At this point, it is finally time to dive into the topic of punch shot technique. Rather than just telling you to work on a shallow approach – which is important, but hard to execute without the right technique – we are going to cover a variety of other points which should lead to that shallow approach. If you hit on all of the various technical points we outline below, the approach you make into the ball should be right on track.
Without further delay, let’s get into the list of key fundamentals for producing a quality punch shot.
Choke down on the grip. This is an easy start. To make this adjustment, all you need to do is move your hands down on the grip of the club by an inch or two. The farther you go down on the grip, the lower you can expect the shot to fly in the end. By choking down on the grip, you are going to shorten the effective length of the club. This shorter effective length will lead to a loss in swing speed. Even if you were to make no other adjustments, simply choking down slightly on the grip would help you move in the direction of a punch shot on all its own. Try hitting a few shots on the range while choked down on the grip just to see how powerful this change can be.
Move the ball back in your stance. Another important adjustment, this one can actually go wrong if you go too far. Yes, it is important to move the ball back in your stance, but only slightly. If you move it back too far, you are going to create a steep downward angle of attack – which is not the goal. Generally speaking, you should only move the ball back in your stance a couple of inches as compared to its normal position. Many golfers go too far with this adjustment, and they struggle with the punch shot as a result. The combination of choking down on the grip and moving the ball a bit back in your stance will quickly bring your ball flight much closer to the ground.
Narrow your stance. Now we are getting into the fundamentals which are not as commonly known among amateur golfers. You may have already known that you should choke down and move the ball back in your stance, but you might not have known to narrow that stance a bit as well. With a narrowed stance, you won’t be able to make as big of a backswing – and that is a good thing. A shorter backswing is going to help you take speed out of the swing, and it is going to promote solid contact. Again, the key here is moderation. You aren’t going to dramatically narrow your stance, but just enough to cause the length of your swing to shorten. Of course, with this narrower stance, you will need to focus on balance throughout the swing if you hope to come away with a successful shot.
Steady head position. This is the piece of technique which should help you maintain a shallow angle of attack on the way into the ball. When hitting a punch, many golfers tend to drift to the left of the ball during the downswing, leading to a steep approach. It is crucial that you are able to steer clear of this mistake. Instead of letting your left drift to the left, keep it perfectly steady and allow the rotation of your lower body to drive the swing. When you combine a stable head position with the rest of the tips on this list, you will be in great shape to hit quality punch shots time after time.
You shouldn’t have to spend too long working on the technical elements of the punch shot, as they are quite simple. With just a bit of practice, you will get comfortable making swings while choked down on the grip, and the other pieces will come together in short order as well. The bulk of the work you need to do is simply piling up the repetitions necessary to build confidence in this shot. Just hitting one good punch shot on the range is not going to give you the confidence necessary to pull it off on the course. Make sure to hit at least a few punch shots during each trip to the driving range so you can gradually develop your level of trust in this type of shot.
