Correct Way to Hit Three-Quarter Shots - Senior Golf Tip (Video) - by Dean Butler
Correct Way to Hit Three-Quarter Shots - Senior Golf Tip (Video) - by Dean Butler

Okay. What we’re going to do is talk about the correct way of actually hitting a three-quarter shot. So, for those people who are not sure what a three-quarter shot means let me demonstrate. A three-quarter shot is all about keeping the backswing under control, so whereas you might have gone to this sort of position, we’re now looking at sort of about 9 o’clock, so getting the position here, a three-quarter sort of backswing. To play a three-quarter shot you might think yourself when would I actually use this shot? Well, just thing about the scenario. Maybe towards the end of the round you’re becoming tired and instead of you haven’t got the sort of fitness to actually coil and turn those shoulders, so maybe taking one club more, instead of hitting the 7-iron to the green, maybe playing that 6-iron with a three-quarter swing maybe just the right thing for you.

What if you’ve got a sort of a side wind coming across the right-hand side? Rather hitting that 7-iron up in the air as an example and the wind blowing against it, maybe playing a 6-iron and playing a three-quarter shot, a bit more penetration; of course, the wind is going to effect that ball a lot less, so these are sort of circumstances that we would actually play the three-quarter shot in. Let me show you how we actually play it. The first thing that we need to do is to actually go down the grip. So, the first thing we’re going to do is go down the grip. This is going to actually control the width, it’s going to narrow the width and it’s going to actually help, if I go too far down, it’s going to actually help as you can see here, keeping my backswing short, because the emphasis is on keeping that swing controlled and short. If we go down the grip it creates more of an arm’s swing and the arm swing will always be a bit more sensitive to hitting the ball at a lower ball flight.

Remember, if you were to actually hinge your wrist and then hit down, by hitting down the loft of the club will send the ball back up in the air and so what we want you to do is go down the grip, from here put the ball slightly further back in your stance because by hitting the ball slightly earlier it’s going to push the ball at a much lower, sort of, ball flight and as you go through the hitting area try and focus on keeping the club in the hands much low to the ground, so what I mean by that, don’t focus on coming through and up because then you’re going to send the ball airborne, but focus on actually hitting though and keeping that club low.

Let me give you a demonstration. So, I’ve got my hands down the grip. I’ve got my ball position a bit further back because that’s going to mean hitting the ball early in a lower ball flight and from here I’m going to focus now on just three-quarter backswing, just about half swing. So, just my arms back and look at my hands and arms here, look that that finish. Look how low I’ve concentrated. That ball is really penetrating through that wind. I’ve not gone through and gone high. Remember, let’s be positive. Over that ball, three-quarter backswing and keep that club and hands low to the ground. That’s the sort of finish and that’s a good way of getting that three-quarter shot, lots of control. We love that word, control.

 2013-08-06

Okay. What we’re going to do is talk about the correct way of actually hitting a three-quarter shot. So, for those people who are not sure what a three-quarter shot means let me demonstrate. A three-quarter shot is all about keeping the backswing under control, so whereas you might have gone to this sort of position, we’re now looking at sort of about 9 o’clock, so getting the position here, a three-quarter sort of backswing. To play a three-quarter shot you might think yourself when would I actually use this shot? Well, just thing about the scenario. Maybe towards the end of the round you’re becoming tired and instead of you haven’t got the sort of fitness to actually coil and turn those shoulders, so maybe taking one club more, instead of hitting the 7-iron to the green, maybe playing that 6-iron with a three-quarter swing maybe just the right thing for you.

What if you’ve got a sort of a side wind coming across the right-hand side? Rather hitting that 7-iron up in the air as an example and the wind blowing against it, maybe playing a 6-iron and playing a three-quarter shot, a bit more penetration; of course, the wind is going to effect that ball a lot less, so these are sort of circumstances that we would actually play the three-quarter shot in. Let me show you how we actually play it. The first thing that we need to do is to actually go down the grip. So, the first thing we’re going to do is go down the grip. This is going to actually control the width, it’s going to narrow the width and it’s going to actually help, if I go too far down, it’s going to actually help as you can see here, keeping my backswing short, because the emphasis is on keeping that swing controlled and short. If we go down the grip it creates more of an arm’s swing and the arm swing will always be a bit more sensitive to hitting the ball at a lower ball flight.

Remember, if you were to actually hinge your wrist and then hit down, by hitting down the loft of the club will send the ball back up in the air and so what we want you to do is go down the grip, from here put the ball slightly further back in your stance because by hitting the ball slightly earlier it’s going to push the ball at a much lower, sort of, ball flight and as you go through the hitting area try and focus on keeping the club in the hands much low to the ground, so what I mean by that, don’t focus on coming through and up because then you’re going to send the ball airborne, but focus on actually hitting though and keeping that club low.

Let me give you a demonstration. So, I’ve got my hands down the grip. I’ve got my ball position a bit further back because that’s going to mean hitting the ball early in a lower ball flight and from here I’m going to focus now on just three-quarter backswing, just about half swing. So, just my arms back and look at my hands and arms here, look that that finish. Look how low I’ve concentrated. That ball is really penetrating through that wind. I’ve not gone through and gone high. Remember, let’s be positive. Over that ball, three-quarter backswing and keep that club and hands low to the ground. That’s the sort of finish and that’s a good way of getting that three-quarter shot, lots of control. We love that word, control.