Mixed Blessing: Wedge Shots

[Travtex]

This is probably a stupid thing to be frustrated about. I have a pair of gigagolf wedges in my bag, a 52* and a 58*. While obviously not 100% (I am a Noob), I hit them beautifully and consistently with 1/2, 3/4, and full swing shots. I pull them both a touch right, but the angle is great and the distances are predictable. Last couple of days at the range, I was throwing darts with them to the 70 and 100 yard flags respectively. Even getting able to tweak the club face for different types of ball flight.

If I just stood out there with my wedges all day, one might fall under the misapprehension that I knew what I was doing.

The reason it's rip-my-hair-out frustrating is that they're the ONLY clubs in the bag I can hit. Every. Single. Other. Club. Sucks. I pull-hook line drives with ALL of the other clubs. Even taking ONE step up to the pitching wedge, duck hook.

I can't detect any differences in my swing. What are some possibilities?

Club Differences:

Wedges are the Gigagolf SGS blades -- Probably modeled after Clevelands, judging by aesthetics and feel. My irons are Slazenger Super Game Improvement Noobie Set irons.

Key differences: Irons have significant offset and a wide clunky sole -- They remind me of slingshots. Another difference is that the custom wedges are one degree flat. Could that make THAT much of a difference? Or is it more likely in my swing? Or in my head? (Oh, crap, here we go with clunky duck-hook irons, again...)

I have the same problem with hybrids/woods/driver, so I'm not too quick to blame the irons... but it does strike me as very unusual to have THAT huge of a difference in clean shots between a 52* wedge and a 46* PW.

Help? I'd rather not have to resort to breaking out my trusty 52* at the Par 5 tee.

[RubxQub]

Wedges are all pretty close as far as stance goes:

• Legs closer together
• Ball in the middle of your stance
• Stand pretty close to the ball

Are you adjusting these things when you switch to other clubs?

Legs should get further apart the lower the club.
Ball should drift to the left in your stance the lower the club.
Distance from the ball should be further away the lower the club.

The differences in stance between a SW and a 9i aren't dramatic, but there should be a noticeable difference between your SW and your 7i, your 7i and your 4i, your 4i and your driver.

[Scots Golf]

Try aiming your feet left with your irons. Very left, like 10 15 yards. The offset mite be causing you too hook. Do NOT widen your stance for each club, it should be the same for all clubs.

[RubxQub]

Do NOT widen your stance for each club, it should be the same for all clubs.

Your feet are the same width apart with your SW as they are your driver?

[mc0388]

Your feet are the same width apart with your SW as they are your driver?

Try aiming your feet left with your irons. Very left, like 10 15 yards. The offset mite be causing you too hook. Do NOT widen your stance for each club, it should be the same for all clubs.

I agree with Scots Golf, your feet should stay the same distance apart for every club. The wider your stance is, the hard it is for you to make a full hip turn on your follow through, widening your stance just restricts movement.

One other thought is: If these are beginners clubs, and you seem to hit your wedges as far as you need to. What is the shaft flex on your irons? If they are regular or senior (hey they might be) they could be to soft for your swing. Just a thought

[RubxQub]

I agree with Scots Golf, your feet should stay the same distance apart for every club. The wider your stance is, the hard it is for you to make a full hip turn on your follow through, widening your stance just restricts movement.

Reading this is kind of blowing my mind. Every training video I've watched has mentioned that you keep the ball just inside your left foot, but your right foot will widen the longer the shaft is for the club.

I'm just getting into this sport, but is it possible that there is solid reasoning for both of these setups? These people putting out these videos are training professionals so I can't imagine that so many of them would put out the same disinformation. Seeing as you guys are much better at this game based on your handicaps, all I can think is that there is a valid reason to do either. Edit: I think this article sums up both arguments excellently now that this debate has come up.

[brgolf]

Well if it counts for anything my feet are probably progressively further apart the lower the iron I am hitting.

[Fat Slice]

Are you trying to swing faster/harder with the other clubs? Maybe imagine you are swinging a wedge (for tempo reasons) and see how that works out for your other irons.

[Travtex]

I'd noticed the tempo had been falling apart with the irons verses the wedges -- I have a pretty quick tempo with the GW and SW, then caught myself slowing down with the PW and 9i (and other noob set clubs).

Thought that might be the problem, but keeping the same tempo seems to make the problem -worse- rather than better. I have my suspicions about the offset, but at this stage of learning the game I hate to start blaming the equipment.

Irons and hybrids are uniflex. My 3w and Driver are regular flex. Last time I was in a launch monitor my swing was about 95mph (driver), though I've been trying to get a more active hip turn since then so it might have creeped up a bit.

Stance is pretty narrow with wedges and probably not too much wider but for wood/driver (I do tend to err on the side of 'Too Wide' so I've been mindful of it, lately).

I tried Gary McCord's hook fix from Golf for Dummies (Stand perpendicular to the target line, dead-on facing the target) -- Works great with the PW, though progressively less well for longer clubs.

[divottool]

What do your divots look like. I am just wondering if the heal of the clubs are hitting first and turning the toe over for a hook.

Go to golf galaxy with your 6 iron and have them tape it on the bottom, and hit a few off of the impact board just to check the lie angles.

[Travtex]

Wedge divots are deep, but straight (I'm a bit of a digger).

Irons... inconsistent, but I do notice the occasional narrow divot. Looks like about ball-width, as if driving into the ball and making the divot WITH it. Could very well be hitting with the heel and just closing the door with the offset/toe and slapping a hook.

Would 1 degree make that much of a difference? Does the offset exacerbate the problem if I'm hitting wedges without offset flush?

[Gilles]

If, based on the size and shape of your iron divots (there might be other explanations, but notice the 3 in front of my handicap...) , you are hitting with the heel, have you experimented with the distance between you and the ball?

Try coming a bit closer to the ball.

I know that I used to be too far back from the ball, having to "reach" for the ball on the downswing, bringing the toe of my club up and coming at the ball from the wrong angle ... I still have to remind myself sometimes to shimmy an inch or two closer to the ball when taking my stance. You have to swing "below" you, not in front of you.

G.

[mc0388]

Reading this is kind of blowing my mind. Every training video I've watched has mentioned that you keep the ball just inside your left foot, but your right foot will widen the longer the shaft is for the club.

All I can say is try both. hit a full bucket of balls and not widen your stance and then do the opposite. I used to have a wide stance, I noticed it was difficult for me to get my weight on my front foot through impact( I would be leaning back on follow through. I then had a lesson in Hilton Head and the pro closed my stance (shoulder width) and had me practice that. Since that lesson, I worked hard on the advise I got and have dropped 6 points on my index. Another thought is this: If you widen your stance with every club, wouldn't that give you a difference balance point and cause you to have 14 different swings? I would rather try to master one swing. Just a thought