00:00So let's get you better dialed in from inside 100 yards. We're going to be
00:03looking at something really cool called the Distance Wedge Triangle. Let's get
00:07into it.
00:20So the Distance Wedge Triangle is made up of three aspects. The first is
00:24centeredness of strike. The second is making sure you've got a nice low dynamic
00:30loft at impact, usually less than 15 degrees. And then the third is altering
00:36your swing length to increase or decrease the amount of club head speed
00:40you've got at impact. All three of those aspects are absolutely critical to be
00:45accurate inside 100 yards. We've often looked at the third one, swing length,
00:50that's been well coached and well documented, but the first two have often
00:54been neglected. So we're going to really focus on those.
01:01So number one, centeredness of strike. What we're trying to do here is make sure
01:05that we hit the ball out of the horizontal center, i.e. not out of the toe
01:10or the heel, but also out of the vertical center as well, which means
01:14not catching it fat or thin. In order to do that, we're going to need to do a
01:18couple of quick things at setup. I like to see the ball just forward of center
01:23of your stance, left foot turned out, a little bit of weight favoring your left
01:28side and maybe even invoke a little bit of forward shaft lean at address.
01:33We're going to make a nice centered backswing. That means that we're not
01:36swaying our head way off it or moving our weight excessively over to the right,
01:41because that's going to cause us real contact problems with where we hit the ground.
01:45We're trying to make sure that we hit the ground either level with
01:50or slightly after the golf ball, just like that. If we can do that, we're going to get
01:55ball first, divot second, that nice compressed contact with the ball.
02:01Once we've learned to hit the ground in the right spot, what I like to do then is do the
02:05runway drill,
02:06which is all about trying to make sure that we land the club in the horizontal position correctly.
02:14So what I like to do is set up this little tram line, set up to the middle of it
02:18here,
02:19and I've given myself a little runway or a tramway there that I can swing down.
02:25You can see I just hit a little bit too close to me on that one. We'll have another go.
02:30Set up those tram lines again. Just go a little bit further back.
02:38On that one, I landed it a little bit too far away from me. So this third and final one
02:43now,
02:44I should be able to land it exactly on the correct spot.
02:50Perfect. Right down the tram lines, that's going to give me a really nice opportunity
02:55to hit it exactly out of the center and also out of the vertical center. Those are going to give
03:00you
03:00really consistent ball speeds and it's going to allow that ball to come off with a controlled
03:06amount of spin and launch to get the ball landing nice and close to the flag.
03:15So the second aspect of the triangle is having that nice low dynamic loft. The best players
03:22will probably de-loft their wedge shots around 15 degrees for a distance wedge shot in this region
03:27of 70 yards or so. What we're trying to do is make sure that we've got plenty of shaft lean
03:32through
03:32impact and that we're delivering that club. You know, if it was a 58 degree lofted wedge,
03:37I would de-loft this to around 43 at impact. The reason we want that is it's going to give
03:42us that
03:42nice low launch angle, high spin, plenty of friction. The ball will grab nice and low on the grooves and
03:49it
03:49will come in and get that nice one hop and stop type effect when it lands. So how can we
03:55do that?
03:55Well, I like to use the alignment stick drill. So what you're going to do is grip the club with
04:00the
04:00alignment stick about halfway down the alignment stick and just try and take your normal grip,
04:05try and fashion it up so that you're still holding the stick next to the grip. You're going to have
04:10the alignment stick just outside your left hip and what it does is it invokes a nice amount of forward
04:16shaft lean even at address. We're not looking for that necessarily, but it helps certainly with the
04:21drill. But what I'm trying to do is make sure that when I swing through, I'm not allowing this stick
04:27to touch my left rib cage. If I do, I'm going to get really bruised on my left rib cage.
04:32So making
04:33little shots back and through as a drill, trying to just brush the ground with that nice low dynamic loft.
04:41So let's give it a go. Let's try and hit a shot here. I've got GC quad running,
04:46get into my normal setup position, good centered backswing, as I've said before. Ball just forward
04:53of center, a little bit of weight on my left and I'm really trying to de-loft the club through
04:58impact.
05:03Nice low flying
05:07distance wedge shot. GC quads there telling me I actually de-lofted that there to
05:14what's it coming up with? 7044 spin and it was de-lofted to 44 degrees of loft at impact. So
05:21a
05:21nice 14 degree de-loft. That's exactly what we're looking for. Low flying, a nice spin on the shot.
05:32So the third aspect is dealing with the different club head speeds that can control the ball speed and
05:39how far the shot carries. So how can we easily monitor that? Well this is something that's been
05:45spoken about a lot by various different instructors over the years and it's how to use the clock system
05:50in your wedge game. What we can almost do is imagine where would our left arm swing to in the
05:56backswing.
05:57You could swing your arm you know from down here at address at six o'clock. We could swing it
06:02to sort of
06:028.30 maybe 9.30, 10 o'clock or indeed all the way up to a full backswing. Those three
06:09different sized
06:10backswings will obviously give you three different club head speeds. Now obviously when we're doing
06:16this you can call it what you want. You can call it a small swing, a medium swing, a large
06:21swing,
06:22you can call it half, three quarter, full. It really doesn't matter. What's important is that it's
06:27individual to you and you know how far each of these shots goes for you. What I recommend to players
06:33is
06:34get the numbers written on the back of your wedge. Try and see if you can actually practice them at
06:38a
06:39range at a top tracer range or a trapman range and put them down on the back of your wedge
06:44so that when
06:44you pull the club out of your golf bag you know exactly what your three swings are. So I've got
06:50a 50
06:50yard shot here. I know my my small 8.30 swing goes about 46 yards carry so let's give it
06:58a try.
07:00Again as I've mentioned monitoring my setup ball just forward of center,
07:06a little bit of weight on my left and a nice 8.30 backswing.
07:16A little bit left of the pin but it's gone the right distance. So give those three aspects of
07:21the distance wedge triangle a go. Make sure that you're focusing on centered strikes on a nice minus
07:2715 dynamic loft at impact and get those distance wedges dialed in with three different backswing
07:34lengths and you'll watch your proximity to the hole get way way better inside 100 yards.
07:59And I'll see you in the next one.
07:59I'll see you in the next one.
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