2 RULE N0.
Around the greens is where I see amateurs throw away the most Develop finesse on short shots
strokes. A big mistake is applying too much force to chips and pitches – like it’s a full-swing shot. Amateurs make this really short backswing and then put a lot of energy into the through-swing with their hands to help the ball in the air, which leads to all sorts of mis-hits and terrible distance control. Take a standard pitch shot from the rough. To hit these shots more effectively, start by making a longer backswing. That will intuitively take the jabbiness out of your forward swing. I do this by having my right elbow fold almost immediately as I take the club back (right), which gets the wedge working upwards. From this position, I can extend my right arm coming down and unload the clubhead in the grass just behind the ball, popping it up. It’s not a violent downswing; gravity does the work. It’s similar to a greenside-bunker shot in that the sole of the clubhead is touching down a few inches behind the ball then sliding underneath it and exiting out the other side. I’m delivering a lot of energy into the grass without swinging hard.
54 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2026
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