How To Hit A Stinger??

Everyone would have watched Tiger do his famous stinger or seen clips on YouTube where players are attempting this shot. It's a very cool shot and can be extremely reliable when playing in windy conditions or at a time when you must hit the fairway. The reason why it is a 'go to shot' for many players when trying to his the fairway is that when you keep the ball low, the less the wind can affect the shot. I actually love to use this shot when laying up to a Par 5.

The first aspect to playing this shot correctly is choosing a longer club such as a 4 or 3 iron. You want a club that's low lofted as this will help you straight away in keeping the ball flight low. Now you can play this shot with a 3 wood or hybrid but it is much easier with the iron as you can feel that you can hit more down on the shot.  Next you want to have the ball position a little back in the stance. The ideal position would be just back of middle. 

The next element to this is that you want to have a little weight on the front foot. This would be roughly 55 to 60%.  Now also when playing a low shot, the back swing and through swing will be quite abbreviated. You will in fact find it very hard to swing right through even if you wanted to as the further the ball is back and the more the hands are forward at address, the shorter your follow through will be.  As Tiger said if you want to hit the ball high, you would have a high finish and if you wanted to hit the ball low, you would have a low finish.

Next you want to ensure that as you swing through that your hands are still staying ahead of the clubhead through impact. Now it's fairly easy to do this shot and have it hook to the left. There's nothing wrong with this at all especially if you aim a little right. The reason why it hooks to the left is when you have the ball further back in the stance, the path becomes more in-out. If you want to hit a straight stinger, you actually have to feel that you're swinging more to the left with the face a little open through impact. This will give you the classic low, straight stinger.

If you'd like help in playing a stinger just contact myself at David Waters Golf located at Emerald Lakes Golf Coaching Centre.