Great pitch shots combine proper technique, consistent contact and confidence. Many golfers struggle with pitching because they either fear hitting the ground or try to help the ball into the air. In reality, solid pitch shots come from allowing the club’s bounce and loft to do the work naturally. By improving your setup, controlling distance correctly, and practicing with purpose, you can develop a more reliable short game and create the soft, controlled shots that help lower scores.

1. Have a perfect setup

A proper setup helps ensure the bounce of the club glides through the ground correctly. The great news is that when the club moves properly through impact, there is no reason to fear hitting the ground. When the club constantly digs, golfers often become hesitant to strike the turf, which makes it difficult to hit high, soft pitch shots that stop quickly.

Set up with the club centered in your body so the clubhead sits in the middle of your heels. Keep the end of the grip pointing toward the center of your body to avoid excessive shaft lean and de-lofting the clubface.

2. Allow the club to do the work

Allowing the bottom of the club to interact with the ground naturally lets the loft of the club do the work. This helps the ball make clean contact with the lofted part of the face. Avoid the urge to try to lift or scoop the ball into the air.

One of my favorite drills for this is the “scrape drill.” From your setup position, make no backswing and simply scrape the club along the ground through to the finish. This reinforces the feeling that the club should contact the ground and continue moving through it, helping you avoid scooping or lifting incorrectly.

3. Know how to control distance

Avoid trying to force speed or distance when you need a longer shot. Instead, simply adjust the length of your backswing and allow the club’s speed to change naturally.

A shorter backswing creates less speed and therefore less carry distance. As the backswing becomes longer, the potential speed and distance increase automatically. The more consistent your setup and preparation become, the more reliable your results will be over time.

4. Calibrate your landing spot

I am a big believer in calibrating your short game, especially pitch shots, because landing distance is often critical. In many cases, pitch shots are required to carry over hazards or obstacles, making precise distance control extremely important.

You can improve this skill by calibrating and charting your carry distances in 10-yard increments. Record which club and swing length produce each distance. If you would like to learn how to calibrate your entire short game, I have created a course designed to help you build consistency and lower your scores.

5. Build confidence with perfect lies

To build confidence, it can be helpful to begin practicing pitch shots from slightly longer grass. Longer grass makes it easier to get the ball into the air and provides a bit more margin for error.

Such a large part of scoring well comes from hitting short-game shots close to the pin. From both personal experience and working with students, I’ve seen how common it is to leave these shots short, making the putt much harder to convert.

Here are some common reasons why this happens and how to improve.

1. Using your most lofted club

It’s easy to assume that the most lofted club should always be used around the green, but this often leads to shots coming up short. The more lofted the club, the larger the swing required to get the ball to the pin. Especially when there is more green to work with or a longer overall distance, consider using a lower-lofted club instead.

2. Inconsistent contact

High, lofted pitch shots require solid technique and confidence. Proper posture and grip play a huge role in making consistent contact.

Because pitch shots often require a larger swing, it’s important to maintain good posture by bending forward from the hips and allowing the arms to hang naturally. This helps deliver the club to the ground properly and promotes center-face contact.

3. Wedges lack enough bounce

Bounce is the rounded sole on a wedge that helps the club glide through the turf rather than dig into it. When the club interacts properly with the ground, you can swing more confidently and strike the ball more consistently.

If a wedge has enough bounce, even slight contact with the turf before the ball can still produce a respectable shot because the club continues to glide instead of digging.

When players occasionally skull a wedge shot because the club digs too much, they often become hesitant to make a full enough swing, which can lead to approach shots consistently coming up short.

4. Pitching when you should be chipping

This may be the simplest adjustment you can make to get the ball all the way to the pin.

When there is more room for roll than required carry, it is usually safer and more efficient to hit a lower-running chip shot instead of a high pitch shot. Because the motion is smaller, even slightly imperfect contact can still produce a very good result.

5. Not using lower-lofted clubs

The smaller the stroke, the smaller the chance for error. Using a lower-lofted club — such as an 8- or 9-iron — can be a smart option when you have plenty of green to work with and a back pin location.

Let the club selection help the ball travel the distance rather than trying to force a larger swing. Lowering your scores can be as simple as calibrating your short game, including both chipping and pitching.

Few golf shots invite more second-guessing than a ball sitting in water. That’s especially true when just enough of the ball is above the surface, giving you enough false confidence to go for it. But that’s when most golfers get themselves into trouble.

The reality is, water doesn’t just sit there — it changes everything. Before you think about giving one of these lies a go, it’s important to know how to read your lie. Understanding what water does to a shot is often the difference between an impressive par-save and guaranteed disaster.

In a field test conducted by Cameron Robinson, head professional at Brentwood Country Club in Los Angeles, it became clear that the amount of the ball visible above the water is a reliable predictor of how much the shot will be affected.

For example, a ball just grazing the water behaves much like a heavy lie in wet sand. When tested with a 52-degree wedge, the ball launched predictably and carried with enough height to clear a steep bank of 68 inches above the water’s surface. In simple terms, the shot performed close to normal expectations.

But when a ball is partially submerged — even a quarter under water — the resistance at impact is significantly more pronounced. The club no longer moves freely. Instead, it displaces water and strikes the ball almost simultaneously.

“The club meets much more resistance, with both the water and the ball absorbing energy,” Robinson said.

At these depths, Robinson found that a 52-degree wedge could still produce enough launch to clear the bank, but only if he increased his speed and changed his swing to a chopping motion.

The most dramatic shift occurs when the ball is fully submerged. Using a swing that would normally produce a 60-yard shot with a 52-degree wedge, Robinson saw the ball travel only about 15 yards — roughly 25 percent of the expected carry. The strike simply couldn’t transfer enough energy through the water to produce sufficient speed.

Loft, in this case, proved to be a critical variable. Robinson found that while a 60-degree wedge produced the largest splash, it also delivered the worst results. That’s because added loft increases water resistance and reduces strike efficiency. In contrast, switching to a 45-degree pitching wedge gave Robinson a penetrating ball flight and allowed the ball to launch higher and carry farther.

Technique, as Robinson discovered, is just as crucial as club selection when it comes to escaping these tricky lies. He explained that golfers must generate maximum speed at impact while stopping the club abruptly immediately afterward — a motion he calls “putting the brakes on.”

“This [move] creates maximum speed at the strike before the club rapidly decelerates after impact,” Robinson said. “The motion is similar to the technique often used when hitting through thick weeds or heavy rough, where maintaining speed at the ball is critical to prevent the club from losing energy before contact.”

The lesson is simple: water lies are unforgiving but not impossible. If there’s a rule of thumb to live by in these scenarios, Robinson put it best: