Thinned wedges

[AlanN]

I'm having some challenges with thinned wedge shots, at present, particularly the lob wedge.

Literally, every other round, I will be thinning a lot of chips or short pitch shots. Even from semi-rough, I still manage to thin the LW. I, recently, had a club maker take all the bounce off my LW as I thought this was the cause of the thinned chips/pitches. I realise now that it's not the club; it's me

It's not a touch or feel problem, as I putt quite well.

Can you good chippers and pitchers out there give me some guidance please?

Thanks

[slater170]

Re: Thinned wedges

I'm having some challenges with thinned wedge shots, at present, particularly the lob wedge.

Literally, every other round, I will be thinning a lot of chips or short pitch shots. Even from semi-rough, I still manage to thin the LW. I, recently, had a club maker take all the bounce off my LW as I thought this was the cause of the thinned chips/pitches. I realise now that it's not the club; it's me

It's not a touch or feel problem, as I putt quite well.

Can you good chippers and pitchers out there give me some guidance please?

Thanks

hi alan
try to eliminate any lower body movement
if i keep my lower body "quiet" then i tend to hit a more solid shot

[chessbum]

Re: Thinned wedges

Don't try to help the ball in the air, that will mess you up bigtime.

And take special note on this one....Make sure the handle end of the club always beats the club head to the ball!!!! The club head should never beat (pass) your hands to the ball.

Chessbum...

[oldwease]

Re: Thinned wedges

There are a number of things to try. One that often gets overlooked - make sure you keep the body rotating. This is as important in chipping as with any other shot. Don't let the body 'quit'.

Other things - keep your hands ahead of the clubface and most of the weight on the left side throughout.

Another thing to try for short chip shots - play with an open stance.

Hope this helps.....

[Martin Levac]

Re: Thinned wedges

The chip and the full swing.

I think there's only one thing different with a chip. It's the amount of force we put in. We put in much less force than a full swing. So, it's normal to not be able to make a divot, to not be able to dig in with the club. The club will bounce off the grass after it struck the ball. It will bounce in unexpected fashion. This random result can affect how we perceive the stroke.

With a full swing, we put in much more force so the club digs in effortlessly. There's much less variation in the club's behavior with a full swing. This is due to the amount of force we put in. The more force we put in, the less variation there is in the club's behavior. Conversely, the less force we put in, the greater the variation in the club's behavior when it strikes the ground. Once we understand this, we can deal with it appropriately.


Strike downward on the ball regardless of the amount of force we put in.

With a chip, we tend to try to lift the ball. Not really because we want to lift the ball but more because we want to avoid getting the club stuck in awkward fashion on the ground. As we've seen above, this random behavior of the club is unavoidable. So we must deal with this rationally. What is truly important is contact between the club and the ball. What happens afterwards is of little consequence anyway since the ball is already in the air on its way to wherever it's going. Hopefully to our target.

So, to make the best possible contact with the ball, we must strike downward on the ball. We must avoid striking the ground before the ball. As with any other shot, striking the ground before the ball will affect the club in unpredictable ways. And as we've seen above, the less force we put in, the greater the variation in the club's behavior. So, with a chip, it is even more important to strike downward on the ball to avoid striking the ground first so that the club's behavior is not in the least affected before we strike the ball. Strike ball first, ground second. Whatever happens after we struck the ball is of no consequence. Accept the club's awkward behavior as a natural function of the little force we put in.


Control the club.

Don't misunderstand me, we must control the club at all times. It's just that once we struck the ball and the club strikes the ground, the club will behave unpredictably and since we're holding it with our hands, we will feel how awkward it behaves. Nevertheless, somehow we must disregard this unpredictable after effect and instead focus on striking the ball properly.


Practice.

With practice, we'll learn how all of this works. So, practice until you do learn how all of this works.

[AlanN]

Re: Thinned wedges

Thanks, all, for your replies and the help that you offered.

I took your suggestions on board and headed to the practise ground (with notes in hand) before a competition, yesterday. The practise was good and I got back the feeling that I had earlier in the season, when I was chipping well.

The end result was a good round (3 under my h'cap of 18). Not one thinned chip. Hallelujah

Thanks again; folks

[BrianW]

Re: Thinned wedges

Hi Alan,

I am a bit late here but this may be of some help.

A thinned shot is always due to the leading edge of the club hitting above or on the equator of the ball, no matter whether you are chipping, pitching or making a full swing. To eliminate it you need to ensure you are hitting down into the back of the ball with the leading edge below the balls equator, your hands need to be ahead of the clubface at impact and your sternum should be in front of the ball so that your swing arc bottoms out forward.

[takinitdeep]

Re: Thinned wedges

I saw someone at the practice range the other day thinning all his irons. Try as he may, he just kept doing it.
I decided it was his lack of proper weight transfer coupled with his steering shots and not allowing the wrists to hinge and release through the ball.
Also, outside in swing path may have been the cause.
Have you cured your thinning and if so, what did you do.

I'm having some challenges with thinned wedge shots, at present, particularly the lob wedge.

Literally, every other round, I will be thinning a lot of chips or short pitch shots. Even from semi-rough, I still manage to thin the LW. I, recently, had a club maker take all the bounce off my LW as I thought this was the cause of the thinned chips/pitches. I realise now that it's not the club; it's me

It's not a touch or feel problem, as I putt quite well.

Can you good chippers and pitchers out there give me some guidance please?

Thanks

[jambalaya]

Re: Thinned wedges

There is an instruction video on Golflink about pitching that I go back to again and again, Fundementals: Start with slightly open stance and weight at least 60-40 favoring the front foot. There is no weight shift in short pitches and chips. You should break your wrists early in the backswing for a pitch shot to get that steep angle of attack to the ball. It is a shoulder and arm movement going back and going forward a rotation of the torso as you drop the club on the down stroke. Your belly should be facing the target in your follow through. I started doing this and now hit high, arching pitch shots instead of line drives. Oh, he shows the ball in the middle of the stance but it is a narrow stance. Of course there are times when you want to hit a low pitch that runs which is more of a chipping motion. For chipping I have a very narrow stance, ball lined up with the back toe and use my putting stroke and grip.

Here is a link to the video but you will have to join to see it I think:

Video Golf Tip | Proper Pitch Shot Technique

The instructor is Christopher Toulsen.

[AlanN]

Re: Thinned wedges

Sorry for not responding to you other folks, who posted subsequently.

What I've done to cure the fault, in simple terms, is not to allow the clubhead to catch up with my hands. I believe it's called lagging the clubhead or hitting with dead hands. This seems to work for me. I played, yesterday, and continued to chip and pitch quite well.

That is apart from a tendency to pull the 30-60 yd chips/pitches quite a bit. I don't have an out to in swing on my full shots but, notice the club head is way round my body, past impact, on some of these chips/pitches. Hmmm.

Anyone care to comment on the cause? Thank you.

[takinitdeep]

Re: Thinned wedges

Your left arm is breaking down just prior to impact; also, try moving the ball back.

Sorry for not responding to you other folks, who posted subsequently.

What I've done to cure the fault, in simple terms, is not to allow the clubhead to catch up with my hands. I believe it's called lagging the clubhead or hitting with dead hands. This seems to work for me. I played, yesterday, and continued to chip and pitch quite well.

That is apart from a tendency to pull the 30-60 yd chips/pitches quite a bit. I don't have an out to in swing on my full shots but, notice the club head is way round my body, past impact, on some of these chips/pitches. Hmmm.

Anyone care to comment on the cause? Thank you.

[AlanN]

Re: Thinned wedges

Thanks takeitindeep.

In my case it will be the right arm, as I'm a leftie. It's Ok; I'm used to transposing golf instruction. I've had to do it for years

[takinitdeep]

Re: Thinned wedges

One more thing, sort of a secret to my high up and down percentage, make sure the right elbow(in your case the left elbow for lefties) is close to the left hip on the backswing. Just let it fold naturally and watch what happens. Your chips will be on the money.

Thanks takeitindeep.

In my case it will be the right arm, as I'm a leftie. It's Ok; I'm used to transposing golf instruction. I've had to do it for years