Even highly skilled golfers experience genuine fear around the greens at times.
Hit a couple of pitch shots fat and lay the sod over the ball — or skull one into your playing partner's bag — and your confidence evaporates for the rest of the round.
The reason this happens so frequently traces directly back to how pitch shots are traditionally taught.
The conventional method positions the ball off your trail foot with an open stance and your hands significantly ahead of the ball at address.
And the logic seems sound — if you're hitting it fat, why wouldn't you move the ball back in your stance to guarantee clean contact?
If you don't know the answer to that question, then you MUST watch this video!
In this video, I demonstrate how to set up to pitch shots properly so you'll never worry about hitting it fat again. In fact, this technique makes hitting it fat nearly impossible.
"This technique is so different from the generic norm! I can't explain how much more feel I got. I could see the shot and started pitching like a scratch golfer in an hour. Thanks so much"
-Lee W. | Aug 23, 2012 | 5 HDCP
In my lessons, I frequently demonstrate this shot by striking the ground 1-2 inches behind the ball — and my students are astonished to see the ball come out cleanly, with plenty of spin.
But the benefits extend far beyond eliminating fat shots. Here's what you can expect:
- A massive margin of error when you don't catch the ball perfectly,
- More spin on the ball than you've ever produced, and
- The ability to control both the trajectory and how the ball releases when it lands.
Want the ball to release and roll out? With this technique, simply allow the club to release slightly more through impact, and you'll get the ball to run to back pins and climb second tiers without worrying about the ball checking up short.
This video also reveals the critically important setup changes that you'll want to implement immediately — changes that make pitching not only dramatically easier but, as one student from Denmark told me, "way more fun to practice."
"This is the technique you showed me in Orlando. I've got this one down! No more thin shots across the green....more chip-ins. Golf is more fun when you don't have to putt!!"
-Premium Member | 2/24/2012
In the image below, you can see how my setup changes significantly from a standard full swing shot.
Video Transcription: Proper Pitch Shot Technique
In a full swing, one of your primary objectives is establishing significant shaft lean so you can deloft the club, strike the ball first with a descending blow, compress it properly, and launch it on the correct trajectory with less loft than the club carries at rest. You're also building maximum power into the swing.
In a pitch shot, you want none of those things. You don't want power — you need finesse and control. You want spin, and taking loft off the club works directly against that goal.
That's why the conventional teaching method — playing the ball way back in the stance, loading all your weight on the lead foot, establishing heavy shaft lean, and keeping the hands completely dead — is such a limited and ineffective approach to pitching.
All that method accomplishes is converting your 60° wedge into a 45° wedge at impact. With that much delofting, it becomes nearly impossible to generate spin unless you swing unreasonably hard — which obviously defeats the purpose of a short, controlled shot.
You need to understand that the requirements for these two shots are fundamentally different. One demands spin; the other demands compressed distance. One requires maximum power; the other requires maximum touch.
Two shots with opposing requirements simply cannot share the same basic stroke. The club works on an arc in both cases — that's a basic similarity — but beyond that, the demands are completely different.
Let's discuss what you actually want to accomplish in a pitch shot. The most important element is spin. Whether you call it a pitch shot or a chip shot — the terms overlap somewhat — the key distinction is that a chip is more of a bump-and-run while a pitch throws the ball higher into the air.
I hit my pitch shots and chip shots relatively low, and I use a 60° wedge for virtually all of them. Once you learn this technique, you'll find it incredibly versatile. You can execute this shot from any lie around the green — regardless of how tight the lie is — and generate substantial spin without sending the ball an excessive distance.
That's the objective: hitting a five-yard pitch shot that stops quickly, the way you see on television. It's entirely achievable once you understand the mechanics.
The first and most important element is loft. That's why I use a 60° wedge for every pitch shot. More loft equals more spin potential — it's that straightforward.
From there, you need to preserve or even add loft through impact — the exact opposite of a full swing, where you're actively delofting the club through rotation and release. Delofting through a pitch shot destroys your spin potential.
I'm looking to add loft — not flipping aggressively, but allowing the club to present more loft dynamically through impact so I generate more spin and hit the ball less distance. That's the critical concept.
In a full swing, you want a solid, compressing strike — imagine trapping the ball against the turf. In a pitch shot, you want the opposite. Instead of hitting down with a blunt blow, imagine slipping the blade under the ball.
Rather than coming through with reduced loft and removing even more through rotation, you're releasing the wedge so it feels like it's slipping under the ball — adding loft dynamically through impact. This takes the harshness off the strike and allows the blade to slide under the face.
The Spinner Chip Shot video on the website teaches this exact principle. Now let's discuss the specific technique.
First: the last thing you want is the ball back in your stance. That position encourages delofting the club.
Second: playing it back gets you descending with the leading edge — which is essentially a knife that's perfectly designed to dig into the turf and lay sod over the ball. That's every amateur's worst nightmare — the club buries itself and the ball barely moves.
Once you learn to use the bounce of the club, that shot will never happen again. To use the bounce, the ball must sit forward in your stance. In fact, the more spin you want, the farther forward you position it.
A forward ball position allows more release through impact, presenting more loft, which is the single most important factor in generating spin.
Standard position: off my lead instep. For extra spin, move it up further. To reduce spin, move it back slightly — because moving it back reduces loft at impact.
The tighter the lie, the more forward I play it. This is completely contrary to what most amateurs are taught and what they instinctively do — because they're terrified of hitting it fat.
They keep moving the ball farther and farther back, not realizing they're making the problem worse. The more you move it back, the steeper you descend with the digging leading edge, and the more perfectly you must catch the ball to avoid disaster.
Then imagine facing a short shot from a tight lie with the ball way back. You've got almost no loft at impact, and the ball will rocket off the face. It becomes an impossible situation.
Ball forward in your stance. Second, take a square stance — not an open one. An open stance gets your hands too far ahead of the ball. I want the shaft nearly vertical at address with very little shaft lean.
I'm squaring up with my feet close together. A narrow stance is critical because it shallows out the bottom of the swing arc. Additionally, I'm going to use a little knee and hip rotation to come through shallow rather than steep.
A wide stance without body rotation leads to chopping down and digging — the exact opposite of what we want. I need a very shallow, U-shaped swing path through the ball.
The rotation I need comes from using my knees and hips just slightly. As I do this, notice how soft my hands stay throughout. The club comes through extremely shallow instead of driving into the ground.
Narrow stance for freedom of movement and rhythm — which is essential for touch and sensitivity around the greens. Ball forward at my lead instep. Shaft nearly vertical at address.
Now I weaken my grip. A weaker grip gives me more control over the wedge release — more touch, sensitivity, and finesse. It allows me to hit different trajectories with different amounts of spin. I use a weaker grip than normal for all my pitch shots.
We've made several setup changes from the conventional approach. Now let's understand how the stroke itself works. This is critical if you struggle with dispersion — how far your pitch shots scatter from your target line during practice.
If your practice balls create a large circle from 15 feet, you have a problem — and it's usually caused by the same thing. Golfers rotate the club face open during the backswing, then try to time rotating it shut coming through.
That's unnecessary and counterproductive. When you rotate the face open going back, you've turned it 90° and now need to perfectly time rotating it 90° back on a tiny chip shot.
On a full swing, you have plenty of time to square the face. On a pitch shot, you don't. So don't rotate it open. Instead, hinge your trail wrist slightly going back — this keeps the club face more shut, meaning you don't need to rotate it shut coming through because it's essentially already square.
My dispersion is tight not because I have superior timing, but because I have less face rotation than most golfers. Less rotation means less dependency on timing — and that's what produces consistent results.
As I hinge my trail wrist back — again, the opposite of a full swing because we're accomplishing different things — it presets my lead wrist in a slightly bowed position.
This allows me to maintain my hands slightly ahead of the ball at impact for control. We always want hands slightly leading, even on a pitch shot — just not to the extreme degree we'd want in a full swing.
The trail wrist hinge keeps the face shut and positions the wrist to deliver the club head with the hands leading at impact.
The second benefit is that it allows me to release the club in the opposite way from a full swing or even a putting stroke. In the Release the Putter Face video, I discuss how some golfers flip through impact in their putting stroke.
On a pitch shot where you want maximum spin, that release is actually beneficial because it accomplishes two things. As I allow my wrist to break down slightly through impact, it adds more loft.
It softens the strike — the ball slides up the face rather than getting hit with a blunt blow and launching off the surface.
And it allows me to use the bounce of the club. This is the critical piece for anyone who chronically hits pitch shots fat. I'm ensuring that only the trailing edge — the back of the club — ever contacts the turf.
Most golfers try to chip with the leading edge, and that's exactly where they lay sod over the ball. I'm releasing the club so the back of the club contacts the ground — using the bounce to glide through rather than dig.
Because I come through shallow — thanks to the slight hip and knee rotation and lateral movement — and release the club face so the leading edge never touches the ground, I physically cannot lay sod over the ball. It's impossible with this technique.
The caution is to avoid actively flipping. That's where golfers go wrong — they hinge back and then try to flip aggressively with their hands. My hands are incredibly soft throughout, to the point where I could almost let go of the club entirely.
I practice this frequently — letting my hands come off the club. You can see how light the grip pressure stays. The softer I hold it, the more the club releases naturally under its own weight, and I don't need to time anything through impact.
Once you're comfortable with this stroke — back and through with a shallow, natural release — chunking and thinning become non-issues. The club glides through on the bounce every time.
There are significant differences between a proper pitch shot and a full swing. Practice on very short shots initially — don't try to hit these hard. Start with tiny, baby shots to develop the feel.
A small hinge of the trail wrist going back. Weight slightly preset on the lead side with a small forward shift through the ball. I use my knees just a little — I'm exaggerating the motion so you can see it, but that movement keeps the club coming through shallow rather than digging.
It's that subtle lateral movement and rotation that delivers finesse and control while keeping the blade shallow through the hitting zone.
That's the feel you want when practicing pitch shots. If you struggle with these, find the tightest lie available. I train tour players to hit this shot off cart paths. Once they can come through shallow off concrete without blading it, they can hit it off any lie without fear.
For amateurs, start on a moderately tight lie and work your way tighter. The goal is to barely clip the surface — keep your hands soft, let the club release, let your wrists work in the opposite direction from a full swing, and you'll produce pitch shots off any lie with a tremendous amount of spin. For the same kind of detailed improvement on your full swing, try a free AI swing analysis that diagnoses your mechanics. To practice with real-time coaching, check out a free AI golf lesson.
Watch part 2 now to see how you're moving your body in the opposite direction of the pros!
Ditch traditional pitch shot instruction for my simpler, less risky, and more effective technique!
Set up like this for improved contact and control on your pitches.
You want a lot of shaft lean in a full swing
Pitch shot: Feels like the blade slips underneath
With the ball farther forward, the club releases more & gets more loft
Normal (above), forward for more spin (center), back for less spin (below)
Scared of laying sod over the ball? Don't be this guy!
Set up square to the ball, feet close together
Get a little bit of rotation to help shallow out the stroke
With the ball farther forward, the club releases more & gets more loft
The club face is rotated 90° (left) - hinge the right wrist (right) to keep it square
Hit the ground with the back of the club (exaggerated view)
When practicing, let your hand come right off the club
Hinge the right wrist, use the knees, come through shallow (exaggerated view)
Chuck demonstrates the pitch shot from down the line
