Episode #143: How to Gain 10X Confidence With Wedges

To gain confidence with wedges you need a wedge distance chart.

 This is the fastest way to stand over every short range shot with confidence. Before I pull a wedge from the bag, I’m asking myself these questions:

• What’s the distance to the flagstick? 

• How will this lie affect the clubface at impact?

• Where is the pin on the green (front, middle, back)? 

• What’s the wind doing? How about the temperature or elevation?

It sounds like a lot, but as you play more frequently, asking these questions will become second nature. The reason I get so much data for each wedge is that this is the scoring zone. 

To play your best golf, you need to take advantage when you have a wedge in hand.

While that doesn’t mean you need to aim at the flag every time you have a wedge, you want to avoid bogeys from this position. You also want to give yourself an easy putt or chip if you do miss the green. 

 Don’t get me wrong; you need to know your full-swing distance with each club in the bag. But with wedges, you want to have at least two “stock” distances. 

Because a lot of shots you’ll face on the golf course aren’t a full number—even if you gap your wedges three to four degrees apart. Often, the distance is between a pitching and gap or gap wedge and sand wedge. 

That’s why you need to have multiple distances for each wedge. When you have two stock distances with each wedge, things get lost easier in the scoring zone. 

One is your “full” number, while the other is your “knockdown” or 3/4 swing number. 

The knockdown number requires little other than choking down about an inch to an inch and a half. By shortening the club, you will lose some distance and gain some control. Plus, you should improve the strike and reduce the spin. 

Once you get excellent and become a single-digit handicap player, aim for three distances for each wedge—a full number, a knockdown, and a distance where you choke up almost to the shaft.