Brady Riggs on Hitting a Stinger

Here are Brady Rigg's tips on how to hit a stinger off the tee, from golf.com. Click this link and you can see a video of how to do it. Unfortunately, the site won't let me embed the video.



Brady says you can use a fairway wood, hybrid or long iron for this shot.

• Stand a half-step closer to the ball. This will help you trap the ball better.
• Grip down on your club. That shortens the club and makes it easier to control.
• Set your stance so your feet are just wider than your hips, not your shoulders.
• Position the ball about an inch back of the center of your stance. Just look at the photo above.
• Tee the ball really low, even level with the ground if you're comfortable doing so. Brady says you can hit it off the ground or even kick up a little mound like Laura Davies does. But I'd go with the low tee, simply because you might as well get the best lie you can get.
• This is the first time I've seen this particular tip, and I'm glad someone finally included it: Instead of gripping the club with the last two or three fingers of your lead hand, grip more tightly with the thumb and forefinger of your trailing hand. When Brady says this is "old school", he means it comes from the days of hickory shafts. He says this will help you square up the clubface, and I agree with that. Just bear in mind that you probably won't be able to hit the ball quite as far, as this is a soft-shaft technique and, unless you're incredibly strong, even a regular flex shaft is much stiffer than they used to use. But since the idea is to hit the fairway and you've already done some things that will reduce your distance, it doesn't matter.
• Finally, cut off the followthrough to help keep the shot low.

The whole point of the stinger is to make sure you hit the fairway on a tight hole, regardless of whether the wind is blowing or not. It's a worthwhile shot to add to your repertoire.