Control your wedge play in the wind

When hitting more lofted wedge shots this can be quite difficult, so I’ve laid out some useful tips for controlling the trajectory and distance on these shots.

POSITION

Focus on a hip width stance and set the ball position slightly further back in the stance so that the hands and club handle set more towards the front leg.

BALANCE

Maintain the balance on your feet at set up on a 70/30 ratio, with the majority of the bodyweight on the front foot.

Try to keep most of this weight centred on the front foot throughout this swing.

BACKSWING

To assure a low ball flight for this shot it is important that the wrists are set early in the backswing and that body turn and arm swing are minimised to reduce clubhead speed.

Faster clubhead speed will increase backspin and cause the ball to fly too high.

IMPACT

When moving into impact, really feel that the motion starts from the knees sqeezing the weight deeper into the front leg, trailing the arms and clubhead into impact.

You’ll really want to feel that the hands are passive on the downswing and just flowing through on the bodyline to a restricted finish.

PRACTICE

To practice this shot, lay another golf club 8-10 inches behind the ball.

The club should be in a position running away from you.

Then practice hinging the clubhead up and over the grounded club.

It’s important on the down stoke to keep the hands quiet. If you don’t and you release the clubhead you’ll strike the shaft on your practice club.

This is a great drill to help you play the low punch wedge shot!

Michael Langford

Golf Performance Ireland

Roe Park Resort