Having issues hitting my wedges..... grrrrrrrrr

[David L Yskes]

So the last couple of times i've gone to the range, i've had issues hitting my wedges i have a 52-8 588, a 56-8 and 56-11 volkey, and a 60-4 volkey...

while i can hit my regular PW on average about 115 yards ( and sometimes even better when i am really hitting my irons good ) plus, i know the range balls at said place are not the best.... but the place is right down the road from me..  So hitting a good ball will probably get me more distance lol..... ( and )  while the hitting surface is grass, its not golf course groomed, lol...  yes the do cut the grass and move the boxes, but its not like i am hitting from the fairway of a golf course or even the rough lol.......

i struggle to hit my gap range of 100 yards with my 52...  normally i am in the 90 yard range with it..... and so on with my other wedges....

i think my biggest problem is where to set up the ball in my stance... should it be right in the middle of my body or a couple inches back??

i've tried finding some video's on youtube about how to address the ball when using wedges but cant seem to find any......

[SAGolfLuvr]

Phil Mickelson secrets of the short game instruction. 50 yard shot. The principles are the same for a 100 yard GAP wedge shot. If you hit it too long, then choke down and dial it in. Good Luck

[njgolfaddict]

It depends on the flight you want. But for argument sake, you still want to hit down on the ball. For me, I move the ball back about 1-2 inches from center.

[billchao]

while i can hit my regular PW on average about 115 yards ( and sometimes even better when i am really hitting my irons good ) plus, i know the range balls at said place are not the best.... but the place is right down the road from me..  So hitting a good ball will probably get me more distance lol..... ( and )  while the hitting surface is grass, its not golf course groomed, lol...  yes the do cut the grass and move the boxes, but its not like i am hitting from the fairway of a golf course or even the rough lol.......

i struggle to hit my gap range of 100 yards with my 52...  normally i am in the 90 yard range with it..... and so on with my other wedges....

What's the loft of your PW?

i think my biggest problem is where to set up the ball in my stance... should it be right in the middle of my body or a couple inches back??

How's your contact otherwise? Is it just the distance that's the issue, or are you hitting the ball higher with your wedges?

I play my wedges a ball back from where I'd play my short irons, but it's mostly because I hit my wedges too high and I try to flight it down a little. Honestly, I rarely hit a full wedge swing anyway. I'd rather take a longer club and take a little off the swing.

[David L Yskes]

the loft on my PW is 47 degree's...

i would like to think my contact is pretty good...  ball flight wise, i feel like the ball balloons more than it should...  And it's probably cuz i am not hitting down on the ball enough..... which is something i could work on with my wedges next time out...

and ball flight wise, i realize with a higher lofted wedge the ball will get up in the air , but mine seems to just go straight up ( not literally ).... unless i really de-loft my club

i will try moving the ball back just a smidge....   and thanks for the video .....

[mvmac]

I wouldn't play it farther back than middle of the stance. I'm similar to @billchao , I play my gap and sand wedge about a ball back of my short irons, which is just forward of the middle of my stance.

Easiest way to "flight" a wedge is to make a shorter backswing and a shorter followthrough (than full swing). Going to feel like the arms are straighter into the followthrough and that you re-hinge the club at a slower rate.

[dkolo]

So the last couple of times i've gone to the range, i've had issues hitting my wedges i have a 52-8 588, a 56-8 and 56-11 volkey, and a 60-4 volkey...

while i can hit my regular PW on average about 115 yards ( and sometimes even better when i am really hitting my irons good ) plus, i know the range balls at said place are not the best.... but the place is right down the road from me..  So hitting a good ball will probably get me more distance lol..... ( and )  while the hitting surface is grass, its not golf course groomed, lol...  yes the do cut the grass and move the boxes, but its not like i am hitting from the fairway of a golf course or even the rough lol.......

i struggle to hit my gap range of 100 yards with my 52...  normally i am in the 90 yard range with it..... and so on with my other wedges....

i think my biggest problem is where to set up the ball in my stance... should it be right in the middle of my body or a couple inches back??

i've tried finding some video's on youtube about how to address the ball when using wedges but cant seem to find any......

Be careful of what you consider hitting the PW "even better" means. My PW is my 125 yard club. It's so easy to deloft that I can hit it 160 if I add a bit of shaft lean or closed face. I don't consider that 160 yard shot "better." I just turned the PW into my 7 iron. Unless you're hitting your PW a bit fat most times and the longer shots are clean contact, don't necessarily assume that because you hit it farther you made a better swing.

[David L Yskes]

dkolo,

right i do understand what you mean..... farther doesnt always mean better...  i know my sweet spot for my PW is right about 110 to 115 yards...

i did hit a bucket of balls today primarily working on my PW thru 60*     and messed around with adjusting the ball position forward or back in my stance, and using a half swing and a full swing..   just to see what would happen..

i will say my 60* will be awesome for flop shops.. short of me skulling it or hitting it thin, i cant hit the ball more than 50 yards with it lol...

now the big issue is with my 52 and 56 wedges... i almost have no difference in distance, or so it seems...

i've thought about getting a 50* wedge and ditching the 52... but idk lol

[dkolo]

dkolo,

right i do understand what you mean..... farther doesnt always mean better...  i know my sweet spot for my PW is right about 110 to 115 yards...

i did hit a bucket of balls today primarily working on my PW thru 60*     and messed around with adjusting the ball position forward or back in my stance, and using a half swing and a full swing..   just to see what would happen..

i will say my 60* will be awesome for flop shops.. short of me skulling it or hitting it thin, i cant hit the ball more than 50 yards with it lol...

now the big issue is with my 52 and 56 wedges... i almost have no difference in distance, or so it seems...

i've thought about getting a 50* wedge and ditching the 52... but idk lol

The last two times I hit my 60° full during a round, bad things happened because I caught it a bit too fat for my 4° of bounce to handle. So that's being scrapped, haha.

I would say you should hold off on buying clubs until you sort out your issues. Looking for fixes to your game via equipment is rarely the way to go.

Have you tried working on half swings and 3/4 swings with wedges? There's a thread here that is instructive and would probably be useful for focusing on good contact and working up from there to full shots:

http://thesandtrap.com/t/77861/how-to-hit-partial-wedge-shots-learn-your-tweener-yardages

[joekelly]

Phil is like a metronome, always the same and controlled.  Are you, or most of us, like that?  Not.  His clubface control approaches perfect, every time.

If we can't don't that, no shame, but let's get real.  We don't need a 60* wedge to go 60 yards.  We can use a 45* wedge which will be much easier for us to control, due to loft and bounce.

Control and consistency: your best friends on the course. My spin: take the time to learn what the 45* can do for you. Make the ball go high, drop soft.  Make the ball go low with lots of spin, check fast. Same distance, different technique, same result.

[David L Yskes]

The last two times I hit my 60° full during a round, bad things happened because I caught it a bit too fat for my 4° of bounce to handle. So that's being scrapped, haha.

I would say you should hold off on buying clubs until you sort out your issues. Looking for fixes to your game via equipment is rarely the way to go.

Have you tried working on half swings and 3/4 swings with wedges? There's a thread here that is instructive and would probably be useful for focusing on good contact and working up from there to full shots:

http://thesandtrap.com/t/77861/how-to-hit-partial-wedge-shots-learn-your-tweener-yardages

Dkolo,,,  lol yea i seem to get the same with my 60 wedge too..  if i am on a tight lie, i either hit the ball awesome, or thin and the ball goes 125 lol...   which is that other issue, cuz i rarely use my 60 unless its a flop shot on the short side of the green or over a bunker...    I've often thought about ditching, it, cuz i can always open up my 56 wedge and get the same results...

and yea i dont plan on getting a new club anytime soon, just like to keep my options open.. i will most likely just work on that 52 wedge more till i make that thing work damn it lol.......................

yes i did work on half swings and 3/4 swings and using a shorter back swing..

[David L Yskes]

joekelly

very true about Phil, he is the man when it comes to wedges..,,  if everyone could use their wedges like he does wow, we'd all kill it with our short game

[njgolfaddict]

I disagree with equipment not helping.Although it won't make your swing better, or fix your ball position, if you go to s place like Golfsmith, they can check your spin rate etc and help with the "ballooning". Instead of buying a a new 50 degree, maybe they can bend your 52 to make it 51. You can get fairly accurate numbers on each wedges distance as well. they can check to see if the bounce is right for you, maybe you need to change to a different ball? Maybe you need new wedges? either wsy, you'll benefit from using a monitor to help you.

[David L Yskes]

nj,

well i'm not off to get some new wedges anytime soon, all of my wedges i bought new in 2013...  and i didnt play but 27 holes last summer, lol..

but i did work on using a 3/4 swing today with my PW - wedges, and noticed my ball flight was a lot better and i was getting the same distance if not better distance..

i will have to say my distances will probably improve when i actually get to play a round with good golf balls, cuz some of the range balls are a bit laughable, i had a couple that i hit with my 3 iron that i swear knuckled and would dive once it go out to 150 yards...

but oh well..... we cant all have everything perfect lol......