Shane Lowry Pitching Tips | GolfPass

Shane Lowry Pitching Tips | GolfPass

Shane, your short game recognized as one of the very best. Where did that come from? Um, when you started playing golf, tell us about the environment you learned in and why your short game is so very, very good. Yeah. So, I always say that, uh, where I grew up, um, the golf course I grew up in was a place called Esker Hills, right in the middle of Ireland. And, um, the way the greens were designed, it was all raised greens. And I used to play a lot of golf on my own. Uh, so I’d go out and I’d have like my, you know, a few balls in my bag and I’d always throw them around the green and I’d spend hours and hours just chipping, you know, not really I was never really taught any technique, but I was always like just trying to get the ball as close to the hole as I could and that’s kind of the way I grew up and I think that’s where I learned how to chip. Well, you certainly do it very well. Look, let’s see you chip a couple for the viewers and we’ll actually pitch. We’ve got two flags here. We can go to the first one or the the longer one. Which one you going to go to first of all? Uh, I’ll go to the first one here. Just go to the first flag. Little practice swing there. I noticed that. And talk us through your your thoughts, your basics, your checkpoints, please. Yeah. So, I’m just like with my little practice swing here. I’m literally just trying to get a feel for the shot I want to hit. Um, you know, where I’m going to land it. Uh, like this. This shot here is it’s tricky enough. like it’s kind of one you just need to like it’s kind of a semi- lob shot and you know come out a little bit soft with like not much spin and you know maybe a little bit of spin but it’s kind of one that you want to get landing high and soft or going high and soft. So um I I’d always like I’d obviously open the club face but I’d open the club face before I take my grip. I I went through a bit of a phase of like driving these chip shots a little bit too low and hard. And I figured out just by practicing myself that um I was like gripping the club and then opening the face. So then my grip got too strong. Um so now like I make sure that like I’d open the face first and then grip the club. So my my left hand is weaker. Um which means I’ll be able to hit it higher and softer. Well, let’s let’s see it. Let’s put you to the test, Open Champion. Yeah. Yeah, that was beautifully played. And uh this is not easy because the ground is fairly soft, but you didn’t take much divot there at all. Doesn’t look like you’re pounding down on that ball. Uh grip pressure. Talk to us about grip pressure for you, Shane, in this sort of high soft pitch shot. Yeah. So like um I mean especially when you you get under high pressure situations, you want to make sure sometimes you can your tendencies would be to like grip it a little bit tighter because you’re a bit anxious more anxious. But I would be I’d be one that I’d always try and have it like, you know, feel like I’m just gripping the club quite softly, you know, sort of a five out of 10. Like nothing nothing too uh too hard. And and for me then when I take the club back like it kind of I hinge it quite quickly and then it’s almost I’m just letting the club drop the club does all the work and just drop on the back of the ball and that’s kind of that’s the way sometimes people talk about deliberately making sure they accelerate. Is that something you would feel or not so much? No, not with this type of a shot because I feel like if you’re trying to accelerate towards this one, you know, you’ll end up probably driving it and hitting it a little bit too hard. So for me, I would always always like just feel like I’m taking the club back and it’s almost like the length of my back swing is where the speed comes from. So when I get to the top of my back swing, then the club, you know, the club does all the work and the way the club falls in the back of the ball and that’s uh that’s the way I do it anyway. Well, I and you do it beautifully. Let’s see that again. Love the little practice swing. It’s a mannerism that you have and you know, as I stand and watch you, the hands are clearly so soft. Yeah, that was beautifully beautifully played. Now look, players of your caliber, you have mannerisms. Um, you’ve had them for years growing up there pitching so much as a as a kid. You look at the target a lot. It look like you don’t actually look at the ball much, but you look at the target. Conscious, unconscious. Yeah, it’s it’s more of an unconscious thing. like I just do it because I’ve done it so much. But it’s almost like, you know, this is no different than than like a a putt or, you know, I’m kind of I’m standing there and I’m trying to feel, you know, when I when I’m over a putt, like I’ll look at it and as soon as my eyes come back to the ball, that’s when I kind of take the club back. You know, I find if you stand over the ball too long, if you if you stand here and, you know, you’re kind of standing over the ball too long thinking about what you’re doing, you’ll just get more uptight and more into yourself and you’ll just end up not hitting good shots. Can we just hit one more to that short pin and then perhaps we’ll uh do a couple of other things. I couple of things we said before the cameras got rolling that I want to share with the viewers. Hit one more if you would there please. Shane face is very open. Hands very very soft on the club. Just really letting that club drop on the ball. Absolutely gorgeous to watch. No doubt. Um I asked you and I’m sure the viewers will be surprised. How often do you change your wedges? Yeah. Well, I’m obviously I’m very fortunate that I can get them uh on tour every week, but I change my lob wedge every like three weeks, every I the maximum I’ll use it is probably three tournaments. Um cuz just you know, you from all the practice you do and you know, all the chipping you do the week of an event or on an off week, you kind of the grooves go and I just like to have consistency and the consistency is like you know having fresh grooves all the time and it’s Yeah. So the sharp grooves help that ball spin for sure. Um, look, there’s a difference obviously between chipping and pitching. That was a high soft pitch. If we were going to drive one a little bit farther to that far flag, what might change? So, I think obviously it doesn’t need to come out as high or as soft. Um, the way I would see this shot here is obviously a little bit lower, um, with a little bit more spin. um sort of checking a little bit. But uh I’d move first thing I do is I just move it back in my stance. And for this shot for me, I’d always try and almost play like a little draw cuz it gets it kind of releasing, you know, spinning and then releasing down to the hole. So the one thing I would look at is trying to hold shots, you know, trying to hold chip shots all the time. And you’re the best way to hold a chip shot is kind of like even with the short pitch I just hit, they were kind of high and left to right. So they’re kind of spinning away from the hole. So they’re harder to haul, but this one you kind of you’re trying to get it going at the hole and kind of almost going like a putt. I think it’s so interesting because obviously watching you, no one would know that’s going on, but up here in command center, very interesting. So let’s hit this one in a little bit lower, more of a more of a sort of a chip shot of a sort because it’s a lower shot. Can you still pick a landing area? Yeah, I kind of I have a little spot in my head just kind of over there’s a little mark on the green. I just kind of it’s about six or eight feet on the green, but I see it sort of kind of a little bit right to left and down releasing down to the hole. And the one thing I do is I’d move it back in my stance and I just square up the club face a little bit more. And then I just kind of feel like I’m almost just trying to like hit like a little kind of little draw. So kind of, you know, from inside and I’ll I dug that one in the ground a little bit. That’s pretty good. Yeah, but but it’s a very good shot. And I think look, there’s a very interesting thing there for the viewers that the high lob shot there wasn’t much divot, but as you went for the longer I suppose you could say it’s a chip shot of a because there was a bit of a divot. Uh, one more if you would please. Do you do you feel like shall I say the release pattern is a little different for this one then? Yeah, you probably, you know, you’re you’re getting like you’re kind of the way I’m going is I’m like down feel like I’m hitting more down on it and kind of through and kind of, you know, from the inside to the out and getting it kind of releasing down to the hole. And I notice every time you hit the shot, you wipe the face clean either with your hands or on your legs. That’s very important, isn’t it? Grooves are a little dirty. Yeah. Yeah, the the pace there is absolutely spectacular.

⛳ Watch more Lessons with a Champion Golfer: Shane Lowry: https://golfpass.social/zppp

Shane Lowry shares with Martin Hall the checkpoints he goes over before a pitch shot, how he grips the club specifically for pitches and how he focuses on making all his chip shots.

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Shane Lowry Pitching Tips | GolfPass