Online Lesson: Josh Bialowins PGA- Working on Pitching Technique

Josh is an assistant professional at Champions Retreat in Augusta, Georgia, and sent these videos of him doing some around the green pitching with the report that he was developing the dreaded fear of chunking and skulling what would seem to be simple shots.  I’ve seen this problem with players of all levels, and the fix is almost always the same since the problem in technique is almost always the same as well.  I’m a big believer in the leading -edge type pitch being the go-to, or “stock” shot around the greens, unless the shot specifically calls for “using the bounce” or a “flop”   Using the bounce means that at impact the shaft has less forward lean than the amount of bounce on the club.  Obviously, a leading-edge pitch is going to utilize more forward lean that the amount of bounce, and to get the hands forward at impact we are going to need some degree of wrist hinge in the backswing and leg movement in the forward swing to create some lag and have the hands leading the clubhead into impact.  Here I suggest to Josh to view the shot as a “mini-swing”, where he doesn’t need to load to the right for such a short shot, but he does need to set his wrists earlier and get hips moving forward and around as would happen on a bigger swing.  Why reinvent the wheel around the greens when the idea is just to strike the ball crisply by catch the ball before the turf?  Much ado is made about “digging” the leading edge, but from experience I can tell you that the times you need to slide the club under the ball to soften the shot are not common unless you play where the greens are firm, fast, and sloped.  Using the bounce effectively is much more difficult than “driving” the ball forward with shaft lean, as the contact has to be perfect and the odds of “flipping” the hands at impact and making poor contact are greater.  It is surprising how high you can hit the ball if you move it a bit forward in your stance, open the face, and still try to drive the ball forward with forward shaft lean.

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