What are your best tips for hitting pitches and chips off a bare lie / hardpan. This is a pretty common situation in Texas and need to figure this out.
- club selection?
- ball position?
- steep / shallow?
Help me
2 Likes
Depending on where you are relative to the green and what the grass / dirt situation is between the ball and the green … have you tried putting with a hybrid?
Can be really effective in the right circumstance!
Unfortunately I did not have that option this weekend as I had trouble between myself and the green.
This would likely be the play for me if I had short grass in front to run it up on
Well #1 I’m not the one to be giving shot advice, but … what’s worked for me is closer to bump & run vs pitch – a lower-lofted club, eg. PW-8i but just enough to clear any trouble, ball most of the way back, set up with body leaning forward, and relatively shallow back and through.
I like a sand wedge or gap wedge shallow in the middle of my stance with a bit of a forward press(hands ahead of the club head) and quiet hands. Keep the hands in front of the ball through impact and try to keep the face square to the target(open) through impact rather than turning it over. If you get wristy, try reverse overlap grip. Too steep and you might dig it a bit. Shallow you might catch it a bit thin, but won’t go too far past.
2 Likes
Good point!
I try to think… “flat lead wrist facing the target” thru impact.
1 Like
These are shots where the bounce of the club might work against you.
I’ve found that my intention on these shots is to try and “dig” a little more than usual (on almost all pitches/chips on fairway I’m trying a more shallow club approach to engage bounce as much as possible)
So I might use a wedge that has the least amount of bounce (my LW) and really focus on getting that ball first and then slightly digging into the turf. For me, it helps to feel like I want my hands a bit further ahead at impact than normal. Clean contact is going to be paramount on these shots because you won’t be able to skid/bounce the sole of the club off the turf like you would on more forgiving grass lies.
4 Likes
It 100% depends on what’s in front of me. If I’m short-sided I’m taking my 58, delofting it slightly back in my stance, and hitting something that will hit and stop.
If I have room to work with and I’m not pitching over anything, I’ll use my 50 and bump and run it. Fly it half way to the hole and let it release.
2 Likes
Almost think of it as the exact opposite of a soaking wet fairway pitch shot
wet fairway pitch you want something with bounce. your goal is to pick it clean, but the more counce you have will increase your margin for error so you don’t dig in and chunk it
tight lie you want as little bounce as possible. your goal is to pick it clean but the less bounce you have will increase your margin for error so you don’t bounce off the turf and skull it
4 Likes
Some really great responses. Going to do the @Adamyounggolf challenge this week and probably go find some hard pan afterwards (or maybe just cart path with and old wedge)
Will report back
1 Like
@jon is how I would play that shot as well… you really have very little margin for error, but need to commit to the shot.
Texas hardpan sucks.
1 Like
Mess with a hybrid. Setup, stroke like a putt.
Unfortunately the hard pan tends to be on the wrong side of the bunker… (though the bunkers can also be hardpan… putting out of a bunker was always called a Texas wedge when I was growing up)…
A low lofted club is definitely the best play if you have that option, but if you need to get the ball into the air you need minimal bounce and solid contact.
1 Like
Hard pan can occur anywhere. Where you described I’ll open a LW no wrist hinge a la stricker.
Steep angle of attack (shallow runs the risk of drop-kicking it)
Minimize the bounce (see pic below) so that the leading edge doesn’t sit too high
Focus everything on contacting the ground as close to the ball as possible
this usually results in a ball-back, weight-forwards, lots of shaft lean set up.
The disadvantage of that is that it tends to produce a lower loft at impact, so you might want to switch to the lob wedge and open the face a little (without bringing too much bounce back into play). Luckily, the LW usually has less bounce.
4 Likes
I use a pitching wedge with very little bounce and play it in the middle of my stance.