For middle- and high-handicap golfers

There is an oldsaying that a good putter is a match for anyone and a bad putter is a match fornobody. I propose that the same thing applies equally to a golfer's ability orinability to play the short pitch shot from 50 yards or less from the hole.

In executing theshort pitch, it is essential to concentrate upon hitting through the ball withthe hands. It is the speed with which the hands go through the ball thatdetermines how far the ball will travel. From the incidental stance, holdingthe club in exactly the same position, it is possible to pitch the ballanywhere from 20 yards to 50 yards simply by altering the speed of your handaction. How far you take the club back doesn't enter into the matter at all. Istress this because I have had dozens of golfers complain that they could nothit a short pitch because they always took the club back too far. If theyconcentrated upon the hand speed through the ball and let the length of thebackswing become instinctive, they would do much better both in producing finershots and lower scores.

from JOE BELFORE,Country Club of Detroit, Grosse Pointe Farms, Mich.

NEXT WEEK: CARY MIDDLECOFF ON HITTING THE GREEN

TWO PHOTOS

THREE ILLUSTRATIONS

On a short pitch shot, the ball is played from a point just inside the left heel, the weight is mainly on the left leg, the knees slightly flexed. At the finish practically all of the weight is on the left leg