In the second of her three-part series on wedge play, Dustin Johnson Golf School instructor Meredith Kirk highlights the four key elements you need to focus on with your pitching setup.

Let’s talk about your pitching set up. The first thing that you want to do is you want to make sure that your hips are slightly open to your target. What you can do is drop back your lead foot about an inch. Second thing is, you want to have a slight forward press. Get your club, press it forward toward the target. What that does is it helps keep your hands in front of that club head at impact.

The third thing I want you to do is when you grip the club … When it comes to your grip pressure for pitching, I want you to feel your grip more in the back two fingers of the grip, not in the front. The reason why is when you take that club back and you have that natural hinge in your pitch shot, you can feel it a little bit more. It gives you just a little bit more control.

The last thing is, your lead leg is going to stay planted. Because when it comes to pitching, your left side or your lead side is going to be very dominant. I’m going to give this a shot here. I’m a little bit open to my target. I have my forward press. I feel a little bit more tension on those back two lead fingers. I’m just going to stay planted on my left side.

(executes shot)

Ah, that felt great. I love pitching. Pitching is so important. These tips right here are going to give you so much more control and even better distance, so give it a shot!