Wedge Yardages

[zubby01]

I want to hit my 3 wedges 3 distances each - half swing, 3/4 and full. I'm having trouble measuring these yardages. There is a field near my house and I put markers out there, use my range finder and walk distances but I just don't feel like I am dialing it in. The grass is different from the course, I'm using shag balls (I know I can correct this part) - not sure if I should take an average of the yardages I hit, etc.

Do any of you use the 'clock' method and how did you dial in your distances? I can't really do this on the course (at least I don't think). Ultimately I want to know, for example, I hit a 1/2 56* 65 yds, etc then write the 3 distances on the wedge shaft.

[DaveMac]

Since you don’t have access to a launch monitor, you are going about it in the right way. If possible when you play, hit three short game shots from a laser yardage (you can mix clubs so you can vary swing length), use the information to fine tune your observed yardages from practice. This is how I dialled in my yardages before I got a basic launch monitor.

Don’t forget the distances in play, are always going to have some variability, based on how you are moving on the day, environmental conditions and so on, so concrete numbers aren’t the goal, just manageable distance ranges.

 

[Moo]

How did I dial in my wedge distances?

 

1. Doing the wedge practice in a field or pitching area, over and over and over. A couples of courses in my area have pitching areas to decent greens.

2. Keeping a little matrix of my wedge distances for each club on a folded note-card in my back pocket.

3. Writing down the same distances for shots from the fairway and from the rough.

4. Making notes on my matrix during play on actual green approach shots.

[juststeve]

When you pick a ball out of the hole and toss it to a playing partner how do you gauge the distance? Is it something you practice at home? Do you laser the distance to the guy you're tossing in the ball to? Do you think about how far back to swing your arm? No, you use your natural athletic ability, respond to what your eyes tell you, and toss the ball just about the right distance. Pitching the ball can be just as easy provided you learn to make consistent ball club contact.

 

Steve

[Warrior42111]

As you see from the above comments, there are two methods per se. The analytical, know exactly where in the swing produces what distance. The feel, is able to judge the distance and shot motion visually. Both method work, it really depends on what your brain is best at.

[aenemated]

> @juststeve said:

> When you pick a ball out of the hole and toss it to a playing partner how do you gauge the distance? Is it something you practice at home? Do you laser the distance to the guy you're tossing in the ball to? Do you think about how far back to swing your arm? No, you use your natural athletic ability, respond to what your eyes tell you, and toss the ball just about the right distance. Pitching the ball can be just as easy provided you learn to make consistent ball club contact.

>

> Steve

 

Great advice here. As I've been focusing over the last few months of getting my wedges really dialed in, especially the shorter pitches, I totally stand behind the ball, focus on where I want the ball to land and practice a couple underhanded throw motions - then just recreate that feel with my actual swing. It's done wonders for my touch.

 

[Barfolomew]

> @zubby01 said:

> I want to hit my 3 wedges 3 distances each - half swing, 3/4 and full. I'm having trouble measuring these yardages. There is a field near my house and I put markers out there, use my range finder and walk distances but I just don't feel like I am dialing it in. The grass is different from the course, I'm using shag balls (I know I can correct this part) - not sure if I should take an average of the yardages I hit, etc.

> Do any of you use the 'clock' method and how did you dial in your distances? **I can't really do this on the course (at least I don't think)**. Ultimately I want to know, for example, I hit a 1/2 56* 65 yds, etc then write the 3 distances on the wedge shaft.

 

Why the heck not? We practice on the course all the time when its empty during the day or when we play late and its empty. Its the best practice.... better then the range....try it! Then your hitting off real turf and into real greens not some dumb grass field. Just laser the flag.

 

You're welcome now you can like my post...

 

 

[Ty_Webb]

> @juststeve said:

> When you pick a ball out of the hole and toss it to a playing partner how do you gauge the distance? Is it something you practice at home? Do you laser the distance to the guy you're tossing in the ball to? Do you think about how far back to swing your arm? No, you use your natural athletic ability, respond to what your eyes tell you, and toss the ball just about the right distance. Pitching the ball can be just as easy provided you learn to make consistent ball club contact.

>

> Steve

 

This. I started trying to learn my distances with a skytrak and a net, but I found that my half swing 56 could go anywhere from about 40 yards to about 80 yards depending on how hard I went at it. Not terribly helpful. I think it comes down to just practising it and learning what speed through the ball equates to what carry distances. Then try do that DJ thing where he calls out how far the ball is going after he's hit it and basically gets it spot on. If you can do that, you'll have so much confidence in your yardages you'll be able to rain it down on the flag all day.

 

In the meantime though, to the extent that a particular swing speed gives you a range of results, I would hit 20 balls, remove the shortest one and then the next shortest measure that carry distance. Then when you have a shot that you have to carry at least that far, that's the shot to hit. For example, let's suppose you're working on a 60 yard shot. You try to hit it 60 yards with 20 balls. Then go measure. The second shortest has gone 50 yards let's say. Then if you have a shot to a front pin with death short and it's 50 yards to clear the death, you hit your 60 yard shot. If it's 55 to the pin, still hit your 60 yard shot. Sometimes you'll hit it close. Sometimes you'll hit it long (most of the time), but you should only very rarely wind up in the trouble short. Your scoring average will thank you.

[Hellstorm]

I'm in the same boat with the speed differences and ball contact consistency. I still think of what I do as the clock method, but I feel like I make adjustments based on how I am playing that day. I got a lesson and practiced the ball striking on the half shots and what not, not worrying about the distance so much. Once I was hitting the ball consistently where I wanted to aim it, I started playing with the speed and length of the swing. At this point, I have a general idea of how far I hit the ball in the air for these shots and I am hitting them online and getting fairly predicable results. When I tried the clock method and tried to take feel out, I really struggled to make good contact as the swing felt robotic. I also keep the feel by practicing these shots more than anything else on the range.

[RichieHunt]

I don't use the clock method. I do what I 'feel' is like a 1/2 swing versus what is a full swing. Then I can 'feel' a 3/4 swing or a 90% swing or a 2/3rd swing.

 

The issue with the clock method is that swing length doesn't do that well in determining how far you hit the ball and it's usually more consistent to feel like you're putting 50% effort into the shot versus using the clock method.

 

I'll measure how far they carry with a full swing:'

52* - 117 yards

56* - 97 yards

60* - 75 yards

 

I do this hitting off grass with real golf balls. Hitting off a mat and/or using range balls can disturb it. I'll then place my bag where I hit from and pace off the distance each shot carried. Then grab my rangefinder and shoot back at the bag to confirm the yardage.

 

I'll do the same with 1/2 shots and then 3/4 shots just to make sure the distances are in-line. They don't have to be perfectly in-line with the full swing distance, just not way off.

 

I usually try to avoid hitting anything more than a 1/2 shot with my 60* wedge. It just doesn't perform as well on longer shots. And at say 55 yards, I can take my 56* and nip it pretty well to get the ball to stop on a dime.

 

 

 

 

RH

[Sean2]

Fortunately the club I belong to has a grass pitching range...up to 100 yards. Great place to determine how far I hit each wedge with a half, 3/4, and full swing from various lies. We also have a 9 hole short course with the average holes varying from 48 yards to 100 yards. I have found knowing those distances takes the guess work out of a shot when I am on the course.

[Hellstorm]

Yes, the short course is good for that too. Great point. Although the one around me has some holes that are slightly longer, they are all good for getting dialed in a little.

[Sean2]

The great thing developing a good short game is you don't have to be young or athletic to do so.

[Z1ggy16]

In my experience, the clock method is just a feel, and doesn't work exactly how you think it would if you take it literally. I've starting using a system that works in 10 yard carry increments and I find it works pretty well. There's also some overlap built in so I can make different shots if need be. E.g.

LW Full swing = 100 yards

LW "75% swing feel" = 80

LW "50% swing feel" = 50 yard carry

LW 50% swing choked down 1'' = 40 yard swing

SW 50% = 60 yard

SW 50% choke down = 50 yard

SW full = 112

GW 50% = 80 yard

GW 50% choked down 70

So on and so on...

When I watch on video though, what feels like 50% is usually not actually a half back swing and half follow through. It's usually more than 50% or more than 75%.... but the feeling is what matters most. Not sure if I explained that well but basically you just need to practice this a lot to figure out what a swing feels like with the wedge, and what corresponding distance the ball will go.

 

 

 

[MelloYello]

Wedges are the best part of my game so I always enjoy talking about them and hearing others share their thoughts as well.

 

When it comes to me, I largely agree with Phil Mickelson. It's all a continuum. Once you can hit a little 15-yd pitch you can extend that further and further back until you're hitting that same club 100-yds. Once you get a feel for the proper mechanics of how to hit wedges, there's nothing particularly "special" about a 34-yd shot or 58-yd shot or a 73-yd shot. Those are just numbers on a continuum.

 

A 3x3 matrix of 9 separate yardages is woefully inadequate when faced with the 100 different yardages you may encounter on the course. So even the best "matrix" type of player still has to implement an overwhelmingly large degree of instinct or "feel". That's just inevitable when it comes to controlling distance.

 

Thankfully, humans are well-equipped to "feel" these yardages. As others have said, we have no problem throwing to someone that's near us. Hitting wedges is much the same. If your technique is solid, then you can strike the ball cleanly and crisply. Once you have confidence in that, you're off and running and these sorts of shots will bring about a kind of addictive thrill as you try and land the ball exactly at a certain number.

 

All that said, I have heard good players say they sometimes use a reference such as "chest-to-chest" or "hip-to-hip" as a sort of reminder of approximately how big to make their swing. There's nothing wrong with those sorts of tools. Whatever little tool you have to get the ball closer is good. Embrace that. But don't expect to get around the basic notion that you have to control yardage with feel.

[Pepperturbo]

Measuring yardages is IMO the easy part, measuring ones back swing is the challenge.

Years back when learning, my solution was to get to the range early and work a deal with the manager/owner for the right side end hitting bay. I wanted that bay because the looming fence created a boundary. I placed hula-hoops in a line out every 10-12yrds to 120yds then hit to each the ring. Done enough times I developed a visual relationship for the target and feel needed for how far back my swing was going to hit "X" hula-hoop. During my learning period I was hitting +/-1500 balls a week, plus playing 1 rd per week and played a nearby executive course where I only used irons. I reached high-single digit inside of five years and my low is 2.