When it comes to executing this shot, think like an aviator – as Scott Devaux of the Steve Dresser Golf Academy in Pawleys Island, S.C. explains in this video tip. Aviator? It’s a simpler concept than you might think, as Scott demonstrates in his latest tip!
Scott Devaux:
Hey, this is Scott Devaux from Steve Dresser Golf Academy, here in Pawleys Island. And today, we’re going to talk a little bit about a higher lofted shot from around the green. What we see a lot of, when people come to the school, is that they put the ball back in their stance. And lean back and stay on their back foot to try to hit it up in the air. What we want to try to do is get the ball a little more forward, so towards the target. We want to open the club face and really use the bottom of the club to hit the ground, which gets the ball up in the air.
So a lot of people will try to lift it up in the air. We really don’t want to do that. We’re going to swing down slightly. I call it an airplane landing. We don’t want to come in and crash land. We don’t want to take off. But we want to gradually land the club on the ground.
So if we move the ball a little towards our front foot, we’re going to lean a little towards the target so everything goes towards the target. And then we really don’t have to make a big back swing. But when we go through, we gradually hit the ground, and we keep turning our chest and head and everything towards the target.
So if you notice where I finish there, everything finished in front of me. My back foot’s still up in the air. And everything goes towards the target. So really, the key words here are to the target. Ball’s towards the target, weights towards the target. Brush the ground and turn around.