"Pitching from 50 to 100 yards from the green is always a particularly difficult stroke to execute, especially for high handicappers even though about 70 per cent of shots are played from 70 yards and under," says Karl.

"Pitching is an area where most high-handicappers often neglect and extra work in this area can reap benefits and reduce your handicap considerably."

Stand behind the ball and visualise the shot you are about to take

Firstly, it is very important to stand behind the ball and visualise the shot, picking out something distinctive about one yard in front of the ball as the line that you want the ball to travel along.

On all shots, you should go through this routine as this helps your alignment. It is no good having the best gun in the world if you don’t point it in the right direction because you won’t hit the target.

Start by aligning your clubhead at your chosen spot and then place your grip on as normal. Depending on the length of your shot, grip down the club accordingly as this will give you greater control.

Grip a little further down the club than normal

The ball position should be two-thirds of the way back in the stance towards your back foot.

Your stance should also be slightly narrower then when you are playing a full shot and your weight distribution should slightly favour your front foot. Combined with the ball position, this will encourage the hands to be slightly ahead of the ball and encourage a steeper angle of attack while also enabling you to strike the bottom of the ball and gain more control and spin on the ball.

The stance should be slightly open, also.

Although gripping down the club, be careful not to hunch over the ball as you need to be in a position to make a free and fluid swing.

The ball should be positioned back in the stance and your weight distribution should be towards the front foot

Early in the backswing, the club should be picked up more steeply; a good drill for this is to place a ball about 10 inches behind the ball you are going to hit and make sure you do not touch the second ball on the backswing or downswing.

The length of the shot should be controlled by the length of the backswing and follow-through which should be of equal length.

The backswing should be controlled

Throughout the stroke the hands should remain positive. Rotating the hands will cause the clubface to close, which will put topspin on the ball causing it to roll on. It would be advantageous to know how far you will hit the ball with each of your wedges with a full and half swing. This will give you a host of different shot distances to work from.

Your follow-through should match the backswing