A Lesson Learned: Hit the high soft approach shot like Tiger

August 10, 2009 -- This was the match-up I and many golf fans had been waiting for. Padraig Harrington and Tiger Woods paired together in the final group of a big tournament. While Tiger sat out the second half of last season Harrington was winning the final two majors with gritty determination and great shot-making. At both the British Open and the PGA Championship, Harrington hit shots and made putts that were knock-out blows to his opponents. On Sunday for fifteen holes Harrington and Woods battled back and forth. Tiger's 182-yard 8-iron over water on Firestone's "Monster" sixteenth was his knock-out punch. That shot required Tiger to hit it extra high to land the ball softly.

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When needing a shot to go higher than normal, with the same club, here are some things you need to do to pull this off. First, the ball must go forward in your stance. The key here is to not push your hands forward too. You want the club's shaft to be more straight-up and down or even leaning slightly away from the target. That will allow the clubface to have more loft exposed to the ball than normal. The back of your lead wrist may feel more cupped than usual. Second, feel more weight on your back foot as you tilt you upper body slightly away from the target. For the swing you want to generate more clubhead speed by making a full backswing and add extra hinging of your wrists. On the downswing, feel like you're hitting a driver by keeping your upper body a little behind the ball through impact. Feel your wrists unhinging through impact. Remember you are trying to return the club back to ball with the shaft at the same angle as it was in your set-up. Swing through into a higher than normal finish.

This shot is harder to hit from tight lies so stay down through impact. Fluffy lies with the ball "teed-up" are a little easier. With those you can even feel like you're swinging up at the ball as you would with a driver.

Here's a tip for hitting high shots that also need extra carry. Let's say you need to hit over a tree and you're 140 yards away from the green. However, when you look at the shot you're faced with you realize that you'll need the trajectory of 9-iron to clear the tree. Your 9-iron only goes 125-130 yards. Normally, from 140 yards you'd hit an 8-iron, but you know that won't get over the tree. What you need is the height of a 9-iron and the distance of an 8-iron. That calls for the 7-iron! Take you 7-iron and open the face until you have essentially the loft of 9-iron. Now you have in your hands a club with both the height and the carry you need. Set-up and swing as I instructed above.

More players should spend some of their practice time trying to develop specialty shots like this one. Realize you may have only fourteen clubs in your bag, but you have an endless number of shots that can be created with them.

John Fiander has been the PGA Head Golf Professional at Sleepy Hollow Golf Course since 1992. He is a Master PGA Professional with a specialty teaching certification from the PGA. He was the 2003 Northern Ohio PGA Teacher of the Year and has been cited numerous times by various media publications for his teaching prowess. He has also written for several golf media outlets including USA Today, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, and PGA.com. John can be reached at jsf@clevelandmetroparks.com.