- Hello Adam Bazalgette back here in Naples, Florida.
I'm two time PGA Teacher of the Year Award winner down here,
longtime David Leadbetter Associate.
Today's subject, Golf Wedge Play!
How to get great wedge play in the game of golf.
Let's check it out!
(upbeat percussion music)
So golf wedge play!
I'm going to show you a couple of the things
that you have to be able to do if your gonna
to be an effective wedge player
and then were going to show you a really, really, fun drill
something I did as a kid, that can help build skillsets.
Things you can take to the golf course.
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Okay, let's check it out.
Okay, so there's two things or certainly two main things
that you have to do to be a good wedge player.
This is a gap wedge here, we'll hit some shots in a minute
number one, you have to be able to make solid contact.
Fat, thin shots, obviously no good but more than that
when your playing you have to deal
with a little bit different lies and when you've got
all the loft of the wedge, it takes a little bit of savy
to deal with them.
So, you've got tight lies, fluffy lies et cetera.
So solid contact, solid contact off different lies
and the other thing you have to be able to do
is through impact you have to be able
to deliver consistent loft.
I promise you so many people their thrashing at the ball
their loft is changing all the time.
A sand wedge goes a lot different distance
than a pitching wedge so, their contact is unstable,
their ability to control distances, is not very good
and it's at best hit and miss when they get
close to the hole.
Now, what this requires is skill
to manage the club at speed requires some skill.
So I'm going to give you, I think, a really cool drill
to help you to develop skill,
for just a moment here though
lets have a closeup look at the lies
and how you need to deal with them a little bit differently
then we'll jump back out
and we'll show you the drill.
So, sweet spot of the golf club about here.
It's not at the bottom, so with a lot of loft
and not much cushion on the ball, I need forward lean
for sweet spot contact.
That means I need some downward hit to hit it solidly.
If the ball is sitting up more in the fluffy grass
and I hit down too much, I'm gonna hit the ball
too high on the club face and believe me
that will rob you of some distance.
So I need to be able to hit a little more
of a brushing stroke here,
a little more of a descending stroke there,
if the balls sitting down
in some rough I have to hit down more to get the sweet spot
down against the ball.
They're moderate adjustments but if you don't have the skill
and the savy to read the lie, and do them a little bit
your gonna get some mishits that will definitely affect
your distance even if there not drastic mishits.
Okay, so lets talk about a drill to build skill.
What we've been dealing with is the ability to mount,
to hit solid shots, whether the ball is sitting up
or the ball needs to be trapped
a bit more against the fairway.
How do we build that skill?
The reality is, the mind learns best
when it contrasts things playfully.
Now, I was watching Golf Channel,
Martin Hall was interviewing Rocco Mediate
out at a golf course.
He doesn't teach Rocco, but it was an interesting interview
and Rocco was talking about getting lessons as a youngster
on wedge play up I Pittsburgh, from a guy call Jim Ferree,
former Tour Player and they gave him a skill building drill.
It struck my eye
A. Cause it was fun
but B. I used to do this with my friends,
just for the sake of it when I was young
and it did build a lot of skill.
As I say the brain learns best by contrast,
here is the drill Rocco said, every, relatively so often,
Jim Ferree would have him top the ball on purpose
without changing his swing per se
to feel what high felt like versus low.
Now you may say that's a little ridiculous.
I promise you it's not that easy to do but if you can do it
you really start to take some ownership over the ball
and over where the bottom of your swing is.
Now when I was a junior sometimes,
we didn't have absolutely
unlimited access to the golf course
because members were out there playing
so we had competitions, who could hit the biggest slice,
who could do this, but the badge of honor,
the cherry of all cherries was who could top it
with a full swing and hit it the shortest
because to do that you have got to really be precise
with the bottom of your swings.
So let's have a go!
No changing golf, swing I'm going
to try and hit the very top of the ball.
I did too, I moved it, that would have won me
a championship there in my junior golf days.
Now the next shot, I'm gonna go in here, I'm gonna trap it
and I'm gonna drive the ball forward,
you can see I took a little divot,
pretty nice wedge shot there.
I could walk over to the rough here
with that skillset and just pick it off there a little bit.
So, that takes skill, I don't know how I did it,
I just know I wasted a lot of time as a junior golfer
playing around with it.
Practice this though and your gonna see,
your gonna develop some ownership, your not just gonna
have a tip on good wedge play.
Lets have a look at trajectory,
we'll check it from this angle.
Okay, so gap wedge, I'm kinda
at an intermediate distance here
about 90, 95 yards or so.
So again, I can practice trajectory control.
If I can take the proper or similar divot back to back times
it means I'm leaning the shaft the same way,
I'm reaching the bottom of the swing in a similar fashion
and really even if your the driving range
what would tell you that is consistent sort of
divot pattern and you look up and see the ball coming off
you know at about the same trajectory.
So lets hit a couple little shots here,
kind of intermediate distance for me,
pretty decent hit there.
Lets try another one,
again pretty decent consistent divot,
consistent sort of trajectory, so I know I am able
to control my loft.
Which is tied in as I say, to consistent striking
of the ball.
Believe me if you can control the bottom of your swing,
if you play around with it a little bit
if you can handle the different lies
and if you an hit shots at a similar trajectory
with similar divots, you can be a good wedge player.
I hope that helps you with golf
and specifically great wedge play.
If you like the channel, subscribe to the channel.
Would love to get you more free content,
feel free to leave a comment and scrathgolfacademy.com
is my home website.
I have courses in every aspect of the game there
including one on one internet lessons with me.
Thanks for you time.
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