No brainer: How to hit the perfect tour lob shot
I have been a tour coach for many years. Indeed, I have coached a winner on six professional tours, including the PGA and LPGA tours.
During all that time working with pros, I saw a need for a low-risk lob shot out there on tour. The lies are tight and the nerves jangle. Even the best can screw up a lob shot. Phil’s always make the Golf Channel highlight reel, but for every great one there are a few poor ones. So having the ability to hit it high and spinny without the chance of a mis-struck shot is a great tool in your short-game toolbox!
Here is how it works. The nemesis of the short game is “lead in the handle and lean in the shaft at impact.” With a lob shot, this lowers the dynamic and spin loft, and encourages the player to be very dramatic to counteract these things. This obviously leads to many moving parts and increases risk.
This shot incorporates a wide-and-short backswing. Having less hinge or stored angle in the wrists reduces the need to “dump” that angle coming into the ball. Think in terms of a U-shaped swing rather than a V-shaped swing when you look at the swing from the face-on angle.
The key is the action of the right hand on the way down and through. The right hand starts to re-accelerate the shaft in the downswing to the point at impact where the handle has slowed and the head has gone past it. This increases the dynamic and spin lofts, and it also increases the speed in the club which increases spin. The face does not need to be open at address, something which increases risk. The square face at address may have 58 degrees on it, but dynamically at impact it may have 64 or 65 at impact due to the action described.
The key after impact is to allow the right hand to continue to fold under so the loft is maintained. A nice, soft Freddy Couples-like finish is desirable to create this uber-cool and bullet-proof shot. Indeed, when Michael Campbell had his break-out season in 2005-06, this was the only lob shot he used all year. It helped him win the U.S. Open, so it’ll help your game help you too!
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Some call the image on the left laid off, but if you are hitting a fade, this could be a perfect backswing for it! Same for across the line for a draw! Stop racking your brain with perceived mistakes and simply match backswing to shot shape!
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My golf learning began with this simple fact – if you don’t have a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, it is practically impossible for your body to execute a fundamentally sound golf swing. I’m still a big believer that the golf swing is much easier to execute if you begin with the proper hold on the club.
As you might imagine, I come into contact with hundreds of golfers of all skill levels. And it is very rare to see a good player with a bad hold on the golf club. There are some exceptions, for sure, but they are very few and very far between, and they typically have beat so many balls with their poor grip that they’ve found a way to work around it.
The reality of biophysics is that the body moves only in certain ways – and the particulars of the way you hold the golf club can totally prevent a sound swing motion that allows the club to release properly through the impact zone. The wonderful thing is that anyone can learn how to put a fundamentally sound hold on the golf club, and you can practice it anywhere your hands are not otherwise engaged, like watching TV or just sitting and relaxing.
Whether you prefer an overlap, interlock or full-finger (not baseball!) grip on the club, the same fundamentals apply. Here are the major grip faults I see most often, in the order of the frequency:
Mis-aligned hands
By this I mean that the palms of the two hands are not parallel to each other. Too many golfers have a weak left hand and strong right, or vice versa. The easiest way to learn how to hold the club with your palms aligned properly is to grip a plain wooden ruler or yardstick. It forces the hands to align properly and shows you how that feels. If you grip and re-grip a yardstick several times, then grip a club, you’ll see that the learning curve is almost immediate.
The position of the grip in the upper/left hand
I also observe many golfers who have the butt of the grip too far into the heel pad of the upper hand (the left hand for right-handed players). It’s amazing how much easier it is to release the club through the ball if even 1/4-1/2″ of the butt is beyond the left heel pad. Try this yourself to see what I mean. Swing the club freely with just your left hand and notice the difference in its release from when you hold it at the end of the grip, versus gripping down even a half inch.
To help you really understand how this works, go to the range and hit shots with your five-iron gripped down a full inch to make the club the same length as your seven-iron. You will probably see an amazing shot shape difference, and likely not see as much distance loss as you would expect.
Too much lower (right) hand on the club
It seems like almost all golfers of 8-10 handicap or higher have the club too far into the palm of the lower hand, because that feels “good” if you are trying to control the path of the clubhead to the ball. But the golf swing is not an effort to hit at the ball – it is a swing of the club. The proper hold on the club has the grip underneath the pad at the base of the fingers. This will likely feel “weak” to you — like you cannot control the club like that. EXACTLY. You should not be trying to control the club with your lower/master hand.
Gripping too tightly
Nearly all golfers hold the club too tightly, which tenses up the forearms and prevents a proper release of the club through impact. In order for the club to move back and through properly, you must feel that the club is controlled by the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the middle two fingers of the lower hand. If you engage your thumbs and forefingers in “holding” the club, the result will almost always be a grip that is too tight. Try this for yourself. Hold the club in your upper hand only, and squeeze firmly with just the last three fingers, with the forefinger and thumb off the club entirely. You have good control, but your forearms are not tense. Then begin to squeeze down with your thumb and forefinger and observe the tensing of the entire forearm. This is the way we are made, so the key to preventing tenseness in the arms is to hold the club very lightly with the “pinchers” — the thumbs and forefingers.
So, those are what I believe are the four fundamentals of a good grip. Anyone can learn them in their home or office very quickly. There is no easier way to improve your ball striking consistency and add distance than giving more attention to the way you hold the golf club.
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Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?
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George
Jan 29, 2017 at 2:35 pm
Judging the shot he hits, it’s definitively not a lob. Launch angle looks more like 45deg and farther than just over the bunker. Looks more like a standard chip with a SW. Just hit a lob like Phil does. Play it like a sand shot. High lofted club, ball at front foot, weight at front foot, body level or a little away from the target and hit aggressively *behind* the ball, so that the club works upwards into the ball. The harder you hit, the more spin, the higher the trajectory. Does not work 100% but definitively more than 50/50. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d68hydVbWA
Still subject to practice. I hit more shots extremely high but short of the green landing in the bunker than skulling them into the bunker or over the green.
Howard
Jan 31, 2017 at 1:10 pm
I agree… just be like Phil.
LOLFace
Jan 23, 2017 at 5:09 am
This is a total bunch of malarkey.
This is a sure-fire way to hit a skull-rocket through the green, end up on the next hole, and have your regular playing partners abandon you in favour of someone who can actually play golf.
Subsequently, your weekends will be spent mowing the lawn, completing jigsaw puzzles, watching rom-coms and wishing you hadn’t been such an idiot.
Be careful 🙂
LD
Jan 23, 2017 at 9:55 am
Yes sir. You’d be better off putting it from that distance.
Are you talking about JLo rom-coms? If so, I’m in.
Jalan
Jan 25, 2017 at 8:36 pm
Well…you do need to know where to play it, too. If you have a little room under the ball i.e. longer grass, it’s an easy, effective shot. Tight lie or hardpan….not so much.
Mat
Jan 23, 2017 at 4:42 am
Rename this to “How to skull a ball Every. Single. Time.”
cgasucks
Jan 22, 2017 at 6:02 pm
Right…sure…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5J43wMQXZ4
Ben
Jan 21, 2017 at 9:07 pm
Whoa! I tried this and it worked! Now, I just need to do it more consistently.
cgasucks
Jan 23, 2017 at 9:04 pm
You won’t..
Philip
Jan 21, 2017 at 7:30 pm
I do this in the rough, however, from the fairway I find this technique is 50/50 with a chance of hitting the hosel or blading it. I would rather do what I see them do on tour; open the club face, aim left and hit a normal pitch shot.
Spencer Wong
Jan 21, 2017 at 1:25 pm
Interesting. For lobs now, I set up square and on impact, I’m back at my starting position. In other words, I don’t think I’m adding dynamic loft to it though I may need to head out and double check. Question though, if adding dynamic loft this way, aren’t you adding risk in hitting it thin?
Cornwall
Jan 21, 2017 at 5:51 pm
In my opinion yes many amateurs will knife it trying that especially if they’re already struggling with the lob shot
Jalan
Jan 22, 2017 at 10:53 am
Without practicing the shot, blading it over the green is almost guaranteed. Also, as someone else mentioned. too tight a lie can result in blading it as well. Practice. Practice. Practice.
Jack
Jan 23, 2017 at 11:09 am
Yeah when hitting a lob shot you have to do this move. Not to be confused with a normal chip shot. I think some people are getting freaked out thinking oh there is no way I hit a chip shot like that. Uh it’s a lob shot, and I usually take a larger slower swing open my stance and get under it. Would never try it on a tight lie due to the bounce. I can see how this is more consistent due to a shorter backswing though.