Sharpen Your Short Game Chapter 3 – Putting Drills to Sink More Putts with Dave Pelz, courtesy of Cleveland Golf

Part #3 of our series, “Sharpen Your Short Game” with Dave Pelz, is brought to you by Cleveland Golf.

Synonymous with great wedges, Cleveland has teamed with us to help you score better with these tips from Pelz.

Also, don’t miss some of the fantastic deals now available on putters, wedges and clubs from Cleveland Golf.

Dave Pelz:  We all know that how quickly pitch shots will bite and stop or roll out depends on the conditions of the grain. However; here is a general guide I use that helps me execute a variety of pitch shots all with the same swing. Now watch this: it’s my horizontal back swing and vertical follow through pitching swing. I’m going to use it with 4 of my Rotex 2.0 wedges. My 64 degree wedge produces a super soft lob which carries most of the way and stops the quickest. My 60 degree produces a normal lob shot that carries roughly 3/4 or 75% of the way to pin then runs out a bit. My 56 degree produces a standard pitch that runs out a little more. Then, finally, I use my 50 degree for a running pitch; this carries roughly half way to the hole then runs out the other half.

The key thing here is that I use the same standard swing on all 4 shots. It’s the same pitching swing, it’s very simple. It’s just a little bit past horizontal; I’m talking about the shaft. That’s my back swing with all 4 of them. I try to take my finish through the vertical. It’s a thing of beauty; one swing, 4 shots. This is because I have a properly fit set of wedges. When I’m practicing with one club, I’m practicing with them all. If you practice these shots enough and fly them on consistent trajectories, and you get your wedge set up right, you’ll leave yourself shorter puts and that means lower scores.