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Tyler Ferrell is the only person in the world named to Golf Digest's list of Best Young Teachers in America AND its list of Best Golf Fitness Professionals in America.

Differentiate Between Punch and Recovery Shots

After this video, you'll be able to:

  • Identify the correct shot to use in challenging situations on the course.
  • Adjust ball position and stance for effective punch shot execution.
  • Develop a reliable technique for hitting recovery shots with control.

In this video, you'll learn the key differences between punch shots and recovery shots, including their specific techniques and when to use each. Understanding these shots can enhance your ability to navigate tricky situations on the course.

Video Transcript
WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.760
This video is discussing the general punch shot versus the recovery shot, so I

2
00:00:04.760 --> 00:00:04.920
've

3
00:00:04.920 --> 00:00:08.680
got a couple different videos on lower-flighted shots and we had a question

4
00:00:08.680 --> 00:00:12.600
from one of the members about the difference between say the standard

5
00:00:12.600 --> 00:00:16.720
punch shot and then more of the recovery trap hook or what do you need to do if

6
00:00:16.720 --> 00:00:21.880
you need to hit more of a recovery fade. So I've got my seven iron. I would

7
00:00:21.880 --> 00:00:25.040
recommend when you're playing around with these punch shots you start with

8
00:00:25.040 --> 00:00:29.980
like a six iron, seven iron as low as maybe a five iron. I wouldn't go to a

9
00:00:29.980 --> 00:00:34.370
really low club. I wouldn't use a hybrid at least while you're first learning

10
00:00:34.370 --> 00:00:34.600
it

11
00:00:34.600 --> 00:00:38.360
and it will be harder to recognize the difference with say an eight iron. So

12
00:00:38.360 --> 00:00:44.320
somewhere in that middle iron zone. The general recipe for just your standard

13
00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:48.710
punch shot is it's going to have a little bit more of an upper body sequence to

14
00:00:48.710 --> 00:00:48.800
it

15
00:00:48.800 --> 00:00:53.680
with the upper body more level. That's gonna help increase the angle of attack

16
00:00:53.680 --> 00:00:59.880
and now to bring the spins slightly down I'm going to have a little less of the

17
00:00:59.880 --> 00:01:04.270
bracing and full supination release and I'm gonna have a little bit more of

18
00:01:04.270 --> 00:01:04.440
that

19
00:01:04.440 --> 00:01:09.060
hold off move with the arms which is why it kind of feels even more so like a

20
00:01:09.060 --> 00:01:14.140
punch movement as opposed to like a swinging movement. I'm only gonna put the

21
00:01:14.140 --> 00:01:20.940
ball position maybe slightly backward compared to my normal shot. So executing

22
00:01:20.940 --> 00:01:25.980
your basic punch shot we've got a little bit narrower stance a little bit left

23
00:01:25.980 --> 00:01:31.620
towards swing pretty close to a normal or let's say slightly over three quarter

24
00:01:31.620 --> 00:01:40.300
backswing and more of that hold off style. Now you'll see that I still got a

25
00:01:40.300 --> 00:01:45.740
good amount of height on that. I still had a pretty regular divot fairly

26
00:01:45.740 --> 00:01:46.260
regular

27
00:01:46.260 --> 00:01:50.060
looking swing. It was just a little bit more flighted a little bit more

28
00:01:50.060 --> 00:01:50.540
controlled.

29
00:01:50.540 --> 00:01:56.120
This is a great go-to shot because under pressure your your arm timing and

30
00:01:56.120 --> 00:01:59.180
having like the perfect timing of your release can be a little bit challenging.

31
00:01:59.180 --> 00:02:04.060
So by doing this punch shot it's a little bit more of a feeling of a body

32
00:02:04.060 --> 00:02:09.780
release. All I have to do is let my arms extend through the shot. I don't have

33
00:02:09.780 --> 00:02:10.140
to

34
00:02:10.140 --> 00:02:16.460
time quite as much of the unhinged and supination feeling. Now what if we

35
00:02:16.460 --> 00:02:16.780
wanted

36
00:02:16.780 --> 00:02:21.340
to do more of a recovery shot? So now with a recovery shot I'm imagining that

37
00:02:21.340 --> 00:02:25.420
there's some trees at about eye level and I need to keep this thing underneath

38
00:02:25.420 --> 00:02:29.860
the trees for a longer period of time. So now I'm going to play the ball

39
00:02:29.860 --> 00:02:35.220
significantly more back in my stance. I'm going to close the club face a little

40
00:02:35.220 --> 00:02:39.940
bit more to start. So if there's my normal grip I'm gonna close it maybe an

41
00:02:39.940 --> 00:02:46.980
extra 8, 10 degrees something like that. Now I'm going to still try and get my

42
00:02:46.980 --> 00:02:54.340
shoulders more level but in order to get this to draw I'm going to make sure

43
00:02:54.340 --> 00:02:54.620
that

44
00:02:54.620 --> 00:02:59.140
I still have a good amount of arm shallowing during that early part of the

45
00:02:59.140 --> 00:03:05.420
downswing so that I get my my path to be significantly into out. Moving it back

46
00:03:05.420 --> 00:03:09.620
helps a little bit but I also don't want to get too steep with my angle of

47
00:03:09.620 --> 00:03:15.060
attack or else I can create too much spin. So I'm still going to get shallow on

48
00:03:15.060 --> 00:03:17.740
this even though I moved the ball backward and I'm going to start with the

49
00:03:17.740 --> 00:03:21.180
club face a little bit more closed.

50
00:03:21.180 --> 00:03:30.860
This will also have a much lower flight usually a deeper divot. This is you're

51
00:03:30.860 --> 00:03:34.700
hitting this out of rough frequently so the main reason you're not going to see

52
00:03:34.700 --> 00:03:37.900
quite as much of a big divot is because the ball is typically sitting in the

53
00:03:37.900 --> 00:03:44.340
rough it's not quite as down or you can always work on making sure that the

54
00:03:44.340 --> 00:03:44.580
body

55
00:03:44.580 --> 00:03:50.460
or the the arms finish a little bit more around the left to minimize how steep

56
00:03:50.460 --> 00:03:54.630
that bottom of the swing is going to be. Now if you have to play more of the

57
00:03:54.630 --> 00:03:54.980
low

58
00:03:54.980 --> 00:04:01.420
cut shot then it is a little bit trickier. I would recommend going to even less

59
00:04:01.420 --> 00:04:05.140
loft so if you're doing this normally with your seven iron now we're going to

60
00:04:05.140 --> 00:04:10.180
move down to save my five iron but I'm going to use this club for demonstration

61
00:04:10.180 --> 00:04:14.980
purposes. The big thing here is I'm going to set up with my hips a little bit

62
00:04:14.980 --> 00:04:15.260
more

63
00:04:15.260 --> 00:04:20.860
back or even my spine leaning a little bit more to the left like so and then I

64
00:04:20.860 --> 00:04:24.980
have to make sure that I'm going to get a little more arm height and I'm going

65
00:04:24.980 --> 00:04:25.060
to

66
00:04:25.060 --> 00:04:30.580
hold the club face from rotating. You'll tend to see this is where one of those

67
00:04:30.580 --> 00:04:35.900
feelings of like the grip coming in towards my thigh while the club face

68
00:04:35.900 --> 00:04:41.980
gets held open is a kind of a more of a feeling of like a hold-off cut. The

69
00:04:41.980 --> 00:04:42.260
only

70
00:04:42.260 --> 00:04:45.900
way that you could have a full release and still hit a cut is if you got the

71
00:04:45.900 --> 00:04:50.380
club face open at the point of impact so we're open to the path when it's

72
00:04:50.380 --> 00:04:53.780
making contact. To do that you'd have to start with the club face really wide

73
00:04:53.780 --> 00:04:58.180
open and that tends to feel less comfortable for more golfers than having

74
00:04:58.180 --> 00:05:01.540
more of this hold-off style. So I'm going to play the ball back but I'm going

75
00:05:01.540 --> 00:05:01.580
to

76
00:05:01.580 --> 00:05:05.580
get my hips behind my upper body so my upper body is steep and on top of the

77
00:05:05.580 --> 00:05:10.660
ball. Now from here I'm going to hit more of that hold-off cut. The lower body

78
00:05:10.660 --> 00:05:14.570
being back and tilted like this is going to get me a really low launch angle.

79
00:05:14.570 --> 00:05:15.020
The

80
00:05:15.020 --> 00:05:19.500
arm swing going left will get my path to the left and the hold-off feeling will

81
00:05:19.500 --> 00:05:23.490
tend to keep the club face open to the path and make it curve back to the right

82
00:05:23.490 --> 00:05:23.500
.

83
00:05:23.500 --> 00:05:34.860
So it's gonna swing a little bit more to the left. So you'll see that started

84
00:05:34.860 --> 00:05:38.060
really low and had a fair amount of curve to it. You can see how much I

85
00:05:38.060 --> 00:05:43.620
swung outside and I did so by kind of keeping my upper body in front. That is

86
00:05:43.620 --> 00:05:49.020
the more challenging shot and it's definitely harder if you swing harder if

87
00:05:49.020 --> 00:05:53.380
you really try to get a lot of arm action or hand speed. This is much more

88
00:05:53.380 --> 00:05:59.620
of a body shot and if you do it even slower and more controlled you can get

89
00:05:59.620 --> 00:06:04.540
it to start with a much lower launch. That's why you tend to see a lot of these

90
00:06:04.540 --> 00:06:09.740
goofy arm finishes when you're seeing pros execute this shot out of the trees.

91
00:06:09.740 --> 00:06:14.540
I recommend working more on the first two just the slightly ball back slightly

92
00:06:14.540 --> 00:06:21.900
more level punch style like 3/4 style swing as a standard shot that you'll hit

93
00:06:21.900 --> 00:06:26.500
a lot even out of the fairway and then working on more of the trap draw with

94
00:06:26.500 --> 00:06:31.900
the ball back and full release. Those two tend to be the most viable shots and

95
00:06:31.900 --> 00:06:35.700
then when you have to hit the cut shot now you'll have a few ways to adjust

96
00:06:35.700 --> 00:06:35.860
your

97
00:06:35.860 --> 00:06:41.820
pattern to get the right path face angle of attack in order to get the ball to

98
00:06:41.820 --> 00:06:45.820
start low as well as curve off to the right.

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Related topics
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Tyler Ferrell is the only person in the world named to Golf Digest's list of Best Young Teachers in America AND its list of Best Golf Fitness Professionals in America.

Differentiate Between Punch and Recovery Shots

After this video, you'll be able to:

  • Identify the correct shot to use in challenging situations on the course.
  • Adjust ball position and stance for effective punch shot execution.
  • Develop a reliable technique for hitting recovery shots with control.

In this video, you'll learn the key differences between punch shots and recovery shots, including their specific techniques and when to use each. Understanding these shots can enhance your ability to navigate tricky situations on the course.

Video Transcript
WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.760
This video is discussing the general punch shot versus the recovery shot, so I

2
00:00:04.760 --> 00:00:04.920
've

3
00:00:04.920 --> 00:00:08.680
got a couple different videos on lower-flighted shots and we had a question

4
00:00:08.680 --> 00:00:12.600
from one of the members about the difference between say the standard

5
00:00:12.600 --> 00:00:16.720
punch shot and then more of the recovery trap hook or what do you need to do if

6
00:00:16.720 --> 00:00:21.880
you need to hit more of a recovery fade. So I've got my seven iron. I would

7
00:00:21.880 --> 00:00:25.040
recommend when you're playing around with these punch shots you start with

8
00:00:25.040 --> 00:00:29.980
like a six iron, seven iron as low as maybe a five iron. I wouldn't go to a

9
00:00:29.980 --> 00:00:34.370
really low club. I wouldn't use a hybrid at least while you're first learning

10
00:00:34.370 --> 00:00:34.600
it

11
00:00:34.600 --> 00:00:38.360
and it will be harder to recognize the difference with say an eight iron. So

12
00:00:38.360 --> 00:00:44.320
somewhere in that middle iron zone. The general recipe for just your standard

13
00:00:44.320 --> 00:00:48.710
punch shot is it's going to have a little bit more of an upper body sequence to

14
00:00:48.710 --> 00:00:48.800
it

15
00:00:48.800 --> 00:00:53.680
with the upper body more level. That's gonna help increase the angle of attack

16
00:00:53.680 --> 00:00:59.880
and now to bring the spins slightly down I'm going to have a little less of the

17
00:00:59.880 --> 00:01:04.270
bracing and full supination release and I'm gonna have a little bit more of

18
00:01:04.270 --> 00:01:04.440
that

19
00:01:04.440 --> 00:01:09.060
hold off move with the arms which is why it kind of feels even more so like a

20
00:01:09.060 --> 00:01:14.140
punch movement as opposed to like a swinging movement. I'm only gonna put the

21
00:01:14.140 --> 00:01:20.940
ball position maybe slightly backward compared to my normal shot. So executing

22
00:01:20.940 --> 00:01:25.980
your basic punch shot we've got a little bit narrower stance a little bit left

23
00:01:25.980 --> 00:01:31.620
towards swing pretty close to a normal or let's say slightly over three quarter

24
00:01:31.620 --> 00:01:40.300
backswing and more of that hold off style. Now you'll see that I still got a

25
00:01:40.300 --> 00:01:45.740
good amount of height on that. I still had a pretty regular divot fairly

26
00:01:45.740 --> 00:01:46.260
regular

27
00:01:46.260 --> 00:01:50.060
looking swing. It was just a little bit more flighted a little bit more

28
00:01:50.060 --> 00:01:50.540
controlled.

29
00:01:50.540 --> 00:01:56.120
This is a great go-to shot because under pressure your your arm timing and

30
00:01:56.120 --> 00:01:59.180
having like the perfect timing of your release can be a little bit challenging.

31
00:01:59.180 --> 00:02:04.060
So by doing this punch shot it's a little bit more of a feeling of a body

32
00:02:04.060 --> 00:02:09.780
release. All I have to do is let my arms extend through the shot. I don't have

33
00:02:09.780 --> 00:02:10.140
to

34
00:02:10.140 --> 00:02:16.460
time quite as much of the unhinged and supination feeling. Now what if we

35
00:02:16.460 --> 00:02:16.780
wanted

36
00:02:16.780 --> 00:02:21.340
to do more of a recovery shot? So now with a recovery shot I'm imagining that

37
00:02:21.340 --> 00:02:25.420
there's some trees at about eye level and I need to keep this thing underneath

38
00:02:25.420 --> 00:02:29.860
the trees for a longer period of time. So now I'm going to play the ball

39
00:02:29.860 --> 00:02:35.220
significantly more back in my stance. I'm going to close the club face a little

40
00:02:35.220 --> 00:02:39.940
bit more to start. So if there's my normal grip I'm gonna close it maybe an

41
00:02:39.940 --> 00:02:46.980
extra 8, 10 degrees something like that. Now I'm going to still try and get my

42
00:02:46.980 --> 00:02:54.340
shoulders more level but in order to get this to draw I'm going to make sure

43
00:02:54.340 --> 00:02:54.620
that

44
00:02:54.620 --> 00:02:59.140
I still have a good amount of arm shallowing during that early part of the

45
00:02:59.140 --> 00:03:05.420
downswing so that I get my my path to be significantly into out. Moving it back

46
00:03:05.420 --> 00:03:09.620
helps a little bit but I also don't want to get too steep with my angle of

47
00:03:09.620 --> 00:03:15.060
attack or else I can create too much spin. So I'm still going to get shallow on

48
00:03:15.060 --> 00:03:17.740
this even though I moved the ball backward and I'm going to start with the

49
00:03:17.740 --> 00:03:21.180
club face a little bit more closed.

50
00:03:21.180 --> 00:03:30.860
This will also have a much lower flight usually a deeper divot. This is you're

51
00:03:30.860 --> 00:03:34.700
hitting this out of rough frequently so the main reason you're not going to see

52
00:03:34.700 --> 00:03:37.900
quite as much of a big divot is because the ball is typically sitting in the

53
00:03:37.900 --> 00:03:44.340
rough it's not quite as down or you can always work on making sure that the

54
00:03:44.340 --> 00:03:44.580
body

55
00:03:44.580 --> 00:03:50.460
or the the arms finish a little bit more around the left to minimize how steep

56
00:03:50.460 --> 00:03:54.630
that bottom of the swing is going to be. Now if you have to play more of the

57
00:03:54.630 --> 00:03:54.980
low

58
00:03:54.980 --> 00:04:01.420
cut shot then it is a little bit trickier. I would recommend going to even less

59
00:04:01.420 --> 00:04:05.140
loft so if you're doing this normally with your seven iron now we're going to

60
00:04:05.140 --> 00:04:10.180
move down to save my five iron but I'm going to use this club for demonstration

61
00:04:10.180 --> 00:04:14.980
purposes. The big thing here is I'm going to set up with my hips a little bit

62
00:04:14.980 --> 00:04:15.260
more

63
00:04:15.260 --> 00:04:20.860
back or even my spine leaning a little bit more to the left like so and then I

64
00:04:20.860 --> 00:04:24.980
have to make sure that I'm going to get a little more arm height and I'm going

65
00:04:24.980 --> 00:04:25.060
to

66
00:04:25.060 --> 00:04:30.580
hold the club face from rotating. You'll tend to see this is where one of those

67
00:04:30.580 --> 00:04:35.900
feelings of like the grip coming in towards my thigh while the club face

68
00:04:35.900 --> 00:04:41.980
gets held open is a kind of a more of a feeling of like a hold-off cut. The

69
00:04:41.980 --> 00:04:42.260
only

70
00:04:42.260 --> 00:04:45.900
way that you could have a full release and still hit a cut is if you got the

71
00:04:45.900 --> 00:04:50.380
club face open at the point of impact so we're open to the path when it's

72
00:04:50.380 --> 00:04:53.780
making contact. To do that you'd have to start with the club face really wide

73
00:04:53.780 --> 00:04:58.180
open and that tends to feel less comfortable for more golfers than having

74
00:04:58.180 --> 00:05:01.540
more of this hold-off style. So I'm going to play the ball back but I'm going

75
00:05:01.540 --> 00:05:01.580
to

76
00:05:01.580 --> 00:05:05.580
get my hips behind my upper body so my upper body is steep and on top of the

77
00:05:05.580 --> 00:05:10.660
ball. Now from here I'm going to hit more of that hold-off cut. The lower body

78
00:05:10.660 --> 00:05:14.570
being back and tilted like this is going to get me a really low launch angle.

79
00:05:14.570 --> 00:05:15.020
The

80
00:05:15.020 --> 00:05:19.500
arm swing going left will get my path to the left and the hold-off feeling will

81
00:05:19.500 --> 00:05:23.490
tend to keep the club face open to the path and make it curve back to the right

82
00:05:23.490 --> 00:05:23.500
.

83
00:05:23.500 --> 00:05:34.860
So it's gonna swing a little bit more to the left. So you'll see that started

84
00:05:34.860 --> 00:05:38.060
really low and had a fair amount of curve to it. You can see how much I

85
00:05:38.060 --> 00:05:43.620
swung outside and I did so by kind of keeping my upper body in front. That is

86
00:05:43.620 --> 00:05:49.020
the more challenging shot and it's definitely harder if you swing harder if

87
00:05:49.020 --> 00:05:53.380
you really try to get a lot of arm action or hand speed. This is much more

88
00:05:53.380 --> 00:05:59.620
of a body shot and if you do it even slower and more controlled you can get

89
00:05:59.620 --> 00:06:04.540
it to start with a much lower launch. That's why you tend to see a lot of these

90
00:06:04.540 --> 00:06:09.740
goofy arm finishes when you're seeing pros execute this shot out of the trees.

91
00:06:09.740 --> 00:06:14.540
I recommend working more on the first two just the slightly ball back slightly

92
00:06:14.540 --> 00:06:21.900
more level punch style like 3/4 style swing as a standard shot that you'll hit

93
00:06:21.900 --> 00:06:26.500
a lot even out of the fairway and then working on more of the trap draw with

94
00:06:26.500 --> 00:06:31.900
the ball back and full release. Those two tend to be the most viable shots and

95
00:06:31.900 --> 00:06:35.700
then when you have to hit the cut shot now you'll have a few ways to adjust

96
00:06:35.700 --> 00:06:35.860
your

97
00:06:35.860 --> 00:06:41.820
pattern to get the right path face angle of attack in order to get the ball to

98
00:06:41.820 --> 00:06:45.820
start low as well as curve off to the right.

Have questions about this video?

Ask Mulligan for personalized guidance on technique, drills, or how to apply what you've learned.

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Related topics
This video hasn't been assigned to any topics yet. Browse all topics in the sidebar.
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