There is a big difference between the golf swing basics of pitching the golf ball in and around the edges of the green, over bunkers, over little trees, over a pond, 30 yards, 20 yards, 40 yards, and the golf swing basics of hitting your full pitch shot swing.

Whenever I’m talking about chipping and pitching, I’m talking about golf shots that are in and around the green. If I’m not talking about that, then I’m talking about your full swing.

The technique to hit to the green in front of you is ball in the middle, weight left, handle forward. And it’s an arm swing.

Now, if you want to hit a full wedge shot, it will go way over the green.

With the 90-yard swing, you can see a difference with your golf swing basics at address. Your body turns, your shoulders turn, which moves the weight a little bit over to the right side, and the arms swing up and down.

As you start to bring the golf club back, your shoulders start to turn and your weight moves backwards a little bit. That’s a full golf swing.

And the 40-yard pitch shot is a big difference in the two swings. One, the 100-yard wedge was just like the driver swing, but with a wedge in your hand. The pitch shot is a miniature little tiny golf swing that you don’t move any weight to your right side.

I hope that clears it up for you, and thanks.

Bobby Eldridge is the Head Instructor for the PurePoint Golf Academy where he teaches “The Simple Golf Swing” theory. You can check out PurePoint Golf instructional DVDs at http://www.golfswingguru.com/index15.htm

I’m going to get you back on track with your pitching with golf technique and instruction that you’re just going to love. It’s the reason why you need loft, and here’s why.

A lot of you hit a lot of pitch shots that, after it’s in the air, it maybe has 2, 3, 4 feet of loft to it, and when it hits the ground, it takes off running and runs over the green.

A couple of reasons why you struggle with not getting the ball up in the air: Number one, you have to start using your pitching wedge or your sand wedge and your lob wedge, not your 9 iron to chip with. You need a loftier golf club.

Number two, check the ball position. Make sure it’s in the middle of your stance and your weight’s on your left leg.

And lastly, make sure that you start hitting down on the golf ball so it’ll go up.

Some golf technique and instruction advice I have to give you is don’t get all hung up on backspin. Backspin’s great, but would you rather have a golf ball drop straight out of the sky, or a golf ball that had a lot of revolutions going backwards?

I’d like the one that drops straight out of the sky. That will slow down quicker than one with backspin.

So, don’t forget, for more loft put the ball in the middle of your stance with a little weight left. But make sure you use your sand wedge and your loftier club, maybe your loft wedge to pitch with, and not your 9 iron or your pitching wedge. Your pitching wedge is okay, but it’ll go off a little flatter.

And lastly, the golf technique and instruction never to forget is, don’t forget to follow through low, so you can hit down so the ball will go up.

Thanks and have a great day.

Bobby Eldridge is the Head Instructor for the PurePoint Golf Academy where he teaches “The Simple Golf Swing” theory. You can check out PurePoint Golf instructional DVDs at http://www.golfswingguru.com/index15.htm

I’m convinced that the golf setup is so important for chipping, let alone pitching. This is where it has to be just perfect, when you’re all ready to pull that trigger.

So, let’s go over the golf setup step by step, so the next time you go out you’ll have a better idea how to stand to the golf ball.

If you’re wanting to pitch the golf ball up, you take a lofted golf club with you; okay, a pitching wedge, a sand wedge, or any of your wedges.

The second thing in the golf setup, is that the ball doesn’t have to go right in the middle of your stance. If you’ve been struggling, put it in the middle of your stance. But if you want to hit it a little softer and higher, you could put it just a hair forward in your stance.

So, you now have the ball position from center to just forward.

The next part is put 60%, 70% of your weight on your left leg, and when you do that push the handle over.

Now, that’s how simple it is: ball in the middle, a little bit of weight on your left leg, maybe 70%, and then push the handle over.

What that’s going to do, and here’s the tip of all tips. When you start your backswing, make sure that your arms start back, but don’t slide your body. This will make you hit the ground behind it, top it, or skull it over the green.

So, again, weight on the left leg, the handle’s on the left side. Let the arms go away from you without your body moving.

This golf setup will enable you to hit down on it a little bit and not up on it where you would skull it.

Thanks and have a great day.

Bobby Eldridge is the Head Instructor for the PurePoint Golf Academy where he teaches “The Simple Golf Swing” theory. You can check out PurePoint Golf instructional DVDs at http://www.golfswingguru.com/index15.htm

Hey, let’s spend a couple minutes on learning a golf instruction swing tip on how to control the different distances that you want your pitch shots to travel.

Now, when you chip you have one golf swing, so your control is from the different golf clubs that you use. If you want to hit a short chip, use a 9 iron. If you want to hit a long chip, you’ll need to use a 5 iron.

But when you pitch, you change your golf swing, not just the club you use. It’s pretty simple but it’s not easy to do. You have to practice it.

The first golf instruction swing tip is if you want a small pitch, your golf club goes parallel to the ground in the backswing. That’s the length that it goes. So, when it’s right at parallel, I’m pretty sure you can tell it’s not up in the air and it’s not just that far back. But it’s parallel.

If you want to pitch it a little bit further, take it back where the shaft is sticking in the ground. The butt of the club is ticking straight down, and this will go a little bit further.

And lastly is when you take a full golf swing but just with the arms, not with the body. That’s your longest pitch shot.

See, I have three wedges. So, I have a 60-degree, my sand wedge, and a pitching wedge. Each wedge has 3 different shots so I have 9 shots total.

If you own two wedges and three different length backswings, that’s six golf shots you have in your bag.

Good luck with those golf instruction swing tips and hang in there.

Bobby Eldridge is the Head Instructor for the PurePoint Golf Academy where he teaches “The Simple Golf Swing” theory. You can check out PurePoint Golf instructional DVDs at http://www.golfswingguru.com/index15.htm

Let’s talk about the backswing when you’re pitching. This could be one of the most misunderstood parts of the weekend golfer’s short game or pitching problems.

I own three pitching wedges. I own three wedges. I own a pitching wedge, a sand wedge and one that’s sort of in the middle. They go three very different distances.

But let me explain something to you about the backswing that will help you a lot. Most amateurs that miss/hit their pitch shots make a big windup every time, and then they slow down to match up how far they want it to go.

So, if they have a pitch shot, they wind it up and slow down and hope they match up how far they needed to go. Two holes later, if they have to pitch it a little bit further, they make a bigger windup and they try to slow down.

The only way to hit a pitch shot is to make sure that the backswing is broken down into three parts. And this is what I mean. This is a small pitch shot. I take the golf club back where the shaft is parallel to the ground, but I have a nice followthrough that continues on after I make impact.

If I want the ball to go a little bit further, then my next length swing is where the shaft is pointing into the ground, and this goes a little bit further, but it’s the same followthrough.

And lastly, if I have a pitch shot and I want it to go all the way to the back of the green, I make a full swing with the arms, not with the body, with the same followthrough.

Now, let me start with the next part. The direction that you swing the golf club is very important.

So, after you get your setup, the arms swing the golf club just slightly up and down on an arc. The arc has a little curve inside, not inside to your right foot and not away from your body in the backswing. The weight stays left and the arms swing up and down.

Thanks, and have a great day.

Bobby Eldridge is the Head Instructor for the PurePoint Golf Academy where he teaches “The Simple Golf Swing” theory. You can check out PurePoint Golf instructional DVDs at http://www.golfswingguru.com/index15.htm

I have a little tip for you here today and I’m convinced that it’s going to help you a lot.
It’s about pitching and chipping on uneven lies.

Not every lie around the green is flat where the ball is sitting even with your feet and you could bend over and give it a nice little whack.

Sometimes you have downhill pitch shots, uphill chip shots, ball below your feet chip shots, and ball above your feet pitch shots.

All right, now let me go over this with you real quick so you understand it.

When you’re making a full golf swing, it’s very important that you pay close attention to all of your uneven lies.

Remember, if you’re going uphill on a full swing, make sure your shoulders are level to the slope you’re on. If you’re going downhill on a full swing, make sure your shoulders are level to the slope you’re on.

So, here it is. If you’re going uphill, you want to stand to the slope. If you’re going downhill, you want to stand to the slope.

If the ball’s below your feet on a full swing, you want to make sure that you bend way over and bend your knees. And if the ball is above your feet, make sure that you stand up tall and sit back on your bottom.

But it’s different when you’re chipping and pitching.

Make sure that when you have uneven lies that you don’t change your chipping and pitching stance and setup. Remember, for pitching and chipping, stance and setup, ball in the middle, weight left, handle left, and you’re standing in this fashion, where 60% of your weight, 70% of your weight’s on your left side, and you swing your arms up and down.

When you have an uneven lie, don’t change that. The reason why? The swing isn’t that long and you don’t shift your weight back over to your right side.

So, when you’re on your uneven lies around the greens, don’t change your setup away from the traditional pitching and chipping setup.

Thanks and have a great day.

Bobby Eldridge is the Head Instructor for the PurePoint Golf Academy where he teaches “The Simple Golf Swing” theory. You can check out PurePoint Golf instructional DVDs at http://www.golfswingguru.com/index15.htm

Of all the words and all the talk about the different parts to the golf swing, let me tell you something that is extremely important when you’re trying to drive a golf ball. It’s important whether you’re trying to hit a wedge shot.

Let me tell you the value of the left hip and what role it plays and what it means to “clear” your left hip, or get out of the way.

After you’ve addressed the golf ball and your feet, knees and hips and shoulders are all square to where you’re wanting to go, the right shoulder turns and the arms swing back. And now you’ve turned away from it and a lot of your weight is over on your right side.

Now you’re going to begin the downswing. Many weekend golfers start the downswing with the left hip moving towards the target. This is a problem golf swing.

Now, here are the two things that can happen if you do that.

From the top, if you move the hip towards the target, you’ll get inside too much and the club face won’t come back down on the arc. And, as you can tell, it’s going to take off and go to the right.

The other thing that happens as you start the downswing is that the body will stop and if the arms are quick, you’ll cross it over.

Better players hit this shot, which is a duck hook, and the weekend golfers usually hit a push.

So, here’s a great rule of thumb: the left hip, in the downswing, must go backwards. It goes around. It doesn’t go down.

So, when you start your downswing make sure that you get the left hip moving back and out of the way so the arms have a place to swing to.

Thanks and try that the next time out and I guarantee you this will help with your golf swing problem.

Bobby Eldridge is the Head Instructor for the PurePoint Golf Academy where he teaches “The Simple Golf Swing” theory. You can check out PurePoint Golf instructional DVDs at http://www.golfswingguru.com/index15.htm

I think skulling or topping is the most common missed golf swing when you’re chipping the golf ball.

You’ll have a great shot lined up, but when you look up, you’ve skulled it, or topped it, or hit it thin and bladed it over the green.

So, let me tell you about an exercise that will help you a lot with your golf swing.

After you set up, ball in the middle, weight left and handle left, watch the club head, not a giant followthrough. Here’s why.

The angle that your club goes back is up. So, if it goes up, it’ll come back down and you’ll hear a click.

Now when you skull, your golf club travels too much inside. That means it didn’t get up high enough.

But if it goes inside low, it will try to go and get underneath the ball on the way down.

So, the next time you’re out on the golf course or the practice facility, try this little exercise to improve your golf swing. See if you can take the leading edge, and see if you can chop some grass with it.

Not a giant followthrough, but a very functional way to chip a golf ball and not skull anymore.

Thanks.

Bobby Eldridge is the Head Instructor for the PurePoint Golf Academy where he teaches “The Simple Golf Swing” theory. You can check out PurePoint Golf instructional DVDs at http://www.golfswingguru.com/index15.htm

There is a term that commentators on television will often say. He came, or she came, up and out of the shot. When you hear that, it usually means that the ball has gone to the right.

So, let me tell you an example of what ‘up and out of the shot’ means, and then I’ll give you a golf technique that you can use for your own golf game.

In the downswing, both knees stay bent during the bottom of the hit. And as the golf club passes you, the arms have to get out in front of you before you can turn through.

Now, here’s an example of a player that comes up and out of the shot. As they start down, they get out in front and their body unwinds. And they get tall in the hitting area and the spine comes up and you’ll see a push to the right.

So, here’s the golf technique. If you push to the right and you think there’s a chance that you may be coming up and out of your shot, you’ll hit it weak to the right.

A great little practice is for you to keep a little more weight on your right side and let the arms pass you before you turn through.

Thanks, and have a great day.

Bobby Eldridge is the Head Instructor for the PurePoint Golf Academy where he teaches “The Simple Golf Swing” theory. You can check out PurePoint Golf instructional DVDs at http://www.golfswingguru.com/index15.htm

I just thought of a shot that I don’t see it very often, but for those of you that struggle with it, I wanted to give you a little golf tip on chipping, and I feel confident it will help you.

Do you hit fat shots when you chip the ball? In other words, do you hit the ball and it barely moves on the green?

You’ll hit it fat or you don’t hit any golf ball at all. You’ll hit it fat where you hit a little bit of golf ball, and then you’ll hit it fat where it moves, maybe 4 or 5 feet.

The correct path that your chip shot’s supposed to travel on is just slightly, ever so slightly on the inside.

Well, if you’re hitting it fat, then here’s a little golf tip on chipping. You’re going too much outside, which makes the club go too vertical.

And the correction is you feel like you’re going to swing the club a little bit more inside, and then this will give you proper impact.

So, if you’re hitting your chip shots fat, you’re too vertical.

The way to make sure that you round out the backswing is to let it travel a little bit to the inside, a little bit.

Try that golf tip on chipping the next time out.

Thanks.

Bobby Eldridge is the Head Instructor for the PurePoint Golf Academy where he teaches “The Simple Golf Swing” theory. You can check out PurePoint Golf instructional DVDs at http://www.golfswingguru.com/index15.htm