Subscribe now to watch the full video.
For a portion of my students, a 30-yard wedge shot can be a trouble spot; this can be due to poor technique, but it can also be attributed to a bit of misunderstanding. Thankfully though, we have been able to establish a very straightforward and useful backswing "reference point" using 3D data from a variety of touring professionals. Ultimately, this reference point can dramatically simplify things and provide players with the foundation to create reliable wedge shots from multiple distances.
Tags: Fundamentals, Poor Contact, Pitch, Backswing, Concept, Intermediate
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,000
This wedge video is 30-yard reference.
00:00:05,000 --> 00:00:11,000
So I have a number of students who struggle with kind of that 30-40-yard shot and one thing
00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:16,000
that I found has helped a lot of golfers is having some idea of a reference of about
00:00:16,000 --> 00:00:19,000
how big of a swing you should take.
00:00:19,000 --> 00:00:25,000
So we'll go through, we'll look at a bunch of, or a handful of Torpro 3D files and what
00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:30,000
you'll see is that there's kind of this zone where most of these Torpro's have figured
00:00:30,000 --> 00:00:35,000
out they need to take their backswing back to about this far in order to hit a 30-yard.
00:00:35,000 --> 00:00:42,000
What I tend to see is that the amateurs who struggle with this area tend to be too short.
00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:47,000
I have seen a couple who will tend to take it a little bit too far, but most of the time these
00:00:47,000 --> 00:00:53,000
golfers will bring it back to about here and then try to really create speed and have kind
00:00:53,000 --> 00:00:57,000
of a big wild acceleration on the way through.
00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:04,000
In order to have more of a consistent acceleration on the way through, most golfers, most
00:01:04,000 --> 00:01:08,000
Tor golfers for this 30-yard shot are going to bring their hands to about belly button
00:01:08,000 --> 00:01:16,000
height or the shaft, somewhere kind of in this zone here somewhere around shaft about 45.
00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:22,000
That tends to give you enough speed to hit a 30-yard shot without having a massive acceleration.
00:01:23,000 --> 00:01:28,000
By being able to swing a little bit more in rhythm or feeling like you're swinging at
00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:34,000
kind of a more constant speed, you'll probably have a better chance of controlling your distance
00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:39,000
for these 30-yard shots because you won't have to manage how fast you're going to accelerate.
00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:42,000
You can just accelerate smoothly all the way through the shot.
00:01:43,000 --> 00:01:50,000
With the finesse wedges, I like to have a couple different swings just like we do in the distance wedge.
00:01:50,000 --> 00:01:55,000
So I'll have a lot of golfers do one more they bring it back to about the club head at about
00:01:55,000 --> 00:02:00,000
knee height, kind of right there, and then one to about hip height, and then that 30-yard shot
00:02:00,000 --> 00:02:07,000
at the hands coming to about belly button height. And as if you only had one reference other
00:02:07,000 --> 00:02:12,000
than your little green side chip shot, I would like to build that 30-yard reference
00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:18,000
because I think that you can always feel like you swing a little shorter or a little harder
00:02:18,000 --> 00:02:24,000
and once you get to about 50-yard 60-yards, usually it feels close enough to a mini full swing
00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:29,000
that it's no longer a problem. It's really for that kind of nebulous 30-40-yard shot that a lot
00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:33,000
of golfers struggle with, and I find that if you build a reference of about how far back you're
00:02:33,000 --> 00:02:38,000
going to take, keeping your tempo consistency, it really helps with dialing in your distance.
00:02:39,000 --> 00:02:45,000
Okay, so that 30-yard distance taking it back to about belly button height, kind of like that,
00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:50,000
and then just having a relatively smooth acceleration on the way through.
00:02:50,000 --> 00:02:56,000
The two, if you're looking at yourself on video, I'd recommend doing this one from a face-on camera,
00:02:56,000 --> 00:03:01,000
and what I want you to look for is if you're doing, if it's kind of a short shot,
00:03:01,000 --> 00:03:06,000
and then you're trying to speed it up, you'll see, I did that with a lot of leg or arm action
00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:12,000
or occasionally, for golfers you get really steep, they'll on this 30-yard shot pick it up,
00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:18,000
and almost do like a full swing, and then try to really flip it on the way down.
00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:25,000
So if you're going to have more of a smooth, consistent tempo, then as a reference, I'd recommend
00:03:25,000 --> 00:03:32,000
this kind of, this checkpoint here, of the club at about a 40-degree angle, 45-degree angle,
00:03:32,000 --> 00:03:34,000
with the hands at about belly button height.
00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:42,000
Little higher launch, but good distance.
00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:49,000
Last little point, this can be a great distance to coordinate with your tempo,
00:03:50,000 --> 00:03:57,000
of a one-two kind of smooth acceleration rate on the way through, and then training yourself to
00:03:57,000 --> 00:04:02,000
just to keep the tempo the same and just adjust your distance to hit it a little further or a little
00:04:02,000 --> 00:04:03,000
shorter.