Tom Watson’s advice to amateurs on how to hit ‘one of the most feared shots’ in golf

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Every amateur golfer has a different shot they simply cannot face but when it comes to the 40 yard pitch shot, most would agree it’s right up there as one of the trickiest.

Getting the ball up and down from that sort of distance, whether it be from a bunker or simply a tight fairway lie, remains one of the game’s hardest aspects for the average golfer.

Oftentimes we see people thin the ball over the green, leave it way short, or sometimes – if conditions allow – people even take the putter out.

So how can we all improve at this type of shot? Well, luckily enough, eight-time major champion Tom Watson has some advice we can all follow.

Tom Watson’s advice for hitting a 40 yard golf shot

Even the professionals recognise the difficulty of this sort of shot and sometimes, it can make or break a good round of golf.

Of course, the very best should be seeing this as their bread and butter.

And according to Tom Watson, there is a fundamental mistake amateurs make all the time on this shot, and it comes down to their body position in the main.

“One of the most feared shots that amateurs have in the game of golf is the 40 yard wedge shot,” Watson explained .

“What happens with most amateurs is they get into a position and because they don’t make a full swing, they never get enough weight in their left foot to make a ball, divot type of progression. They start in what I call the tripod position. Their legs are straight up, forming a triangle and the centre of gravity is in the middle and that’s where they think it should be.

“Well it’s not. What I suggest you do is this simple move. Take your hips, and start in the tripod position, but then slide your hips, keeping your upper body in the same place. So that the legs are now slightly bent towards the target.”

Tom Watson’s golf ‘secret’ he wishes he’d learnt sooner

Listening to a great like Watson is always rewarding and given his status in the game and what he achieved, we’d be silly not to take his advice on board.

However, it’s not just the short game where Watson has given advice.

In fact, Watson has also spoken of the swing secret he discovered later in his career.

I don’t have any regrets in my golf career, honestly. But the one thing that I wish I’d learned earlier is the secret I talk about in my book,” he explained.

“And that secret is very simply, if I take my shoulders back, then I come back with them on the same plane. But before, I would take my shoulders back here [demonstrates swing] and then go there, ‘reverse C’. That killed me a lot, lot of times and it kept me you know, inconsistent.”

Clearly, there is so much we can think about in the golf swing and over certain shots.

But listening to legends like this is no bad thing and if we do, we might all just improve that little bit more.