Lost Wedge Distance

[devilblue]

I’m a pretty good, but not great, golfer. I typically shoot somewhere between a 78 and an 85, and typically play tees at about 6300 yards. This summer something weird has developed with my wedges. In years past I consistently hit my 60 to 85/90 yards, my 54 to 105/110 yards, and my 52 to 120/125 yards. This summer, however, those distances are all WAY down — think like 20 yards off those distances. It seems I’m hitting the ball higher with them, too (which surely correlates to less distance). But none of my other distances have really changed. Has anyone else had this happen? How do I fix it? It is a wedge-specific problem. Is it solely from something I’m doing that is increasing the loft, thus pushing the ball higher and shorter? Any help would be GREATY appreciated, as my game off the tee is better than ever and this issue is really keeping me from going from an 82/83 to a 76/77. 
 

for reference, to the extent it matters, my other club distances are: Driver — 275; 3 hybrid — 235; 5 iron — 210/215; 6 iron — 195/200; 7 iron 180/185; 8 iron — 165; 9 iron — 155; PW — 140.

[mjforn]

Welcome to the group.

 

You do hit them long......

 

 

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[devilblue]

Thanks. Happy to be here— I’ve lurked for a long time but have never had a problem bad enough to post about until now.

 

It may be true that relative to other people I hit the 52/54/60 long, but for me the problem is if I hit my 52 only 100 yards then I have a 40 yard gap between it and my PW. And that 40 yard gap happens to be at a distance where I (and lots of other golfers I think ) tend to hit into—shots between 115 and 135 yards seem to be very common for me. So with my wedge distance lost I have a real problem at a real common distance. 

[Dr. Block]

Has your swing changed and you’re no longer finding the sweet spot?  I know when I get out of whack I start hitting it out on the toe, and that is clank city with a blade wedge. 

[jvincent]

1 hour ago, devilblue said:

This summer, however, those distances are all WAY down — think like 20 yards off those distances. It seems I’m hitting the ball higher with them, too (which surely correlates to less distance). But none of my other distances have really changed. Has anyone else had this happen? How do I fix it? It is a wedge-specific problem. Is it solely from something I’m doing that is increasing the loft, thus pushing the ball higher and shorter?

 

This sounds to me like you are flipping at impact with your wedges.

 

Try to keep some shaft lean at impact.

[ZacR88]

you stopped compressing the ball with your wedges. 

[RobertBaron]

How old are the wedges? Could be worn out grooves not imparting enough spin to keep airborne. Or on the flip side they’re new wedges and you’re spinning them too much. 

[TLUBulldogGolf]

Higher tells me you are flipping or adding loft through impact, possibly catching them too high on the face. I would also check the lofts to make sure they are still where they are supposed to be. 

[devilblue]

All, I finally got out to play this week. Concentrated on keeping shaft lean and not flipping at impact. I think it helped my ballstriking all around, and did help my wedges. Played nine holes. Hit 8 greens. One under 34. Thanks all for the help.

[naval2006]

Good ol' flipping.  Comes and goes.  Flipland not the best place to live but we are a lot in this town LOL