What do you do to cover the difference between pitching and sand wedge?

[Nachosgrande]

Short of using a gap wedge, what do to cover the difference between the pitching and sand wedge? For me this is a 30 yard difference, and I can hit a half pitching wedge, but that just puts me at the same distance as my sand wedge. What do you do to take 15 yards off a pitching wedge?

[Swingtheclub]

Good Question

 

 

I make two set up changes I move the ball forward in my stance a bit (making sure not to trap it) choke the club about and inch

 

Then I just hit my normal cut shot nice and smooth ball goes a bit higher and a bit shorter works well for me.

[sluggerx5]

Well I think the answer may be in your question. Just hit that 75% PW to make up that 15 yards difference. Thats what I learned to do last year when I dropped my gap wedge for a hybrid. Just fool around with PW next time you at the range :)

[thenewbie]

Short of using a gap wedge, what do to cover the difference between the pitching and sand wedge? For me this is a 30 yard difference, and I can hit a half pitching wedge, but that just puts me at the same distance as my sand wedge. What do you do to take 15 yards off a pitching wedge?

 

your missing out on a whole world of shots between the full PW and 1/2 PW. theres the 3/4 pw, also the 7/8 pw, and don't forget the 13/15 pw. . .thats one of my personal favorites.

 

smart comments aside, when it comes to percise distance control, your entering into a crazy world of shot-making. its a world I'm just scratching the surface of myself. you can go about this a few different ways. one is shaping. a cut will go high and short, and a draw will go low and a bit farther. the other is choking up. this is good for people who like to use a "standard" swing for each club, and don't like to change that. choke up, swing the same, and the shorter club won't go as fast, and thusly, won't hit it as far. I like to use tempo myself. I don't think about "shortening" my swing, as that tends to throw me of plane. wrather, I just slow things down a bit to shorten my distance.

 

you'll have to hit the range and see which method works best for you, or how you would like to combine these methods (like kenk7 mentioned) to get your desired results.

[LucF]

I've used my take on Pelz's technique to groove 5 different swing amplitudes (besides my full swing) for each of my four wedges. My distances are in my avatar. In addition to this, I've started measuring my distances for the same 5 amplitudes, but this time choking the grip 3 inches down. Choking down just 1 inch doesn't make enough of a difference for me. I use Pelz long grips so that even when choking down 3 inches I can keep my fingers on the grip.

 

Grooving a specific amplitude requires alot of a time, but once you've done it, I find it makes it easier to go between preset amplitudes to achieve a specific distance.

 

Once I'm done measuring my choked down distances, I'll have 40 fairly repeatable distances that I can dial in with my wedges.

 

My golf buddies think I'm crazy. Maybe I am, but being crazy has worked great for me.

[scratchby2009]

flag up front

- open the face and hit a really high fade (try to spin back)

 

flag back

- punch shot with 3/4 swing (get some roll)

 

flag middle

- choke down (hope the ball doesn't spin)

[Kenz]

Check out this article by Dr. Gary Wiren that was in Golf Magazine. You can use it to hit partial shots with several clubs.

 

http://www.golf.com/golf/instruction/artic...1599361,00.html

[stryper]

Well I think the answer may be in your question. Just hit that 75% PW to make up that 15 yards difference. Thats what I learned to do last year when I dropped my gap wedge for a hybrid. Just fool around with PW next time you at the range :)

Yup...simplified Pelz approach. I don't have the time (or the available facility) to "dial in" precise distances for all of my wedges, so for me, it's all about feel. As in: that looks like about a 3/4 PW....

[Nachosgrande]

OK, looking at the chart, is "chest high" the same thing as a 9 o'clock swing?

[Diesel]

how about never putting yourself in the situation to half to manipulate the PW...?

 

if the hole is 350 yards, hit your tee shot to a yardage you know you can take a full swing...

 

sounds like the smartest thing to do instead of having to guess how hard you need to hit it... way too much control involved in that...

[Vic]

I use the Pelz method and carry four wedges. It works great for me; the only thing is that I need to know the exact distance to the flag: about 75 yards is not good enough, I need to know if it is 73 or 77.

Specifically between PW and GW I also have a big gap: 125 vs 100, but when I am in between I use a 1/2 or 3/4 PW which go to 108 and 116 and are amongst my most reliable shots.

Since I adopted the Pelz method instead of the "feel" one my handicap has gone down a lot. Now all I need is 70 more yards off the driver... too bad Pelz doesn't deal with drivers

[drew123]

how about never putting yourself in the situation to half to manipulate the PW...?

 

if the hole is 350 yards, hit your tee shot to a yardage you know you can take a full swing...

 

sounds like the smartest thing to do instead of having to guess how hard you need to hit it... way too much control involved in that...

 

In theory it is great, but in practice it is very difficult. Chances are even if you try not to you will have a partial wedge shot somewhere during your round.

[mat562]

No gap wedge for me; and no Pelz-esque clock face stuff either.

 

I play by feel (with a doff of the cap to the yardage) and either go with a knockdown wedge of some type, or squeeze a bit more out of a sand wedge. There are a variety of ways to make a wedge go shorter depending upon the shot that's faced depending upon the shot I'm looking at. A higher shot, with a hint of cut; a shorter swing from the regular ball position; or some sort of a punched shot that comes in lower - either with spin or without.

 

One other shot I use is to put a sand wedge back in the stance and hit steeply into it with a delofting action that squeezes out another 8 or 10 yards and is great for back pins. The bonus of that method is it comes in lower and with lots of spin and it's impossible to hit it more than a given distance and through the back of the green. With a pitching wedge, it's easy to get a 'squirter' that goes a few yards too far and through the back, paricularly from a grassy lie. The steep action into the ball negates a lot of the problem of grassy lies and the ball comes out low and spinning even from semi rough - since it puts a lot of clubface on the ball and promotes a sharp strike.

 

Just my musings...

[Pepperturbo]

Each of my irons, including wedges provides a certain distance based on a full swing. However, through out my irons I can very the tempo and power of the swing extending or decreasing distance as shot conditions dictate; example making my 6i act like 7i and my 7i go the length of my 6i.

 

My PW which is 105yds with a full swing, but goes to 120yds with a full powerful swing; my 54* SW which is 85yds goes to 105yds with a full powerful swing; so I do not have the gap you speak of.

 

The rationale for choosing this approach to 11 irons is the more creative one becomes with varying swing length and power with each of his clubs more 11 turns into 22-33 clubs in the bag. Getting the ball in the hole in the least amount of strokes is about creativity, not just stock full swings.

[johnu]

how about never putting yourself in the situation to half to manipulate the PW...?

 

if the hole is 350 yards, hit your tee shot to a yardage you know you can take a full swing...

 

sounds like the smartest thing to do instead of having to guess how hard you need to hit it... way too much control involved in that...

 

There's great irony in suggestions to layup a specific distance from ~250 yards way when the player in question can't control the distance from ~100 yards. :)

[Diesel]

how about never putting yourself in the situation to half to manipulate the PW...?

 

if the hole is 350 yards, hit your tee shot to a yardage you know you can take a full swing...

 

sounds like the smartest thing to do instead of having to guess how hard you need to hit it... way too much control involved in that...

 

There's great irony in suggestions to layup a specific distance from ~250 yards way when the player in question can't control the distance from ~100 yards. :)

 

huh...?

 

if you hit a 3 wood 250 yards on a normal shot, then you hit it off the tee, which puts you at 100 yards...

 

i guess this is all assuming you know your clubs yardages... and are able to hit fairways...

[Baycal92510]

Short of using a gap wedge, what do to cover the difference between the pitching and sand wedge? For me this is a 30 yard difference, and I can hit a half pitching wedge, but that just puts me at the same distance as my sand wedge. What do you do to take 15 yards off a pitching wedge?

 

 

 

 

I had the same problem when I only carried one wedge. I recently switched to a 52* 58* setup. With these two and a pitching wedge, you should be able to handle anything from 130 in

 

Joshua

[johnu]

if you hit a 3 wood 250 yards on a normal shot, then you hit it off the tee, which puts you at 100 yards...

 

i guess this is all assuming you know your clubs yardages... and are able to hit fairways...

 

You might average 250 with a particular club (and for some it will be a driver), but to think you can consistently hit it so as not to be between clubs is very hard to believe. There's wind, temperature, length of fairway grass, direction the grass is mowed, is there dew on the grass or how long since there was rain or the course watered, more or less distance depending on what side of the fairway you are on, uphill, downhill, sidehill landing areas that affect roll. If you can consistently hit it exactly 250, and not 240, 245, 255, 260 after factoring in all those conditions, you should be Tiger Woods new swing coach.

[ktbfsu]

i'm a big believer in BELIEVING that visual information translates into results.

 

for example, regarding any club from hybrids to wedges:

 

when i see a tall tree in my path, i do some of the things that i've learned promote a super high ball flight for that particular club, but at the end of the day, the biggest impact on my ball flight is me looking at the dadgum tree, thinking about the dadgum tree and knowing i have to hit the ball over the dadgum tree. i then just do it. and it is a very rare thing for me to hit a ball cleanly and still hit the tree. by that, i mean i very well might hit the tree with a thin or fat shot, but if i hit the ball flush after soaking in all the visual data, it's going over that dadgum tree 9 out of 10 times - and on that 10th time it will just barely clip it.

 

an additional example:

 

if i was playing catch with two guys, and one was standing 30 feet from me and one was standing 100 feet from me, i could, on a series of alternating throws, throw a baseball back and forth with each of them. i wouldn't need two different right arms to play a game of catch like that. i'd use the same everything - grip, arm, legs, etc., and i'd be in the ball park (no pun intended) with each and every throw - because i'd look at my target and throw accordingly.

 

ever wonder why folks can usually score a lot better than they think when they go out and play nine holes with just one club? it's because you can hit 150 yd shots and 30 yd shots with a seven iron with roughly equal success if you just believe you can.

 

believing stuff like that helps...just my 2 cents.

[Shaitan]

how about never putting yourself in the situation to half to manipulate the PW...?

 

if the hole is 350 yards, hit your tee shot to a yardage you know you can take a full swing...

 

sounds like the smartest thing to do instead of having to guess how hard you need to hit it... way too much control involved in that...

 

There's great irony in suggestions to layup a specific distance from ~250 yards way when the player in question can't control the distance from ~100 yards. :man_in_love:

 

huh...?

 

if you hit a 3 wood 250 yards on a normal shot, then you hit it off the tee, which puts you at 100 yards...

 

i guess this is all assuming you know your clubs yardages... and are able to hit fairways...

 

Its a nice dream, but it rarely works out that way. You'd have to be super consistent with that 3w to hit it the exact distance you want so that you don't have to soften up on that wedge shot. I say, practice playing all of those shots that are less then a pw and more then a sw and you'll score better then relying on hitting it an exact distance with your 3w and if you overshoot it or undershoot it ur in trouble. Its the same as having a bail out area, its all well and good but it doesn't always work out.

 

To the OP, I like and use the Pelz theory, as its been stated several times. To hit it further then 3/4 i either swing a little further back and/or put it further back in my stance - it will spin a bit more, but it ain't gonna back up dramatically if at all here in Oz. If i have to hit slightly shorter then a 3/4 swing i just do the opposite.

[JOSEPHLB]

I do not have a gap wedge (as of yet).. so I just open the clubface of my PW slightly..

 

I'm good for about 115-120 yds with a PW.. full swing.. so.. if I'm in the 100-110 range.. I just grip the PW with a slightly open clubface.. and take my full swing.. I really have to concentrate on the release though.. so I don't fade it off to the right..

 

Unfortunately, this approach doesnt work too well on flat, tight lies..

 

I assume this is because I add more bounce to the PW by opening it up slightly..

[Russelson]

if you hit a 3 wood 250 yards on a normal shot, then you hit it off the tee, which puts you at 100 yards...

 

i guess this is all assuming you know your clubs yardages... and are able to hit fairways...

 

You might average 250 with a particular club (and for some it will be a driver), but to think you can consistently hit it so as not to be between clubs is very hard to believe. There's wind, temperature, length of fairway grass, direction the grass is mowed, is there dew on the grass or how long since there was rain or the course watered, more or less distance depending on what side of the fairway you are on, uphill, downhill, sidehill landing areas that affect roll. If you can consistently hit it exactly 250, and not 240, 245, 255, 260 after factoring in all those conditions, you should be Tiger Woods new swing coach.

 

Right - but I think Diesel's point is a great one. A lot of folks never think strategically on a hole - they just bang it as far as they can all the time. A little thought can leave you with much easier options. Most people I play with try to reach in 2 when they are 220+ out on a par 5, almost always coming up short and leaving themselves a pitch between 20 and 50 yards. Why not just play to the 100 yard marker? Or they bang away with driver on a short par 4, rather than just playing for the easy second shot. You can't guaranty an exact yardage for your next shot, but you certainly can minimize awkward yardages if you aren't as comfortable with 1/4 - 3/4 wedge shots.

[krustyburger]

if you hit a 3 wood 250 yards on a normal shot, then you hit it off the tee, which puts you at 100 yards...

 

i guess this is all assuming you know your clubs yardages... and are able to hit fairways...

 

You might average 250 with a particular club (and for some it will be a driver), but to think you can consistently hit it so as not to be between clubs is very hard to believe. There's wind, temperature, length of fairway grass, direction the grass is mowed, is there dew on the grass or how long since there was rain or the course watered, more or less distance depending on what side of the fairway you are on, uphill, downhill, sidehill landing areas that affect roll. If you can consistently hit it exactly 250, and not 240, 245, 255, 260 after factoring in all those conditions, you should be Tiger Woods new swing coach.

 

Right - but I think Diesel's point is a great one. A lot of folks never think strategically on a hole - they just bang it as far as they can all the time. A little thought can leave you with much easier options. Most people I play with try to reach in 2 when they are 220+ out on a par 5, almost always coming up short and leaving themselves a pitch between 20 and 50 yards. Why not just play to the 100 yard marker? Or they bang away with driver on a short par 4, rather than just playing for the easy second shot. You can't guaranty an exact yardage for your next shot, but you certainly can minimize awkward yardages if you aren't as comfortable with 1/4 - 3/4 wedge shots.

 

 

Agreed. You and Diesel are spot on. Diesel's only mistake was suggesting a 3-wood to leave a distance of 100. That does put the risk of still leaving a half wedge shot if you over shot it. Better off hitting a 3 or 4-iron and leaving 150 to the pin. If you hit it right, you have a 7-iron to the green. Hit it a little long and it's an 8-iron, a little short and it's a 6-iron left. Too many people hit driver on every hole instead of playing what the hole calls for. It's called course management.

[pocketfulladoubles]

True, and although it may not be orthodox, there is nothing wrong with getting to the green in 3 on a par4 if your short game is on - unless you are already making consistent birdies.

[Swingtheclub]

I totally agree with the above post about hitting a tee shot too a yardage.

 

My home course has a couple of par fours that I can normally hit 3 wood or 5wood to that 80 or 90 yd range now if the winds up I will hit driver to yield me the same shot into the green. The last shot I want is forty yds to the green .

 

On my home course five of the fourteen driving holes I generally do not hit driver from the white tees it could be six or seven.

 

But I am not usually hitting less than driver because of accuracy problems but for position and a yardage.

 

 

Ken