Golf Punch Shot, Can be a Golfers Best Friend (Video) - by Pete Styles
Golf Punch Shot, Can be a Golfers Best Friend (Video) - by Pete Styles

So, once you feel comfortable hitting your standard iron shots at a standard height and a standard distance, one of the first variations of those shots I would like you to learn would be a punch shot. Punch shots are very useful at the golf course. A punch is a shot that we describe as going lower than normal and maybe slightly shorter but are slightly more penetrating in control flight.

So, there are a lot of different uses for a punch shot. You can be punching out to the trees to keep it low when the need for a low hanging branch or you can punch it under a wind if it is a head wind or a cross wind and you can punch the ball lower so it is less affected by the wind. That punch shot is a very, very useful shot. Maybe even just pitching or chipping the ball, we effectively play a little bit of a punch. We don’t have to pitch much high in the air all the time. We punch it in nice and low, a nice low flight with plenty of action.

Certainly, when you watch better players, they often hit the ball with this golf punch sho idea. So, the nice way of playing a punch shot in terms of improving your technique is to start by playing the ball in the center or maybe even slightly back of centering your stance. So, for this shot here I’ve taken an A-time, which would normally be placed slightly in front of center, just an inch in front. I'm not going to play it an inch or two behind center.

That would encourage me then to lean the shaft slightly in front of the golf ball so it increases my shaft angle and decreases my loft and club head angle. I position a little bit more than normal body weight onto the left side, so maybe 60% body weight into the left leg, 40 into the right leg. I stay on my left side here, gripping down a little bit and I'm making a shorter than normal back swing with about 80% energy going through the ball, 80% of normal power.

I don’t hit this ball too hard. I certainly don’t want to flick my wrist to take everything that is just pops the ball up into the air. So, I'm sitting on my left side, positioning myself in front and hitting down on it, squeezing the punch shot a bit lower, less affected by the wind, hitting it under the branches. It is a very useful shot for you to play. So, we take the ball back in the stance, get in front of it and then hit down nice and hard.

You can see my follow through is a little bit shorter than normal here. I have just cut off the follow through a little bit, drilled that A-time nice and low with plenty of backspin when it stops on the green. If you can master the golf punch shot, you will find that a very versatile shot in your game.

 2012-05-09

So, once you feel comfortable hitting your standard iron shots at a standard height and a standard distance, one of the first variations of those shots I would like you to learn would be a punch shot. Punch shots are very useful at the golf course. A punch is a shot that we describe as going lower than normal and maybe slightly shorter but are slightly more penetrating in control flight.

So, there are a lot of different uses for a punch shot. You can be punching out to the trees to keep it low when the need for a low hanging branch or you can punch it under a wind if it is a head wind or a cross wind and you can punch the ball lower so it is less affected by the wind. That punch shot is a very, very useful shot. Maybe even just pitching or chipping the ball, we effectively play a little bit of a punch. We don’t have to pitch much high in the air all the time. We punch it in nice and low, a nice low flight with plenty of action.

Certainly, when you watch better players, they often hit the ball with this golf punch sho idea. So, the nice way of playing a punch shot in terms of improving your technique is to start by playing the ball in the center or maybe even slightly back of centering your stance. So, for this shot here I’ve taken an A-time, which would normally be placed slightly in front of center, just an inch in front. I'm not going to play it an inch or two behind center.

That would encourage me then to lean the shaft slightly in front of the golf ball so it increases my shaft angle and decreases my loft and club head angle. I position a little bit more than normal body weight onto the left side, so maybe 60% body weight into the left leg, 40 into the right leg. I stay on my left side here, gripping down a little bit and I'm making a shorter than normal back swing with about 80% energy going through the ball, 80% of normal power.

I don’t hit this ball too hard. I certainly don’t want to flick my wrist to take everything that is just pops the ball up into the air. So, I'm sitting on my left side, positioning myself in front and hitting down on it, squeezing the punch shot a bit lower, less affected by the wind, hitting it under the branches. It is a very useful shot for you to play. So, we take the ball back in the stance, get in front of it and then hit down nice and hard.

You can see my follow through is a little bit shorter than normal here. I have just cut off the follow through a little bit, drilled that A-time nice and low with plenty of backspin when it stops on the green. If you can master the golf punch shot, you will find that a very versatile shot in your game.