1. Know the time it takes for you

Some golfers need very little time. Others need more. It’s not a one size fits all: If you feel rushed to the first tee, plan to add time to your warm up plan. Determine how much time you need, and prioritize that when scheduling your day.

2. Find the order that works for you

The majority of golfers start with their shortest clubs and work their way through their bag until they finish with their driver. But there are some golfers who start with their driver and work their way back to their shorter clubs. Tom Watson, for example, starts every warm up with a hybrid.

One way is not better than the other. Find what works for you and stick with it.

3. Hit every golf club “family”

When you prepare yourself to play, you don’t need to hit every club, but you’ll want to make sure you hit members from each club family. Short irons, mid irons, long irons, hybrids, fairway woods and driver.

Whether you’re switching between odd number and even number irons, by hitting each section of your bag, you’ll be prepared when you play without hitting every club.

4. Warm up both short game shots

You should always warm up two different kinds of short game shots: chips and pitches. I like to warm up my pitch shots first, before my fill swing warm up. I start with a few pitches with my most lofted wedge, which I know will force me to get my club down to the ground, which reinforces a good habit.

After I hit a few successful pitches, I will go through the rest of my full swing warm up, and then finish with chips and bump and runs. The set up is different for those shots, so I adjust for those before moving to the putting green, and then the first tee.

5. React to your ball flight

Other than the obvious — warming up your body before you go play — your warm up sessions should have a very specific goal. Every day is different in golf, and I like to say you have to re-learn it every day. It’s a good attitude you have to stay realistic.

When you warm up, react to what your golf ball is telling you. If it’s curving one way or the other that you don’t like, or you’re not making solid contact, it could require a small adjustment to your grip or posture.

Good players are constantly making mini adjustments throughout their round, based on their ball flight.

6. Read the elements

Your warm up session will also help give you a sense of how particular elements will effect your golf ball, particularly the warm or cold. The wind will also have a huge and obvious effect on your golf ball. Make sure to make these discoveries before you play, rather than learning from your mistakes during it.

7. Putt, putt, putt

You should always try to stroke a few putts before you play to get a sense for the speed of the greens that day. I would say a good rule of thumb is to practice a variety of longer putts, and stay on the green until you hit the first putt of each of those putts close.

I’m an ambassador for Golf Logix, an affiliate company of GOLF.com which helps you study the slopes of certain greens and practice them before you hit the course.

8. Determine your go-to clubs from the start

Your warm up sessions can also tell you which clubs are going to be your best that day. Some days, your fairway woods are the start. Others, your shorter clubs. Know this in advance, and you’ll be more at ease on the course.

9. Build driver confidence

Warming up with your driver and hitting a handful of good, solid shots is so important to confidence and momentum. Starting the hole with a great drive often has a domino effect, and makes your subsequent shots easier. Arriving to the first tee comfortable with your longest club will lead to free swings, and more distance.

10. Have a last-minute checklist

Use your last bit of time before you step onto the first tee running through your checklist to see that you have everything you need for your round of golf, from balls, tees, ball markers, jackets and everything else you need.

By not scrambling to find the things you need, you will be more calm and make better swings because of it.

1. Smart angles on tee shots

When you walk to the tee box to place your tee in the ground, use this as a moment to plan your next shots. Find a better angle off the tee, and you can end with a better look at the green.

If you hit the ball left-to-right (fade), teeing up on the right side of the tee box will help you aim left and give you more fairway to work with.

If you tend to hit draws, aiming on the left side of the tee and aiming right will do the opposite.

2. Have a go-to fairway wood

When you are in the fairway and the green is out of reach, using your longest fairway wood isn’t always your best choice.

Choosing a fairway wood that you trust the most is often a great decision, as you’ll be more consistent with it, and leave your next shot in a comparably good spot.

I trust my 7-wood the most, so if I’m trying to build confidence, I may choose this club to build some momentum.

3. Know your carry yardages

One of the most important decisions you can make when playing is knowing when to try to go over the water, and when to lay up.

Improving your decision making during these moments is knowing which of your clubs you launch the highest, and the carry distances for each.

I gave a lesson today to a senior student whose longest carry distance was 130 yards. The ball would land a roll another 20 or 30 yards after that, but knowing that the ball would carry 130 yards is the difference between hitting the ball in the water, and clearing it.

4. When in doubt, club up

It’s so nice when the distance to your target matches the distance you hit your clubs exactly. But what do you do when it doesn’t?

Asking yourself one simple question can help you make the right decision: Is it better to be long or short?

Of the many courses that I play or where I teach, most of the trouble is short of the green. An extra club is often the better choice.

5. Aim for the middle

Watching the best golfers in the world play makes you think they always aim for the pin.

But for the rest of us, aiming at pins often causes us to make bad decisions, and take on low-percentage shots. I often wonder how much better golfers would play if the pin on every hole was placed in the middle of every green.

6. Build around your strengths

It doesn’t take a lot of stats to know which parts of your game are better than others, and which yardages are more comfortable to you than others.

Knowing this information can help you make good decisions as you plod your way around the course.

A good example of this is if you don’t love to hit high pitch shots. Your approach shots should have a very specific goal: To leave your ball in a spot where you can hit a bump and run or putt on your next shot, away from bunkers and other spots that require higher pitch shots.

7. Aim your pitches to the largest part of the green

Pitch shots are fun and beautiful when hit properly, but they can be tricky. They require good technique, expert distance control, club selection, and swing size.

Due to the level of exactness required, I have a simple approach for golfers: Aim for the largest part of the green. This unglamorous strategy can lead to hitting the green at a much higher percentage, and avoid blow-up holes.

8. Know where you can’t hit it

There are so many no-go zones on the golf course. Good decision making means knowing this, and avoiding them at all costs. You can learn this over time on the courses you play most often, but before each shot, ask yourself a simple question: Where is the spot where I absolutely cannot hit my ball? Then plan accordingly.

9. Two-putting is always the goal

Controlling distance in putting is a key to lower scores, and often it’s just a part of good decision making.

Speed is king when it comes to putting, which means most first putts should always have the goal of your ball slowing down around the hole. If you do that, the ball has a much better chance of dropping into the hole.

Trying to force the putt to go into the hole can often result in too much speed, and too long a second putt that you end up missing. Protect the two-putt first.

10. Confidence is earned

Building confidence and good momentum is a big part of successful golf. Choosing clubs and shots that you trust can help you do this. If choosing a club that you trust, even if it’s not the right one, can help you make a good swing, have solid confidence, and give you momentum to build upon, then maybe it is the right club. This intangible is extremely important and valuable.

1. Posture is key

Being in good posture, where you bend forward from your hips so that your arms can hang, is key to good contact. If your setup is great, hitting a golf ball becomes a lot easier. Hand eye coordination is nice, but it cannot override a bad setup.

Justin Thomas’ setup always comes to mind as a model. Bend from your hips so that your chest is over your toes. This will allow your arms to hang straight down. Your arms will naturally return to where they hang as you swing. Once you bow and allow your arms to hang, relax your legs, and get ready to hit a good shot.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Justin Thomas (@justinthomas34)

2. Better ball position

While all golfers and golf swings are not the same, ball position is certainly a key to great fairway woods.

I like to see the ball position slightly forward, but relatively centered in your body for most golfers for fairway woods, similar to a long iron or a hybrid.

Why? Because the fairways of today are typically very short grass, so in order to hit a truly solid fairway wood, you need to hit the ground and maybe even make a divot.

If your ball position is too far forward, like a driver, you may hit the ground before the ball, costing you good contact and distance.

It can be helpful to take a practice swing that hit the ground and see where the club makes contact with the ground relative to your stance. Most golfers will see the club make contact relatively centered and if that is the case, the ball position should be relatively centered at address.

3. Hit the ground

Watching the best players in the world hit fairway woods is so interesting, because it’s quite common to see slight divots.

I like to hear the club “thump” the ground slightly as it lightly brushes the top of the grass. If it’s not doing that, the club is not getting the club low enough to generate a higher launch many golfers need.

4. A good practice swing is key

If you understand that you need to hit the ground, it can be a very smart and effective reminder to do this in your practice swing.

I am sometimes surprised how nonchalant many golfers can be with their practice swings. Your body will remember the motion for a short window, so practice swings that hit the ground absolutely transfer into a higher percentage of solid fairway woods.

Think about it this way: If your practice swing does not hit the ground, you are practicing topping it!

5. Straighten trail arm

Now that you are in good posture and know you need to hit the ground, I want to give you a very specific method to get the club down to the ground.

When you make your backswing, your trail elbow should, and does, fold. So, in order to get your club all the way back to the ground, this elbow needs to straighten down toward the ground, much like a throwing motion. When this trail arm straightens, it helps create full extension in your arms.

You can actually practice this without the club. Place a ball in your trail hand and bow forward into your golf posture. From there, straighten the arm and throw the ball down to the ground so it hits the ground in line with the middle of your stance. This straightening will train your arm to release properly.

6. Work your way up to a 3-wood

A 3-wood may be the fairway wood which goes the longest, but that doesn’t always make it the right choice.

3-woods can be hard to hit, so I like to see my students work their way up to them. If you hit your 7- or 5-wood solid and you are confident with them, then consider hitting more of those, rather than trying to force a club you may not be comfortable with.

7. Embrace loft

Having a fairway wood with enough loft to help increase launch can improve consistency and confidence.

I am a huge fan of a 7-wood for most golfers, other than golfers with really high club head speed. Loft helps give your fairway woods beautiful launch, which can make them great clubs to approach the green.

I also think that because fairway woods are physically longer than most clubs in your bag, they can intimidate many players. Remember that loft is your friend. Use it to your advantage.

8. Turn around your body

While your posture should stay the same from club to club, you will be naturally farther from the ball with your fairway woods due to the increased length of the shaft.

Because of this your backswing with your fairway woods will feel like it comes more around your body.

This curving arc will allow you to keep your lead underarm close to your chest on your backswing and this will help you with stability and center face contact.

9. Relax your hands to feel the clubhead

Control your setup and swing your swing.

This starts with the grip. If you are holding your club loosely in your fingers, you should have security without tension. If you can avoid too much tension in your hands you should be able to feel the weight of the club head throughout your swing. That will help with tempo, and create wrist hinge you can use for power later in your swing.

10. Finish with balance

Being off balance can ruin many a good setup and swing.

With fairway woods this is particularly important. If you are off balance during your swing, that makes it nearly impossible to make great contact.

Try to hold your finish in balance until your golf ball lands. If you do not typically do this, it will feel like a long time. Watch good players and see how impeccable their balance is throughout.

If you want help with your fairway woods, or any other part of your game, you can get a digital lesson with me on Skillest right here.

1. Weight balanced at address

One of the most basic aspects of the setup is also one of the most crucial parts of hitting long bunker shots. If you don’t have your weight balanced over the shot, there’s little hope of being successful any any kind of consistent basis.

2. Move ball position forward

There are certain fundamentals that apply to all your greenside sand shots. The most important among them: You have to have your clubhead make contact with the sand before the ball, so it slides under the ball and exits.

To do this, you need to move the ball position forward of center in your stance and aim to have the club enter the sand in the middle of your stance.

3. Dig feet into sand

Another common fundamental of all greenside sand shots is to dig your feet into the sand enough to make the soles of your shoes disappear. When you do that, it lowers the bottom of your swing’s arc, which will make the club to go into the sand more easily.

Being able to hit and throw sand out of the bunker should come from a good setup. It’s not something you should have to think about — it’s something that should naturally happen.

4. Make a long divot

We’ve talked a lot about taking a lot of sand so far, but you’ll still need to fight the inclination to lift up. So here’s a swing thought for you: Visualize taking a long divot. This will prevent you from falling back and trying to lift the ball into the air, which will only lead to you catching the golf ball thin.

5. Practice without the golf ball

It can be very helpful to practice bunker shots without a golf ball. Think about making nice long divots, and throwing the sand far with your club.

In my playing days I became a respectable greenside, I did this because I spent a fair amount of time practicing hitting shells out of the bunker using my club. This taught me the right motion. Adding a golf ball was the easy part.

6. Up your club

For longer greenside bunker shots, one of the easiest and most obvious things you can do is to simply use a less-lofted wedge, like a gap wedge (typically around 52 degrees). The lesser loft on the wedge, the longer the ball will travel with less effort. If you’ve never used your gap wedge from the sand, you may be amazed at the new shot you have in your arsenal.

7. Turn around your body

If you need more distance and have already clubbed-up, think of making a bigger backswing by producing a bigger turn more around your body. This will help produce shoulder turn and a more shallow backswing; this greater turn and more shallow approach will also help your golf ball to travel farther while still letting the club slide under the ball.

8. Square-up the clubface

Usually for greenside bunker shots, you need to open the clubface, which increases the loft and sends the ball higher — but also shorter. If you’re facing a longer greenside shot from a bunker, simply square up the face so the markings on the clubface are facing more of the golf ball. Use the club as it’s designed and use the bounce to your benifit.

9. Turn through aggressively

If you’ve made a nice big backswing, it means you’ve created a lot of energy. But all that energy you created will only be turned into speed and power if you use your pivot. If you turn back, you need to turn through.

If you don’t turn through aggressively, you’ll decelerate and catch the ball fat. When you swing through, allow your trail heel to come off the ground. Not only will this help to produce speed but it will also make it much more likely to have a long divot.

10. Swing with speed

Along those lines: A greenside sand shot is like a full swing. You don’t just need to make a full swing, but you need real speed like a full swing. This can seem counterintuitive because you are so close to the target, but the sand acts as a buffer between the clubface and your ball. You need energy to generate enough power to propel the ball and sand across the green.

1. ‘Not taking enough club’

Not taking enough club is a classic problem among recreational golfers. Amateurs tend to miss short about 70 percent of the time, and while some of that can be attributed to inconsistent contact, a lot of that is also poor decision making.

“I need to take one extra club and swing easy with good tempo.” Rex Baumgartner says. “I need to stop the ‘I’ll just hit a hard 8’ shot.”

2. ‘Confidence to close out a round’

It’s ironic that when things go well on the golf course, we start doing things differently than whatever brought us to that point. Pros talk a lot about the boring stuff: Taking one shot at a time, staying in the moment, focusing on their routine. The same should go for the rest of us. Forget about the scorecard, and try to take it one shot at a time.

3. ‘Overthinking’

This was the most popular comment in the thread: Thinking too much, overthinking, whatever you may call it. It’s easier said than done, but the key is to reduce things to their simplest form. Or just try another route:

“I have a beer to avoid overthinking,” says Joel Kanunu.

4. ‘Green reading’

One simple way is to improve your green reading is to invest in an app, like our affiliate company GolfLogix, to help you read the greens the same way pros do. Outside of that, a simple way to improve your green reading is to look for the high spots. Where’s the high spot on the green, and where is it along the line of your putt?

5. ‘Bad tempo’

Fast is fine, but you want smooth speed. Especially in transition, as you fully finish your backswing and begin your downswing. If you rush that part of your swing, you’ll struggle to keep the ball in play.

6. ‘Being too hard on myself’

Golf is a game to be enjoyed! It’s ok to get angry, as long as you get it out of your system fast. Don’t let it linger, and definitely don’t let it bother your playing partners — don’t be that guy.

7. ‘Bad grip and fundamentals’

This really is such an important mistake to avoid, especially for beginners. If you have bad fundamentals, your golf swing will get off on the wrong foot and it could take years of hard work to correct it. Pay attention to your grip, posture, stance, and alignment (more on that later) and you’ll thank yourself later.

8. ‘Rushing warm-up’

GOLF Top 100 Teacher Justin Parsons told me something interesting a few days ago that applies here: “Most golfers,” he said, “would be better off spending 10 minutes before their round stretching than hitting golf balls.”

And he’s right.

9. ‘Playing the wrong tees’

Tee it forward, there’s no shame in it! The only shame comes from being the guy who is obviously playing from the wrong tees, not having fun, and hurting pace of play for the rest of us.

10. ‘Swaying on the backswing’

Swaying is such bad news for your golf swing, because it moves around the bottom of your swing. Sometimes, you’ll hit behind the ball. Other times, ahead. You can’t hit crisp, consistent shots that way.

Here’s a drill to help with it.

11. ‘Not committing to the shot’

What does “committing” to the shot mean? It means making a decision, and not second-guessing. If you’re not sure about the club or shot you’ve chosen, start again. But once you’ve made your choice, it’s go time.

12. ‘Alignment’

Aiming incorrectly can have awful knock-on effects for your golf swing, too. You’ll start compensating without even realizing. Develop a pre-shot routine, use an intermediary target, and throw an alignment stick on the ground when you’re on the range.

13. ‘Leaving putts short’

For most golfers, renowned putting guru Phil Kenyon says the putts to practice the most are those between 5 and 15 feet. You’ll get the best of both worlds: practicing your distance control while starting putts on line.

14. ‘Hanging back’

The opposite of sliding, transferring your weight forward on the downswing is crucial to hitting good shots — and happens earlier than you think.

15. ‘Not staying with the shot’

Keeping your head down is generally considered a pretty bad piece of advice, but like everything, there’s an element of truth to it. Rather than “keep your head down,” it’s better to follow the golden rule: That to send the ball into the air, you need to hit down into the ground.

1. Find the right teacher for you

There are lots of great golf instructors out there, but it’s most important that you find one that you can relate to. Look for one who has had success with similar students — if you’re a beginner, look for a coach who teaches lots of beginners. If you’re a junior, make sure their background is in the type of training that matches what you are.

Often, the best teachers are the busiest for a reason. You may need to wait for the right one, but it’ll be worth it.

2. There’s no pressure to perform.

I know this is easier said than done, but know that when you’re going to a lesson, your teacher is watching your ball and your swing. We don’t really care if you miss or struggle — in some ways we’re expecting it. By nature, teachers just want to help you improve and to stop struggling. So, try to relax as much as you can, and swing just like you normally do.

3. Warm up quickly and beforehand

Ideally, you should arrive a bit early before you lesson and warm up. Do the same stretches that you usually do. This should not be a practice session, you’re just trying to get your body ready for the lesson.

If you’re warmed up and ready to go when your teacher arrives, you can get right to it and spend most of your lesson getting the feedback you want.

4. Have all your clubs

You may be taking a short game lesson, or a driver lesson, or want to work on something else very specific. But even so, bring all your clubs. There have been plenty of lessons where I want to see a student’s full swing to understand how to best improve their short game. There may also be easier ways to accomplish your goals by using a different club than you might consider on your own. You don’t want to waste time chasing down a club you may need for it.

5. Know your least-favorite miss

It can be extremely helpful and time saving if you are able to communicate what your golf ball is doing when things go wrong. You don’t need to know what’s causing it — that’s my job. But if you have specific goals or know your miss, it can help your instructor get to the issue more directly. My students who arrive and know exactly the goal of the lesson helps me to structure the lesson time much more efficiently.

6. Ask questions

Don’t be shy in your lessons. They should be fun and never feel intimidating. It may be stressful if you are with a new teacher, but a great instructor should put you at ease. And if you don’t understand or need clarification, ask questions. The most effective lessons are when the student communicates freely throughout.

7. Put conclusions in your own words

Don’t ever be afraid to put things in your own words, because this self-discovery is super important. Just because I may say something one way does not mean it is the best way for you to say or feel it. Your own words are very important; you need to figure out your own way to apply the advice you’re getting

8. Write it down

When you complete your lesson, you should always write down what you learned so that when you go to practice, it you can review the details you might have missed. This allows you to step right back into improvement mode when you come back to practice, and if you keep notes, you can keep a record of how you improved when you had a specific issue.

9. Have fun

A good golf lesson should always result in better ball flight, or at the very least less of the predominant miss you came in for. It may feel different, but you should hit some ‘wow’ shots that you should really enjoy.

It’s ok to hit poor shots — that’s part of a lesson. Not every change your instructor asks you to make will be comfortable, but if you’re willing to try things that feel odd and different, you’ll start to see great improvement.

10. Keep in touch

Even when your lesson concludes and you have some time away from your teacher to practice, you shouldn’t hesitate to contact your teacher with additional questions. We are generally happy to provide follow up feedback. I give video lessons on Skillest — a great platform that also provides a chat feature, which is one of my favorite parts of the app.

If you want a lesson, feel free to reach out to me right here!

1. Aim the putterface well

Where you aim your putterface has to be a huge priority if you want to make your short putts, because the ball will travel where your putterface is pointed at impact. Yes, your path influences it, but the putterface is king.

You can see good players do it in their pre-putt routine: After their practice strokes, they take a moment to aim the putterface before settling into that grip and setup.

2. Get a grip

The way you place your hands on your putter’s grip will stabilize the club, and influence your ability to deliver a square face at impact.

There are so many ways to hold a putter, so you have plenty of choices. I’d suggest using whatever makes you feel most coordinated, and if you’re looking for something basic, take your cues from the grip’s design. Most grips have a flat top. Place your thumbs on the flat portion, and because the club is more upright, it’s designed to be held more in your palms than your other clubs, which will eliminate excessive wrist movement.

3. Good posture

Good posture, where you bow forward from your hips and let your arms hang below your shoulders, creates a natural path for your arms to swing. You can practice this without your putter: Bow forward from your hips, clap your hands together and allow your arms to swing naturally.

Your stance width can vary according to preference, but generally, it should be roughly the width of your hips.

4. Stroke, and then look

Once you’re setup with a nice square clubface, you want to keep your body very quiet as your arms swing. The task sounds simple, but can be challenging because so many of us are result-oriented. We can’t help but peek to see if the putt is heading towards the hole.

Watch the best putters when they putt, then you’ll see how stable they keep their lower body and head as they stroke. You should keep your head down long enough to see the putter make contact with the back of the ball. Let the stroke complete fully, and only then can you look up.

5. Your stroke is circular

Every putting stroke has some degree of arc. It may be difficult to see on short putts, but with all the modern technology and our ability to measure these things, we know it’s there.

If your underarms stay close to your body, and your putterhead stays relatively low to the ground and through, this natural curving path will roll the ball end-over-end;

If you incorrectly try to swing your putter back straight back and straight through, your arms will tend to disconnect from your body.

6. Limit your backstroke

Your backstroke controls the distance of your putts. when you have a short putt, you only need a short backstroke. If you swing your putter back the proper length for the putt, smaller strokes will naturally deliver less power. If your backstroke is too large, your body will attempt to put on the brakes and decelerate. This is tough to time consistently, and it can make your putterface less stable, too.

7. Minimize moving parts

To make your short putts, the emphasis is more on accuracy than power. The priority is making sure the ball starts on the correct line. In this regard, the less moving parts, the better.

Too much movement in your lower body can decrease your efficiency. Swaying back and forth is a common cause I see; you should feel like your feet are planted firmly on the ground during your stroke.

8. Read every putt

Take the time the read the break on every short putt. I often watch golfers hurry up and stroke their short putts without much thought, assuming every putt is straight, but they’re missing an important step. Walk in a semi-circle around the hole to see where the high point is, or consult a greenbook.

You probably won’t need to play the putt too much outside of the hole, but aiming for the left edge on a right to left braking putt can make all the difference.

9. Respect the challenge

A good attitude is helpful throughout life, including on short putts. Get over it when it doesn’t work out, remember that you’re playing for fun, but give every short putt your full attention. If you’re not prepared to do that, you might as well pick up your ball.

Don’t think about these short putts as ones you “should” make. Think about them as putts you need to earn. And to do that, you need to respect the challenge they present and focus.

10. Practice with feedback.

Practicing properly means practicing with feedback. I used to spend hours putting on a chalk line when I played in college and professionally to make sure the putt was starting on line. Nowadays, they have putting matts with lines on them which accomplish the same thing. Whatever you use, practicing with feedback — meaning, you can see what’s going wrong when it’s going wrong — will help you get it right and build your confidence along the way.

1. Check the bounce on your wedges

When you’re selecting a club for a pitch shot, you want to select one with a high amount of loft and bounce. Bounce is, in a nutshell, a rounded bottom of your club which prevents the club from digging. Think of it like a flat side of the stone as it skips across water.

Different bounces are good for different conditions: If you play on hardpan, you may need a wedge that’ll help you dig. If you play on softer surfaces, more bounce will help. Finding the right equipment is the first step to a better wedge game.

2. Posture matters

It always surprises me when my student has perfect full swing posture, only to default to a sloppy, squatty posture on their shorter shorts. When this happens, you’ll struggle to make consistent contact.

While your posture will be different for shorter shots, you still want to bow from your hips and have your hands directly below your shoulders. You should feel balanced at athletics, and while you will be slightly closer to the golf ball, those same fundamentals will help you hit the center of the clubface.

3. Center your setup

In order to use the bounce properly, you need to set up properly in order to engage your club’s technology. I want to see the markings on your grip centered, so it’s running perpendicular to the ground. The shaft should also be centered in the middle of your feet. If your club shaft is leaning too far forward, the club is more likely to dig into the ground.

4. Never lift the ball

It’s counterintuitive, but in order to get the ball up, you need to hit down. If you try to lift the ball into the air, you’ll most likely catch the ball thin. It’ll go too far and very low.

Hitting down on the ball starts with your practice swing: I like to hear a solid thump into the ground with your clubhead.

5. Swing size controls distance

Part of what makes pitching so tricky is that you can’t just make solid contact, you also have to control the distance to a specific degree.

The best way to adjust this is to alter the length of your backswing. For the shortest shots, your backswing should end below your belt line, and get progressively bigger for the longer shots.

6. Tweak your setup

One extremely helpful way of controlling your swing size is to alter your setup to help you do it. Narrowing your stance and the location you place your hands on the grip and chance the size of your swing.

For your shortest pitch shots, place your hands lower on the grip and narrow your stance so your feet are nearly touching.

The longer you want the ball to travel, the larger you should make your setup by widening your stance and gripping higher on the grip.

7. Swing should be relatively equal

Now that we know the size of your swing backswing controls distance, you may be wondering about your follow through. And while not all golfers make the same identical motion, I believe your backswing and follow through should be relatively equal on pitch shots to keep a good rhythm.

If your backswing is too long, it’s easy to decelerate. If it’s too short, it’ll lead to excessive acceleration. Both will cause poor contact.

8. Throw the club to hit it higher

Picking a higher-lofted wedge is the easiest way to hit your pitch shots higher, but at times you’ll need to alter your technique.

If you do not have a lob wedge or just need to hit the ball a bit higher and softer, you can simply change your release pattern of your downswing by allowing the clubhead to pass the handle on your downswing. One drill I like to use is to hold a ball in my right hand, take my backswing, and throw the ball down into the ground.

This “throwing” of the clubhead will increase the loft and the bounce at impact producing a more lofted pitch shot that will stop more quickly once it lands.

9. Use your hands and wrists

Another way to hit the ball higher is to use your hands at wrists. When you are hitting a pitch shot, more wrist hinge will make your swing steeper, increase the spin and produce a higher launch. Generally, it’s best not to use your wrists if you don’t need to, because they can be difficult under pressure, but they’re there for when you need them.

10. Calibrate your distances

Once you have reasonably good technique, it’s important to know reliably how far you carry each of your wedges.

With your three wedges, measure how far you hit your short, medium and long swings, and how you adjust your setup accordingly. It’s helpful and necessary to write it down. Take a small amount of time to calibrate your yardages, and it’ll make your short game so much better.