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Brian D. Joyner, PGA

Birdies with Brian - #1

Learn How to Flight Your Wedges

There's no secret that the easiest way to improve in golf is improving from 100 yards and in. Being able to hit greens from this range and get it close separates an 80s player from a 70s player. There's a saying that the pros are so good because they can hit their long irons high and their short irons low. There's a reason for this, which boils down to one word. Control.


You don't need to swing the club 120mph to be a good wedge player. However, having good mechanics and understanding what makes a good wedge player would be best. Anytime you are within 100 yards, very rarely should you swing more than 90%. Your swing should be shorter and more compact, with fewer moving parts. At impact, all of your weight should be on your lead foot. This helps compress the ball and gets the shaft leaning forward, which de-lofts the club. Several factors allow us to control how high the ball goes. Ball position and attack angle are certainly key elements. However, the forward shaft lean at impact is the most important. Please look at the picture below to see what I'm talking about.














It's virtually impossible to be a good wedge player with a vertical shaft or leaning back at impact, and this creates way too much spin and comes out with a very high launch angle.


One of the best drills you can do if you have this problem is to put all your weight on your lead foot and try making 70% swings without putting any weight on your back foot. You should see the ball start with a lower flight and less spin. After a correct shot, there should be a divot around the size of a dollar bill in front of your golf ball. If there's a small divot or no divot, the shaft is not in the correct position at impact.


The only way to get better with the wedges is to practice. Pick specific targets on the range and see how low you can fly your wedge. I guarantee you'll be a better player because of it.

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