dan Gould)

FAQS

What is the perfect set-up for a pitching wedge shot?

Lots of golfers will approach a wedge shot as if they are hitting a long iron shot from much further away.

Move your feet a little closer together at address, so that your shoulders sit in a straight line above the center of your feet.

Shift your weight a fraction further forward, more onto your lead side, and avoid the temptation to lean back and help the ball in the air.