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How to Hit 40-50 Yard Pitch Shots
40 to 50 yard shots are probably one of the most difficult shots to hit for amateurs. From this distance, it's too far to chip it but too close to hit full wedge shots.
So lots of golfers either hit it fat or top it. This will cause fear of this shot next time you face this type of shot.
But you don't have to fear it anymore. There are few ways to hit this shot successfully.
1. Take half swing
If you were asked to hit it with 40% of your clubhead speed, it becomes difficult to catch the ball clean all the sudden.
So the important point when hitting this shot is to use more than 60% of your clubhead speed.
But if you swing your sand wedge with 60% of your power, you will probably hit it over the green from 40 yards.
So you should cut your backswing short. Take a half swing.
Lots of golfers make mistake when taking a half swing. They cut their backswing short and try to swing easy. As a result, they decelerate through impact and chunk the ball or top it.
If you cut your backswing short, that's enough to reduce distance. So don't hesitate to accelerate through impact. Swing with more than 60% of your clubhead speed.
By cutting your backswing short, your ball won't fly so far.
Hitting it with more than 60% of your clubhead speed is the key to hitting this shot.
2. Grip down on the club
You can also grip down on you sand wedge. By gripping down on the club, you can reduce your distance but don't have to shorten your swing.
The advantage of this method is that you can swing as usual.
In practice, start by gripping down about 2 inches and see how far it goes.
Next, swing with 60% of your power and see how far it goes, again.
You can adjust distance by how much you grip down and how fast you swing the club. But you may not want to swing with less than 60% of your power because if you swing easy, you tend to decelerate through impact.
3. Open the clubface
Third method is to use open clubface. Before you grip the club, open the clubface a little and then grip the club.
This will add more loft on your club.
When you set up, open your shoulders and feet until your clubface will face toward target.
Swing along your feet.
You will hit a high shot with this set up.
You need to practice and see how much you should open your clubface for 40 yard shot or 50 yard shot.
Other Points to Check
You can use any of those 3 methods above. Here are other key points to check when hitting this shot with any of those methods.
1. Put the ball in the middle of your stance
2. Accelerate through impact
3. Don't use wide stance. Use narrower stance than a regular sand wedge shots
4. Hit it on a descending blow
5. Don't try to scoop the ball. Trust your loft
Also, when you take practice swing, swing as if that's the real shot. When you set up to hit the shot, swing as if it is a practice swing.
Practice swing is a real swing.
Real swing is a practice swing.
If you keep this in your mind, you will hit it well even under pressure.