One of the strangest things I hear all the time from player includes “I hate having under one hundred yards to the hole.” In basketball that is like saying I don’t like going in front of the free throw line. From previous blog articles as well as live sessions, my players are told that golf is a game of distances and the closer we can put the ball to the cup during tee shots or approaches the better. What these players that do not like in having under a hundred yards lack, is confidence and the feeling of being uncomfortable when the swing is less than full. During my instruction we go over wedge play broken down into three different categories. This breakdown is designed to add comfort and execution to help us when having yardages around, half, and under a hundred yards remaining to the green.
The first distance to go over is around a hundred yards. No matter if that is a nine iron, pitching wedge, or lob wedge, the carry distance of one hundred yards with our full swing I further describe as a shoulder to shoulder swing journey. The biggest mistake made during a full wedge shot is a change in tempo. I always want to keep my players confident and staying athletic no matter the club. For most players using a full wedge usually feels “maxed” out and results in thin contact. This low trajectory does not hold greens as well as produce any confidence in consistency. To help with full wedge shot distance control, my players focus on letting our body control the journey of the club while eliminating all excitement attempted from our hands.
The next wedge distance of common discomfort is around the fifty yard mark. This shot requires the club to not travel its full shoulder to shoulder distance but also is further than a green side recovery chip. Normally when players become closer to the target but not needing a full swing, this produces tempos that get “guided” or slowed down during impact. This normally results in heavy shots or impact behind the ball. To help keep this shot athletic during our sessions, we focus on the distance of our balance while continuing to accelerate the club to completion.
When having “awkward” distances, another mistake I see is players just “dig” the club into the ground without the ability to execute a strong finish position. To help control that club to have great bounce on the turf with the center of the clubface contact, we focus on keeping our chest, arms, and club moving through as ONE unit. Rather than slowing down our tempo or just slamming the club into the ground to adjust the distance, we focus on controlling the repetition of our finish. The more our finish looks the same the more our results will produce similar outcomes. Our tempo no matter if it is a eight iron, six iron, or a non full wedge shot our tempo and finish ALWAYS stays the same.
