Pitching Instruction and Club Selection
An article by: Bobby Eldridge
When you are faced with a shot that requires more air time than roll time there are three or four clubs you can
choose from. Most sets of golf clubs come with a pitching wedge and sand wedge. In the past 20 years the LOB and
gap wedges have become very popular. The LOB wedge will give you that extra loft the sand wedge won't. The gap
wedge is a wedge that fills in the space between the pitching wedge and sand wedge.
Pitching Instruction and Club Selection a bit of good news is the wedges of today have the degrees of loft
indicated on the bottom of the clubs. What you have to do if your wedges don't have the numbers on the bottom is
find out what the loft of your wedges are before you can get started. There is a chance if you own three wedges you
could potentially have three wedges with the same amount of loft. Believe me if you do not have a lie and loft
machine somewhere in your town it is worth shipping your wedges to someone who can bend them to the degrees you
want.
Pitching - The Lob WedgeIf you use the LOB wedge as the most lofted club in your bag you can work
backwards to your pitching wedge. Let's start with the LOB wedge; most LOB wedges have 60% of loft. If your next
wedge is a sand wedge it should have 56% of loft, the gap should have 52% and the pitching wedge at 48%. The 4%
increments has to do with the distance you can hit the ball with a full swing.Each club should be about 10 yards
apart with a full swing. On less than full swings the clubs are closer in distance.
Before you go and purchase any new wedges there is one last item. Some wedges are forged and some are cast. A wedge
that is forged is made of softer metal. If you are going to purchase a wedge try and find a forged club and not
cast. It is more difficult to stop a ball using a cast wedge.
Pitching - The Golf BallThe golf ball makes a huge difference when
you are trying to hit a soft pitch shot around the green. There is one huge problem. It is a double edge sword. If
you play a two piece golf ball, you will gain distance off the tee and in your full swing but it is very difficult
to stop it compared to a solid golf ball. You have to decide if distance is more important than your short game.
You can continue on to the next series of golf lessons about the pitching setup. The first
lesson in the Setup series of pitching lessons is about the correct ball
position. Or you can view golf lessons on the golf Backswing, Downswing, or
Follow
Through.
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