I’m struggling with my wedges
Golf Monthly Top 25 Coach Andrew Jones helps reader David Walters iron out his problems from 50 to 100 yards
Andrew’s assessment
David was setting up to his wedges in pretty much the same way he would set up to his driver – a really wide stance with ball position up by his left heel, leading to both heavy and clean contacts. Because of his ball position, he was then having to drive his legs through the ball and use parts of his body you really don’t need to use on feel shots like pitches. He was making a full swing, too, swinging all the way to the top with no change in length or tempo from his full-shot swing.
Andrew’s remedy
I narrowed David’s stance, got him to keep more weight on his lead side and pulled his left foot back a little to open his lower half while keeping his shoulders nice and square. This restricts hip turn and therefore length of backswing. David tended to rely on the same club for most pitches and was creating a lot of unwanted spin. He struggled to get the ball up to back flags because his launch was very high and he was generating too much clubhead speed. Varying club choice and working on a lower flight with less spin – perhaps a half swing with a 9-iron – is a better way of resolving that problem than delofting a higher wedge and moving the ball too far back. That adversely affects how the leading edge and bounce interact with the turf.
David’s feedback
I wasn’t aware that my stance was too wide, so it was interesting to see how Andrew’s set-up changes created such different ball flights. I knew I played the ball quite a long way forward with all my irons, but hadn’t appreciated how much that affected pitch shots. I thought opening up my feet would affect my direction, but Andrew told me that’s more governed by the shoulders. I’d never really tried hitting half 8- or 9-irons 75 yards before and it felt strange at first, but I now have a wider arsenal of shots at my disposal.
“My confidence on shorter shots is very low unless I’ve got a nice fluffy lie, which is then putting greater pressure on my long game”