How to play a Downhill Pitch

Learn how to change your setup when faced with a chip or pitch from a downhill lie to ensure solid contact.

Transcript

At the end of a short lesson, I’m always asking my students, “Is there any situations you’d like me to cover?” And a very common topic that comes up is the downhill tip shot or pit shot. So, here’s my advice on that. And I’m going to assume that you’re chipping at pitching, your standard shots off a regular flat lie are okay, because you should really be mastering those before you start to move on to different situations and different situations and different lies. So, I’m assuming that’s okay. But the difference when we set up to this shot is we want to get our body lines the same as when we’re on a flat line, parallel to the ground. And the difference with a downhill lie is that if I stand narrow – which you will with your regular shot – and I put my body lines parallel to the ground, eventually you’ll fall over if the slope is steep enough. So, all I’m doing differently in this shot is widening my stance, and I keep widening it when I’m in my setup until I could feel I have a stable enough base to place my hips and my shoulders parallel to the slope. Basically now, I can make my regular chipping or pitching technique and hit the shot I want. The only thing I might need to consider is that the ball might naturally come off a little bit lower, so I might need to change club or adjust the club face a little bit. Maybe open the club face if you’re already using your maximum loft club. So, it’s a regular shot except for the fact that you’re going to need to widen your stance, so you can get your body lines parallel to the ground. You might need to adjust the club or your club face to get the flight of shot you need to get the result you want.