Your Trusted Source For Golf Pitching Tips For Your Set Up

This is the Pitch Shot Setup Lesson. These Golf Pitching Tips will get you to set your club and body up properly. This is very important to hitting any golf shot. Without a solid set up position it becomes very hard to hit good shots consistently. This lesson is to help give you a setup routine you can follow so that you can set up the same way every time. Well...let's start building your setup for your pitch shots.

Golf Pitching Tips #1 : Let The Strings Guide You

Target Line – This is the string the runs over your ball and club going straight to your target. It must be established first as your body position is always made relative to your target line. Remember, that your target will not always be the flag.

Body Line - This is the string that runs over your feet. It is always setup second. It shows where your feet and hips should be pointing in relation to your target line.

Golf Pitching Tips #2 : Club Down First

• Place the club behind the ball with your feet together. This is the most important and most overlooked step in the whole routine. You must put the club behind the the ball first so that you can make sure you are aiming properly.
• Please see Pitch Shot Alignment Lesson for more details on aiming your club and body properly.
• This enables you to set up your feet relative to your club, instead of the other way around which leads to poor aim.
• Your club always acts as a guide to how you are going to position your body.
• Your target may not always be the flag. I am aimed slightly to the right to accommodate for the slope in the green. You can tell the ball will curl to the left once it starts rolling because the ground is higher on the right hand side of the picture.

Golf Pitching Tips #3 : Spread Your Feet

• Spread your feet so that the outside edges of your feet are shoulder width apart.
• This will give you good balance through the shot.
• It is not as wide as a full swing shot, which is good. We need the club to come up off the ground a little quicker for a pitch shot. Having a slightly narrower stance helps get the club on the proper path during your swing.
• Keep your right toes pointing straight at the target line. (the line between your ball and the target).
• Your left toes can angle towards the target. This is called 'flaring'. It helps turn the hips through the shot.

Golf Pitching Tips #4 : Open Your Feet And Hips

• Let your left foot come back from the target line. This will set your feet into an open position. The body line string is pointing well away from the target line. A full swing setup would see these two lines being parallel. However when hitting a pitch shot they are not.
• Since your weight will be leaning towards the target, it helps having the hips preset to the impact position. You will hit crisper pitch shots like this.
• Your hips should follow your feet. Open to the target...pointing left.
• You want to have a small bend in your knees. This helps keep you balanced through your swing. The edge of your kneecap should be in line with the base of your golf shoe laces. A great test is to stand perfectly straight and then bend your knees slightly.
• Now without bending from your waist look down at your shoes. Your knees should cover the laces of your golf shoes. If you don't have golf shoes then your knees should cover about half of your running shoes.

Golf Pitching Tips #5 : Bending From The Hips And Square Shoulders

• From the position above...stick your butt backwards. I know it sounds silly, but it helps keep your back straight. This is a huge key to consistent shot making, and staying injury free.
• You should also feel your body weight over the entire length of your feet. We don't want our weight over our toes. That will throw you off balance during your swing and lead to poor contact. Sticking your butt backwards helps get your weight evenly distributed.
• You want your shoulders to remain square to the target line. This will make sure the club follows the proper line through the shot and hits your ball towards your target. Your club will always follow the line of your shoulders during your backswing.
• If your shoulders follow your hips and feet you will either miss to the left of the target or your club will cut across the ball and it will be very hard to judge the distance needed for your shot.

Golf Pitching Tips #6 : The Ball And Your Hands

• Set your weight leaning a little bit onto your left foot. The combination of an open stance and this forward lean puts you into a very strong impact position even before you start your back swing. This eliminates any unnecessary movement during the swing and will give you more consistency.
• The ball should be position right in between your heels when your feet are square. This is the middle of your stance. When you open your stance the ball will appear to be lines up with your left instep...that is okay. This gives you the best opportunity to make solid contact every time.
• Place your hands slightly ahead of the ball. This also is a strong impact position at your address position. To test your hand position, get into your final setup position and let go of your club. It should hit the inside of your left leg. If your club falls between your legs, there is a good chance you will either hit behind the ball...or worse blade the shot and send it screaming over the green. If your club is leaning too far forward (and touches the middle of your left leg) then you are going to lower the loft of your club, and you will not get the height you were expecting for that pitch shot. The ball will also roll a lot more.

Thank you for using the Golf Pitching Tips And Setup Lesson. Once you have gotten a handle for the routine and you are comfortable with the keys to the setup position, then the next lesson in the pitching series is Pitch Shot Swing.

Please do not move onto the swing pitch swing lesson until you are comfortable with your stance and alignment. A great stroke becomes useless if your have poor posture and alignment. You can only hit great pitch shots with both lessons.

Click Here To Go To The Pitch Shot Swing Lesson

Good luck with your practicing and playing. May you achieve your golf goals sooner with the help of free-golf-lessons.com

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