WATCH: Collin Morikawa’s secret tip for the tricky 50 yard pitch

Matt Cooper
Collin Morikawa

Collin Morikawa was the nearly man of the 2024 major championships.

He played in the last group during the final round of the Masters.

He also played in the last group during the final round of the PGA Championship.

He didn’t win either, but he did finish top 20 in all four of the year’s majors.

It’s safe to say that the 27-year-old remains one of the world’s finest performers, good enough to have won the 2020 PGA Championship and the 2021 Open.

And the key to his success is his excellent approaches to greens.

In 2020 he ranked second on the PGA Tour and in 2021 he was first.

In that latter year he ranked third for approaches from inside 100 yards.

So who better to listen to when it comes to improving the tricky 50 yards approach shot?

In this video from TaylorMade, Morikawa talks us through the magic of making a difficult shot simple.

“So we’ll start with the first pin right here,” Morikawa says, peering at a green up ahead. “It’s a front pin and about 50 yards.

“The first thing you always want to look at is the lie. I’ve got a good lie, the ball sitting up.

“But if you notice, you can tell it’s slightly uphill.

“So with wind into me and front pin, that’s going to be great.

“You want loft to a front pin. You want to be able to spin it.

“So I’m going to keep my 60 degree.”

Here the two-time major winner adds a note of caution.

“I always see amateurs from this distance take way too big of a swing,” he says. “They think to take a practice swing that’s a full swing.

“But in reality it is a very short shot.”

And this is where the secret comes in.

“If you think of a 50 yard shot almost as a big pitch shot but with a little bit more follow through that’s kind of what you want to do,” he says.

He demonstrates with a shot to 10 feet that spins back to two or three feet from the hole.

“Just like that!” he says with a smile.

He then has another go and reminds us to limit the back swing. This second effort finishes at tap in range and stops dead.

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