When you get serious about chopping strokes off your golf handicap, learn to hit the 40-yard pitch shot. Golfers often struggle with this shot because of poor club selection, not mechanics.
You can use one of three wedges from this distance. The key is to know not only how the ball comes off the club, but also what happens after it hits the green.
Below are the key wedges and their degrees of loft:
- Sand Wedge (56 degrees)
- Gap Wedge (52 degrees)
- Pitching Wedge (49/48 degrees)
The three wedges used from 40 yards out are the lob wedge, pitching wedge, and sand wedge. All three work well in the right situation.
The lob wedge is ideal if the flag is up front and there’s some green to work with. The ball will flyer higher and roll less. It is especially effective in light rough. But you don’t want to use it from a tight fairway. You also don’t need to open the clubface. It has plenty of loft. Square up to the target and make a good swing.
The pitching wedge is ideal when the flag is back and there’s plenty of green. It’s well suited for the fairway or light rough. In deep rough, try one of the other clubs. The ball will fly hotter and lower with this club, so swing easy. And open the clubface a bit. The ball will roll significantly with this club.
The sand wedge is ideal for pins in the middle of the green or questionable lies in the rough or fairway. It is customizable, so you can easily alter roll and trajectory. If you want more carry and less loft, close the clubface. If you want less carry and more loft, open the clubface. But be careful. An open clubface often sends the ball off to the right.
A pitch shot from 40 yards out is one of the game’s more critical shots. Mastering this shot will help you chop strokes off your golf handicap. To do that, learn which wedge to use when and keep all your body mechanics repetitive for all three shots.
Jack Moorehouse is the author of the best-selling book
How To Break 80 and Shoot Like the Pros!. He is NOT a golf pro, rather a working man that has helped thousands of golfers from all seven continents lower their handicaps quickly. His free weekly newsletter goes out to thousands of golfers worldwide and provides the latest golf tips, strategies, techniques and instruction on how to improve your golf.
