Should you be steep or flat on your pitch shots?

When pitching a wedge near the green, should you be steep or flat? Good question. As with anything in golf, there is no right or wrong answer, but there are certain combinations to consider depending on your skill level.

Weekend golfers tend to do better when attacking the ball from a shallower angle. Focus on making a wider takeaway, keeping your body centered, and keeping the shaft vertical (up) at impact rather than leaning towards the target. This does a great job of activating the bounce of your wedges, giving you a greater margin of error on misses.

However, if you feel like you’re smarter than the average wedge player, Steep works too. I recommend a down angle of at least 10 degrees. Achieve this by shifting your weight forward on the backswing and keeping your swing narrow on either side of the ball.

To really get it right, imagine yourself swinging from the outside in, like you’re about to hit a cut on purpose. With a steeper swing you get that clear feeling of touching the ball first – but you have to be perfect.