“This is a game of misses. The guy who misses the best is going to win. “
~ Ben Hogan

I miss a LOT of pitches, but I was determined to stay focused on putting the last couple of months.  My putting is under control, a couple months focused on lag putts and short putts has paid off.  Last Sunday at Maderas, I made several short putts to win the hole, and the last hole made a 3 foot putt with $50 on the line to win.  Time to move on to pitching.  At Maderas, I had all kinds of trouble pitching with blading it across the green, chunked 3 feet forward, and 45 degree hozel shanks.  I’m VERY glad to move on to improve pitching!

I’ve read several books on pitching, Dave Pelz and other internet sources, but still felt lost.  I read the book 4 keys to breaking 80 by Andy Chao, and unfortunately, it didn’t work for me.  However, he had a reference to a great book on pitching by Phil Rodgers, Play Lower Handicap Golf .   I read the forward, and the person writing it was talking about considering quitting professional golf, but Phil Rodgers helped him, and he went on to win the 1986 Masters.  It was written by Jack Nicklaus!

I breezed by the full-swing parts of the book.  I’ll come back to full swing later.  I want to build my game from the hole out, and it’s time for pitches!  I’m also aware of the “state of the art” in golf and golf instruction, so I’m careful about reading too much into older techniques and methods, lest a newer and better understood technique is better.  I read the pitching section, and was startled and intrigued!  I hadn’t read anything like this, and was excited to try it on the practice area in Del Mar.  I was astounded how good the technique worked, it was like magic!  I truly believe certain descriptions or methods need to resonate with you personally for them to make a difference, and this one  was perfect for me!

The basic premise, is that pitch shots are to be executed hitting under the ball, do NOT hit the ball, NEVER try to hit the ball cleanly or impart spin.  Exactly the opposite of what I have been doing, hitting the ball for pitch shots and trying to get spin.  The main idea, is the pitch swing should come into the ball very shallow, so that there is several inches where the club is coming into the ball almost parallel to the ground. Phil calls this the “flat spot” of the pitch swing.  Rodgers is very adamant that amatuers should not try to spin the ball.

“I can make it spin correctly only three times out of 10 times.  I can hit an effective non-spin shot nine out of 10 times.”

Phil Rodgers

So if a professional is 30% successful, why would I want to perfect that kind of shot?  His approach is to put the ball within the several inches of the “flat spot” to reduce the margin of error.  The idea is to sweep the grass with a very flat approach, impact, and follow through around the ball.  Next, aim for a spot 2″ behind the ball as the impact spot, I have NEVER heard that before.  I was slightly skeptical since the book is 30 years old, but I kept reading.  Rodgers says you can hit 5″ behind the ball or 1″ behind the ball and still get the ball successfully on the green.  The purpose of the pitch is to get on the green and two putt.  A bonus is getting on the green close enough for a one-putt.

I went to the practice green and checked it out today.  Almost immediately, pitching was amazingly simple!  They were flying high, landing with one bounce, and rolling a short distance.  I was absolutely stunned, why hadn’t I read or heard of this before?  Rodgers goes further, talking about placing the ball 4″ forward of your left cheek (for right hand players) for high loft, 2″ forward of your left check for medium loft, and even with your left cheek for low loft.  However, that’s probably way too much subtlety for me and the amount of practice time I have (couple hours per week).  I’m going to only use short pitches with the ball 3″ forward of my left cheek, and groove those for various distances.  No need to make it too complicated, but I love the results so far!

Recap:

• short pitches with sand wedge or 60 degree wedge with sole bounce only
• ball 3″ – 4″ forward of left cheek (for right-hand golfers)
• aim 2″ behind ball
• sweep the grass, hitting under the ball, feels like an underhand throw of a softball
• goal: get on green for two-putt, one-putt is a bonus

I believe you need to find and try techniques that work for you, that you can reproduce, and you feel comfortable with.  It really doesn’t matter if you use Michelson, Stockton, Hogan, or Rodgers, just find something that is the easiest for you to reproduce and feel confident with.  I gravitate to professionals that point out techniques that are easier to repeat with bigger margins of error.  This approach to pitching seems to work for me so far, more in a couple weeks in part II.