Making practice pitch swings with just your trail hand on the grip is the instant cure for a yippy short-game stroke.
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Great pitchers are smooth swingers. There’s no force or jab in their action. But that’s what you see in the pitch swings of many rec golfers — too much tension and not enough smoothness.
One drill can change all that. Just make practice pitch swings using only your trail arm. Take your regular stance and trail-hand grip and start motioning the club back and through. (Start without a ball first, then add one once you get the right feel.)
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All I want you to do is simply swing the club back and through, using the sole of your wedge to brush the turf softly as you head into your finish. Get a rhythm going — make a longer backswing and shorter through-swing, letting the weight of the club create the strike and help it release as you swing past impact.
Within a few tries, you should feel the tension ebb from your hands and shoulders and — surprise — how little you need to turn your body to get this shot right. If you’re a pitch-yipper, this is your cure.
Gary Weir is a GOLF Top 100 Teacher and is the director of instruction at Westchester CC in Rye, N.Y
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