Do you want to hit beautiful lob photos? Do these 10 things, every senior teacher

Hitting a well-placed lob shot is a sight to behold, with the ball soaring high into the air before landing without much bounce.

Although the lob shot is fun to hit, it can be difficult – especially if you’re a beginner golfer, as many things can go wrong when trying to pull off this short game shot.

But with good technique and a little practice, you can hit some amazing lob shots – and I show you how below.

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1. Use only when needed

Hitting the lob shot is scary for many reasons, so only use it if you really need to.

Since the ball travels so high and only a short distance, you have to use a larger swing size – which adds more risk. If you have to use this big swing and don’t hit the ground well (or have a bad touch), there is a chance to fly it and see a bad shot result.

2. Take your best club

You definitely want to use your highest club when hitting the lob shot, so, yes, now is the time to use the lob wedge (usually between 58-60 degrees of loft). By using one of these clubs, the extra loft may be enough to make the shot you want without adding too much risk.

3. Swing size controls distance

Your swing size will largely control the distance of the lob shot. A larger swing is naturally faster and will produce more distance, while a smaller swing will result in a shorter result.

As mentioned above, for a lob shot, you tend to take a bigger swing to generate more speed – which also helps with spin and lift.

4. You must hit the ground

It is important that you hit the ground when you shoot the lob, which ensures that the ball goes into the air. If you don’t do this, you risk screwing it up, watching the ball fly low and far instead of high and soft.

To make contact with the ground, be sure to use good golf stance and extend your arms down when you hit the ground.

5. Use bounce

For those who don’t know, the rounded bottom of your high wedges is called the bounce, which allows you to hit the ground so the club glides rather than digs.

To use the bounce correctly, put your club down so that the bounce rests on the ground. This will help it slide and reduce the risk of bumping or hitting the gun.

I personally like to see that the marks on my club grip are centered and not twisted or closed in relation to the target. Also, having a wedge grind and bounce degree is important – that’s why I like to be fitted with TrueSpec to make sure I have the right clubs in my bag.

6. Lean the handle back

At address, always avoid leaning the club shaft forward when hitting the lob shot, as this will reduce the loft of the club in your hand. Remember, you want a very high club, so I recommend leaning it back (or opening it) even more if you need to.

So make sure the end of the club is pointing towards the center of your body. A backward lean will help increase loft and bounce, and may be the only adjustment you need to hit a high lob shot that lands quickly.

7. Open the face

A more advanced golfer may choose to open the face just a little by rotating the grip away from the target, which helps increase loft and bounce. If you open the clubface, the ball will automatically rise shorter – but this also requires a longer swing for a comparable distance, so keep that in mind.

When you decide to open the face, it tends to point away from the target, so keep this in mind and redirect the face towards the target when setting up the ball.

8. Not released

A popular technique you can use to produce a good lob shot is the slow release – where you allow the clubhead to pass through the handle in the forward swing so that the club shaft leans towards the target.

This should feel like you’re almost flipping the fairway before impact and really loosening the clubhead, which helps increase both loft and bounce.

9. Take practice swings

Since lob shots often require more swing from short distances, I highly recommend taking a swing or two. This will help you feel your club hitting the ground, as well as get a feel for swing size and rhythm.

10. It is better to be tall than short

For many novice golfers, it can be difficult to convince yourself that you have taken a large enough swing when hitting a lob shot. But remember that you have more loft in the club, so you will need to increase your backswing to avoid coming up short.

I always remind myself that it’s better to be tall than short on the shooting range, which helps me avoid whatever tall grass or sand I’m trying to block in front of me. It’s also a good way to convince myself that I’ve made a big enough swing.

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Nick Dimengo

Golf.com Editor