With all the wedges that golfers can utilize on the golf course, the pitching wedge has become a forgotten tool for the short game.
For high handicappers and golfers struggling around the greens, the pitching wedge offers exceptional versatility and better control when you need a precise chip or pitch shot.
Featuring a large sweet spot and a forgiving hitting area, the pitching wedge delivers effective loft for the control and shot shape you need inside 100 yards.
In this article, we’ll give you tips on how to hit a pitching wedge with authority, plus answer some of the more frequently asked questions and provide the answers to help you shoot lower scores.
Pitching Wedge Techniques
On bunker shots, you are better served by taking a three-quarter swing with a lob or sand wedge to get the ball free.
Some golfers will use a gap wedge on intermediate bunker plays because they can take a full swing.
On longer shots of over 100 yards, many amateurs will face the dilemma of hitting this wedge or their gap wedge.
When facing these shots, you should look at what surrounds the green, considering the slope of the putting surface plus any hazards you’d like to avoid.
Once you’ve decided on the play to make, you can choose the club that delivers the ideal ball flight.
Grip and Stance
For full shots, you want your feet shoulder-width apart. Keeping the feet balanced and under each hip will help you hit wedges with the proper launch and spin.
Poor ball position is a common fault of amateur wedge players. You want to play the ball in the middle of the stance on full swings.
When holding the club, you should use your normal grip (overlap or interlock). Some golfers like to choke down on their grip about one inch on shorter pitch and chip shots.
Ball Flight Control
You can control your pitching wedge height with ball position.
If the ball position is toward the lead foot, the pitching wedge will raise the ball’s flight.
A more neutral flight comes when the ball sits in the middle of the stance, while a lower ball flight with rollout comes when the ball sits off the back heel.
You should practice with the ball in all three positions on the driving range to get a sense of ball flight and how you can control the club to create different yardages.
Practicing a three-quarter swing with each position can also produce different bounce and rollout options for attacking the pin.
Choosing the Right Wedge
If you are comfortable with your pitching wedge, you can use it anywhere inside 120 yards. The club works extremely well on longer swings, plus with your overall game around the green.
The wedge delivers control with tight dispersion from the fairway. With greenside shots, you can produce low ball flight with a rollout that easily gets the ball close to the pin.
We strongly urge you not to use the pitching wedge if you are forced to overswing. By this, we mean if the shot you are facing is longer than your typical pitching wedge yardage.
In this scenario, try to play longer clubs but with a shorter backswing.
When Not to Use a Pitching Wedge
When facing a short green to the pin and hitting the ball over a hazard or bunker, you should look at playing a lob wedge due to its 60-degree loft instead of a pitching wedge.
The best sand wedge is also a great option if you don’t want the higher launch of lob wedge shots.
Both wedges deliver more spin on flop shots than the pitching wedge so that the ball won’t bounce and roll forward.
These other wedges are designed to stop immediately or even rotate backward toward the golfer after landing.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you hit a pitching wedge?
When looking for how to hit a pitching wedge, you first should know that you don’t need to crush the ball like with a driver or fairway wood.
With a loft of around 46 degrees, the wedge carries a larger, more rounded clubhead with a tall groove system that helps grab the ball and create spin at impact.
Due to the loft along the face, the pitching wedge takeaway can be more upright in the backswing than a mid or long iron.
On the downswing, you want to keep your arms close to the body, with your hands slightly forward at impact to compress the golf ball.
How do you hit a pitch shot?
For pitches, you should never take the club higher than the right hip on the backswing and the left hip on the follow-through.
With these shots, we want to keep the ball lower than on flop shots, and we want the ball to release on the greens and roll to the pin.
Ball position is incredibly important on short-game shots with the pitching wedge. On pitches, we encourage amateurs to use a square stance with both feet, even under the shoulders.
Some coaches like a slightly open stance, but for inexperienced golfers, that can create an inconsistent club path to the ball.
Where to place the ball in pitching wedge stance?
For chip shots with the wedge, you need to put the ball back in the stance and keep the club head low to the ground.
Since there’s more launch along the face, you can take a larger backswing without worrying that the ball will jump with a higher trajectory or that you’ll lose distance control.
On longer swings, you want the ball in the middle of your stance directly under your nose.
If you put the ball just off the left foot, you can expect high ball flight but far less distance than if you placed the ball in the middle.
Can I chip with a pitching wedge?
Yes, the pitching wedge remains one of the best options for greenside chip shots due to its loft and wide, inviting face.
For shorter chips, the wedge allows golfers to pop the ball up with spin for better control, especially if you are facing a tough chip from deep rough.
Golfers who like chipping with their mid-irons will find that the pitching wedge doesn’t have the severe loft like a sand or lob wedge, so it’s one of the most versatile clubs in the bag for the short game.