Want to put the high lob shot in your bag? Here’s all you need to know

[PHOTOS: James Farrell]

PGA Tour Champions player Steve Stricker has had a great career hitting most of his short-game shots with minimal wrist action. You could make a case for using his technique in many situations around the greens. However, if you want to hit a lob shot, one where the ball flies high and lands like it’s on a pillow, I don’t recommend making a short or stiff-wristed swing.

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Golfers who set up to the ball in a narrow stance and take the club back with very little wrist set are missing two key factors you need to create a high, soft shot: loft and speed. This is not the setup and backswing you want [below]:

Instead, you should set up slightly wider to the ball with your clubface and body a touch open in relation to your target line. Favour your front foot just a little, and play the ball up closer to that foot, almost like you were swinging a fairway wood. Then, when you start the swing, hinge your wrists up immediately and take the club back much further than you do on a standard pitch shot. It should look like this [below]:

Now you’re in position to deliver some speed and loft into impact and pop the ball up. In the downswing, this is one of the few times in golf where you want to feel like you’re throwing the club into the ball. What I mean is, you want a soft and loose feeling in your wrists so the weight of the clubhead moves fast through impact. Here’s the downswing sequence [below]:

On typical iron swings, the hands swing over the ball’s position on the ground before the clubhead strikes it. Not with a high lob; the clubhead should win this race. Again, speed matters here. One thing to remember: even though your wrists and hands are super-active in this shot, you still have to rotate your body towards the target. When you blend these two parts, you’ll end up in a fairly full finish position [below]:

It’s so cool when you execute these shots properly. It might take a little courage to make such a big, free-flowing swing for a short shot, but the results are worth it.

Jason Birnbaum, one of Golf Digest‘s Best Teachers in New York, is director of instruction at Manhattan Woods Golf Club in West Nyack.