I made an executive decision on the course today that I wasn't going to pitch with my SW anymore. I'm pretty good with it out of bunkers, but every time I get under 100 yds or so I hit it fat a ton of times. I've taken all the advice people have told me - play it a little back in the stance, put weight on the front foot, etc - but I still hit it fat. For the most part, it's the only club in the bag I tend to do it with more than I should. Every now and then it will happen with the PW, 9, or 8, but not nearly as much.

I'm sure some will say "just stop pitching with your SW" but I'd like to be able to do just that.

EDIT: I'm a 15 handicap.

Get a sand wedge with more bounce

Get yourself to the range and practice 1/2 to 3/4 swings. Just focus on contact and distance control. After all you don't just need the SW for 1 set distance. Close the club face compared to your natural set up as you address the ball. Keep your wrists in front of the ball at address and at contact. You should produce more spin and hopefully become a consistent striker of the ball with the wedge.

Are you using it for a wide range of shot distances? It sounds like you are. One thing you might be doing on the <100% shots is not getting your weight through the ball. I usually pitch with my lob wedge and on almost all shots I hit fat I know immediately it was because it was a half-power shot and I was afraid to throw my right hip through. It's this thing where I think using my hip will make me hit it too far but that isn't true. I know it's wrong and I know what I did wrong but sometimes it just happens.

See if that's not the issue. Make sure you don't retard your midsection during a partial swing because your hands won't come forward as much and they will drop too soon and you hit the ground before the ball.

Yeah after reading this, I think I might be suffering from not committing to the shot with the rest of my body. To answer your question, I generally try to pitch with the SW from about 80 to 20yds, and I only use it to chip if I absolutely have to get a shot with loft.

Next time it happens, take a couple practice swings in the same spot with full commitment, drop a ball and hit the shot again. I don't play 2 balls but I'm pretty sure when I duffed a lob wedge I have done this immediately afterward and had a quality result.

I have to tell myself "hit through the god damn ball you idiot" lol. I'm afraid on those partial shots I will fly the green but full commitment just gets higher loft and more spin, which is what you want. Honestly I can't remember ever flying a green on a partial pitch shot that I didn't totally skull. But still the mind sometimes is afraid.

Yeah, skulling it is more than likely in the back of my head. It's amazing how much of this game goes on in between the ears.

I never skull pitch shots and I'm a 29 HC. I do occassionally skull little chip shots or flop shots (which I haven't really implemented in-game yet).

But yeah I can't remember the last time I flew a green on a partial swing pitch shot. I do fly them sometimes when hitting like a 7i on down when I don't realize I'm hitting a club too much.

It's so stupid I'll duff then be like hit the god damn ball and retry and boom it's fine. I usually try to make sure I take 2 practice swings before these shots to make sure I feel my body getting through smoothly before I step up to the ball.

You are probably getting too steep with it.

Also, what do you call "back of your stance"? I put my SW about right-instep (I'm right-handed) -- so it's pretty far back in my stance.

dang, even on full SW shots? i think ball position will vary based on what kind of swing you have right? compared to most i think i play shots really far forward (usually an inch or two inside my left foot) because of where my swing bottoms out, whenever i try messing around with the ball middle stance or back my result is a gross mis****/shank...but i also practically never hit balls fat so i just don't worry about it, even with clean contact i do take huge divots with my SW compared to other clubs though, must have to do with the weighting or bounce

I hit my wedges very far back with a very open stance. SW is about 3" in front of my right foot, and about 11" behind my left heel. My left toe is inline with the back of my right heel. And left foot pointed almost 45d toward target. It's almost impossible not to pull my right hip through. I pretty much never hit it fat but my misses are straight pulls about 10-15 yards off line once in a while.

I'm jealous of people who can hit the ball way up in their stance. I can't even hit the driver too close to my front foot. Maybe it's just body type but it's one of those things where you see someone doing something and think "I wish I could hit the ball like that." lol.

Is your SW your most lofted club? What kind of SW is it and how much bounce does it have? If you are hitting it fat out of tight lies more often than not, the bounce will be contributing. Either get a LW and only use the SW when you have enough grass under the ball that the bounce won't effect it or get a SW with less bounce.

Master the brush the grass drill with the pitches. Really feel the bottom of the swing and envision the face angle created by that swing. Free yourself up (release tension) by varying the length of backswing to control distance.

Yeah, pretty much on all shots with the SW, but I like to flight the ball lower. I'll move it up to about center of my stance if I need to get it higher though.

How much forward press do you have at address?

Thanks for the thoughts everyone.

Funny you asked UCB. I played today and realized that I had nearly zero forward press at address, and it jogged my memory of a tidbit of advice my pops had given me about forward pressing hands a little more when chipping/pitching. That along with playing it back closer to my right foot helped a ton. I only pitched it fat once all day with the SW, and I'm blaming that on the fact that it rained rather heavy the night before

I just checked my forward press and it looks like the center of my hands are about 10" forward of the ball.