Are You REALLY A Picker?
Improve Your Wedge Technique For Better Performance!
This week a potential future client met with me, and during our preliminary session told me that he "picks" his wedges. This means that he takes very little if any divots with his wedge shots. He also indicated that he has a difficult time hitting short wedge shots – 50 yards and in – well.
Many players think that they are "pickers" with their wedges – but it might just be that THEIR WEDGES ARE WHAT MAKES THEM PICKERS. If you play a wedge that does not have sufficient bounce – like most of them that are typically available to players – your wedges will not bounce correctly off of the ground during your wedge shots. So, what do you do? – you add more and more forward shaft lean so that you can somehow "pick" the ball clean. Sometimes you can do this – but often not and you hit thin shots, and then perhaps you adjust, and you hit fat shots, and then back and forth.
There is a solution. First of all, you need to play with wedges that have the right bounce for your wedge swing. Edel Golf has found that most players need at least 10 to 20 degrees of bounce on their wedges. So most likely if you are playing a sand wedge that has less than say 14 degrees of bounce this club will not work well for you for shots off of the turf. And if your lob wedge has only 6 to 8 degrees of bounce – as many available lob wedges do – then you should put that club on eBay and find one also has lots of bounce – definitely in double digits and perhaps at least 20 degrees.
You then need to work on your wedge technique. No more shaft lean. Allow the bounce on the club to work. Keep your weight on your forward side during your swing so that it is easier to make good contact.
Once you develop the right technique, and also get wedges that have the right amount of bounce for your swing, you will be amazed at how easy those 50 yard and in wedge shots will be.
AND – maybe, just maybe – you will no longer say that you are a "picker!"
The Fit Is IT!!
Tony
