Youtube / Nick Demingo
As a handicap of 13, i far From being a professional golfer. So, like many of you, I still have to deal with the consequences of inconsistent shots.
One area of my game that I’ve been working on over the past two months has been my short game. After adding a 60-degree wedge to my bag late last year, I committed myself to learning how to actually hit it rather than default to using the wedge.
Not that there’s anything wrong with using the throwing wedge, but, in my experience, I hit good shots that often landed on the green with heavy topspin, rolling the ball over the hole. This left me with longer shots – something amateurs don’t enjoy. I knew I could do better.
Thanks to advice from some of GOLF’s top 100 teachers (and others, like Parker McLachlin), I discovered a few things that helped me get higher, softer shots with a 60-degree wedge, which got me closer to the pin. This is what I learned:
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5 tips for achieving a 60 degree wedge more effectively
1. Narrow your stance
One of the main pieces of advice I received from McLachlin was simple advice: narrow my position!
Like many amateurs, I would set up a wider stance, with the ball pointing toward my front foot. It’s the way I was always taught growing up, and in 25 years, I’ve never thought about changing it.
But McLachlin helped update my short game, and the first step was to have my feet about shoulder-width apart when slicing.
2. Center ball with sternum
As mentioned above, I always seem to play shots around the green with the ball on the opposite side of my front foot. Then I used an open stance with my bowler’s wedge, hoping to use my club heel to get the ball under the ball for a soft shot.
Unfortunately, I didn’t always have the best control when doing this.
But with a club as high as a 60-degree wedge, I began to center the ball with my sternum. This gives me better control and results in more consistent contact with the center of the club’s front.
By trusting my 60-degree wedge to do what it’s supposed to do – naturally under the ball – just setting it differently produced better results.
3. Open the club interface
When I first started using the 60-degree wedge, I often slapped the shots. This happened because I didn’t open my club interface enough, which led to some terrible results.
For example, I was hit once on a shot from about 20 yards from the green to about 30 yards out more He. She. To say that touch is disabled would be an understatement.
But by opening my club face about 70-80 degrees, I started to give myself extra protection from short putts. It allows me to take a strong swing, knowing that if I go under the ball the ball will come out a bit but I shouldn’t be flying into the green.
4. Keep the weight forward
Whether I was hitting from a dugout, from the first cut or from the rough, I was doing what many amateurs tend to do when splitting towards the green – shifting my weight back, thinking it would help me get the ball.
Not anymore.
Instead, by incorporating the above steps, I was able to keep my weight forward, which gives me a more refined shot with the 60-degree wedge. Now, it’s hard to make the mistake of leaning back, which leads to thin shots flying the green.
5. Swing by 75 percent
As a disclaimer, I swing about 75 percent with my 60-degree wedge from about 20-25 yards – so make sure you feel your own comfort level before using this tip.
For me, a 75 percent swing leaves room for error. This means I can miss a shot and still see a nice, high loft, which, even if it’s short, usually rolls close to the pin (as some of the shots in the video above do).
I use the club’s leading edge to interact with the turf, and have a follow through that reverses my backswing. By doing this, I can control every shot – which produces enough backspin to avoid the ball running too far from the hole.
While I still have room for improvement and my short game is not a finished project yet, applying the tips above has produced much better results. Not only do I feel the difference when using a 60 degree wedge, but I also feel the difference be seen The difference – results in fewer shots and lower scores.