Drill for not digging 1/2-3/4 Wedge shots

**BigBoy** · June 3, 2009

One thing that has been plaguing my scoring ability recently is catching 50-80 yard shots heavy, and leaving them 20-30 yards short of my target. It is especially annoying on a local muni I play at with some short par 4s, because a short approach like that means I hit a great drive, and it sends me from thinking birdie to bogey in the matter of seconds.

I know it is a result of me keeping my weight on my back leg and 'lifting' at the ball, causing my swing bottom to be behind the ball. Its almost more frustrating knowing why I'm doing it, because I still end up chunking about 50% of them, even with the swing thought of 'get forward'

Has anyone had any success with any drills or practice routines to help them stop hitting partial wedge shots heavy?

Any advice regarding drills would be highly appreciated - thank you

peoplesgolfer · June 3, 2009

Put 60% of your weight on your front foot and leave it there. Take a practice swing find out where you take your divot and play the ball there.Ball will fly lower with lots of spin hit once and check up. Another trick is point the toe of the club down and heal of the club up this works better around the green.

**Scottydoint** · June 3, 2009

Keep your hands ahead of the clubhead and don't flip your wrists. With a flat or bowed left wrist at impact, hitting fat shots shouldn't be much of a problem.

**BigBoy** · June 4, 2009

Put 60% of your weight on your front foot and leave it there. Take a practice swing find out where you take your divot and play the ball there.Ball will fly lower with lots of spin hit once and check up. Another trick is point the toe of the club down and heal of the club up this works better around the green.

thanks, I will def. give this a try - what better way to make sure my weight doesn't stay on my back foot than to never shift it back there in the first place!

**wrx_junki** · June 4, 2009

I put about 60-70% of my weight on my leading foot throughout the swing on pitch shots. I keep my lower body fairly quiet since I'm only taking a 1/2 swing but I make sure I follow through.

**klaymon** · June 4, 2009

One thing I found causes this is getting to "arms-y" and not turning my chest through like a regular shot. I fought this for a while and that ended up being my fix.

**Fore Right!** · June 4, 2009

I was doing the exact same thing the other day so I just moved the ball back to where my club was usually hitting the ground first and started hitting it great. Obviously this is just a simple quick fix but maybe it will help you out during rounds while you practice a more permanent solution. Another thing you can try is keeping your eyes on the front/target side of the ball instead of the back. Good Luck!

**Zeph** · June 4, 2009

Buy The Art of The Short Game by Stan Utley . I've taken up his methods and my chipping and pitching has improved greatly. I've struggled with the exact same thing, this book give me guidelines for the whole shot, and it works.

peoplesgolfer · June 4, 2009

I also use this method with my wedges from 120yds and in I tried it with the 9but tended to push it right too much

**BigBoy** · June 4, 2009

Buy The Art of The Short Game by Stan Utley. I've taken up his methods and my chipping and pitching has improved greatly. I've struggled with the exact same thing, this book give me guidelines for the whole shot, and it works.

The funny thing is, I actually own and have read this book - when I first got serious about the game, I read about 10 books over a couple of months. In hindsight, it was complete overkill because I obviously forgot some of the key elements of Utley's instruction -

I've found the book and will be re-reading the pitch shot chapter - I just wonder what piece of knowledge I have working for me now will fall out to remake room for this

sometimes this game makes me feel like the dutch boy plugging the damn with his finger

RC · June 5, 2009

Good advice above in the posts, but the key thing is to go ahead and turn through the shot, even the short ones. If you do not turn on through the shot, you will likely hit it fat. The lower body opens on every shot, except maybe a short putt. Shorten the swing, but still hit through the ball. Even short game guys like Utley talk about opening up the hips on the little shots. Even though there is more weight on the left leg, you still turn and post on it.

**Eeryck** · June 5, 2009

On a half or 1/4 pitch I set about 65% - 75% of weight on front leg and keep it there through the swing. (Very stack and tiltish for these shots)

I narrow up my stance to less than shoulder width.

I set the ball in the middle of my stance.

I set my hands at the inside of my front leg.

Make a good turn and go pick up the divot, then putt.

FWIW,

-E

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Drill for not digging 1/2-3/4 Wedge shots

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