50-70yd shot advice

[GaijinGolfer]

For me, thats right in the range of a 3/4 to full swing with a LW.  If its windy I may pull out the 56*, play the ball back in my stance and use a 1/2 swing though.

[coopster]

So what i'm seeing here is that everybody is talking about hitting different wedges with different strengths. What has worked the best for me is to get 1 club that I feel most comfortable with 50 yards and closer. For me it was too difficult having all of these different lofts and then having to hit them in different ways. What I do now when I am within 50 yds (with obvoius exceptions of bunkers, punch n runs and various flops and pitches) is to grab my PW and use the feel that I have gained for it to get the ball close. My 2 cents... Coop

[ohiolefty]

Originally Posted by coopster

So what i'm seeing here is that everybody is talking about hitting different wedges with different strengths. What has worked the best for me is to get 1 club that I feel most comfortable with 50 yards and closer. For me it was too difficult having all of these different lofts and then having to hit them in different ways. What I do now when I am within 50 yds (with obvoius exceptions of bunkers, punch n runs and various flops and pitches) is to grab my PW and use the feel that I have gained for it to get the ball close.

My 2 cents...

Coop

I agree with this approach. Many of us might want a little more loft than a PW, but then again, I grew up playing all my short shots with a 9 iron, and later a PW, until I was in my mid-teens...and I am very solid with all my wedges now because of the feel I developed as a kid. So much of the short game, regardless of what stick you've got in your hand, is feel, imagination, and being able to assess the interconnectedness of the lie, green complex, club loft and what kind of contact you'll get, the ball, the conditions, etc.

[NCSU_MSE]

The simple but unpopular answer is that you'll have to practice these shots.  A lot.  WUTiger's suggestion is excellent in terms of getting an idea of how far you hit various shots.  It's also a good idea to hit a few shots on the course from these distances on a slow day.  From 50-70 yards out, you have tons of options.  You can fly it with a SW/LW.  If the area leading up to the green is closely mown, you could even hit a little all-body half 7 iron and run it up.

Also, consider the type of ball you are playing.  I can't afford ProV1s (well, can't afford to lose them), but a good ball will make these shots a lot easier, especially with front pin positions.  I've been playing a Srixon Trispeed and was getting frustrated at the big hop it always seemed to take (I'd get 3-4 yards of rollout on a full SW).  I've been trying out Callaway's HX Bite recently and have found it to stop more quickly (although still nowhere near a ProV1), so make sure you're playing a good ball.

Finally, look around and see if you have any executive-type Par3 courses nearby.  I recently played 27 holes at Omni Championsgate's Par3 (which was a glorified pitch-and-put) where the longest hole was 90 yards.  Virtually every tee shot was a partial wedge to a postage stamp-sized green.  The next week in my league I was knocking partial wedges to within realistic birdie distance instead of leaving them way short or way long.

So to recap:

1.  Tune up your distances.

2.  Tune up your swing.

3.  Tune up your equipment.

4.  Practice, practice, practice!