How To Hit A Stinger

The stinger not only looks great when you pull it off, but it's also a really handy shot to have up your sleeve, especially in winter. In the following video and article, PGA pro Barney Puttick explains how to play it.

A really productive shot when playing golf in cold weather is the famous stinger. The more you hit the ball up in the air, the more it is going to get affected by the wind, so we’re going to try and flatten the trajectory by making a few simple tweaks.

Set-up

Most of the impact conditions required to hit this shot can be preset at address. First, move the ball position a little further back towards the centre of your stance. This will help you keep your weight on your lead side, making it easier to stay over the ball through the hitting zone. Use alignment sticks to help with this, at least until you feel comfortable recreating the shot at will. 

Another thing you can to do further encourage the desired flight is to nudge your hands towards the target a fraction at address. Now, you're ready to hit the stinger.

The swing

A great way to start honing this shot is to head down to the driving range or practice ground and hit some 7-irons using a long chip and run technique. Make some small swings back and through trying to control the trajectory, hitting the ball maybe 50-100 yards. 

From there, gradually extend the swing. Take the club back so the hands are at chest height and match that on the way through, all the while trying to keep the ball nice and low.

Once you’ve done that, start to work up through the bag, repeating this process until you can hit this shot with the majority of your clubs. You probably don’t want to swing any further back than shoulder height as you might start to lose some of the control you’re looking to gain by adding the stinger to your repertoire.

One thing to watch out for is that the ball might squirt a little to the right with the change in ball position. If this is the case, make sure you feel like you're swinging left through impact and you should see the ball flight straighten up.