Wedge Options

[Mkgrady]

My first post!  I have a golf buddy that is telling me I should not be taking a full swing with my wedges. I agree with him on shots less than 60 yards but it doesn’t make sense to me otherwise. I hit my 56 wedge 70 yards and my 60 wedge 60 yards. Unless I have a tight lie I use these wedges for those shots. As a point of reference I hit my six iron 160. 

My buddies method is to close the face of his wedges and knock down the angle of approach and let it run to the hole with a smaller swing.  I prefer to land it near the hole because I’m not any good at partial swings. He says I just need more practice. Thoughts?

[boogielicious]

23 hours ago, Mkgrady said:

My first post!  I have a golf buddy that is telling me I should not be taking a full swing with my wedges. I agree with him on shots less than 60 yards but it doesn’t make sense to me otherwise. I hit my 56 wedge 70 yards and my 60 wedge 60 yards. Unless I have a tight lie I use these wedges for those shots. As a point of reference I hit my six iron 160. 

My buddies method is to close the face of his wedges and knock down the angle of approach and let it run to the hole with a smaller swing.  I prefer to land it near the hole because I’m not any good at partial swings. He says I just need more practice. Thoughts?

Welcome to The Sand Trap.

The thread below discusses technique, which will help you. I tend only hit full wedge shots if the distance requires almost all carry. Your friend is describing a bump and run shot. I will do those if there is nothing in the way and the fairway is hard. But mostly, I use partial wedge shots up to even an 8 iron.

 

[klineka]

On 7/2/2018 at 8:05 AM, Mkgrady said:

My first post!  I have a golf buddy that is telling me I should not be taking a full swing with my wedges.

Welcome! 

I dont agree with the idea that you should never take a full swing with a wedge. My 54 degree wedge goes 110 yds. If I'm in the fairway, little to no wind, and the middle of the green is 110 yds away, I'm hitting the 54 degree wedge. Full, normal swing. It doesnt make sense in that situation to try to hit a partial gap wedge, knowing if my distance control isnt precise with the 50 degree that it could easily go 10-15 yds past where I want it. 

Obviously there will be situations where you will be in between clubs so you might have to knock one down a bit, or you might want to flight one lower in the wind, but in my mind, especially for amateurs who dont generate as much spin as pro players, it makes sense to hit the full swing, which will be a higher trajectory shot, and use the combination of descent angle and spin to stop the ball instead of just relying on spin.

[Patch]

My driver is the only club I use that is totally dedicated to full swing. The other 13 clubs in my bag can be anything, up to, and including a full swing. It just depends on which club, and back swing combination I feel the most comfortable using, at that moment. 

My favorite shot is a flop shot, but if I feel like hitting a bump, and run, then so be it. 

[Shindig]

In addition to @boogielicious's link above, check out how to flight wedges;  I finally learned my 3/4 distances recently, but this helped me quite a bit for a while (and is still a nice shot to have in the bag)

 

[HawkNballs]

On 7/2/2018 at 5:05 AM, Mkgrady said:

My first post!  I have a golf buddy that is telling me I should not be taking a full swing with my wedges. I agree with him on shots less than 60 yards but it doesn’t make sense to me otherwise. I hit my 56 wedge 70 yards and my 60 wedge 60 yards. Unless I have a tight lie I use these wedges for those shots. As a point of reference I hit my six iron 160. 

My buddies method is to close the face of his wedges and knock down the angle of approach and let it run to the hole with a smaller swing.  I prefer to land it near the hole because I’m not any good at partial swings. He says I just need more practice. Thoughts?

I used to have a problem closing the face on partial wedge shots or partial punch outs under trees.  I tend to leave the face open when I swing easy.  Try closing the face at address 15-20* when you hit these shots at the range.  It sure helped me a lot.