How do you remember everything? (swing questions)

[guids]

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Kind of an aside from the question, but you're likely doing yourself a disservice by chipping with a lob wedge.

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I just want to say that evan was right about this, Ive been spending about 30 minutes to an hour a day at the little chip and put at the driving range, and its way easier to control the ball from 10 feet off the green with the P Wedge.

[BrunoThePug]

I use one 56 degree wedge for everything 100 and in. Through practice I've been able to learn various different types of shots.

I find that the easiest way to think about distance with a wedge is to think in terms of the old clock analogy. A 6 O'clock backswing goes ____ yards, a 9 ___ yards, 11 ____ yards and so on.

You just need to practice hitting various shots with these clubs until you are comfortable with their distances AND how the ball reacts when it hits the ground, (stops, hits and rolls 10 yards, hits and rolls 5 yards etc).

[BrunoThePug]

On the Lob wedge debate:

I recall L wedges getting popular a while ago because of how seemingly effortless it was to get the ball airborne. It was as if every one was always facing 15 yard shots from fluffy rough over a sandtrap and a tight pin location.

I think this goes hand-in-hand with the average golfers inability to get the ball in the air with a regular P/S wedge. The same problem that leads to all of the decelerating chip shots, scooping and thin "worm burning" skulls.

It's like hitting out of the sand near the green, everyone wants to take a slow short swing and lift the ball out of the bunker all dainty like without touching the sand.

[tuq]

I also think some people overuse lob-type wedges because lobbing the ball way up in the air a la Phil is a lot sexier than a bump-and-run. That's a retarded line of thinking of course, but I honestly believe some people think that way.

I have a friend who is a decent stick who once used a 60 degree wedge or some such when he was on the fringe, not twelve feet from the hole and at most a foot off the green, with nothing to carry and a pretty flat shot. He had us pull the flag for him, and of course he proceeded to duff the chip about halfway to the hole. He wasn't my partner, if he was I would have questioned the play right there, but instead my teammate and I had a good chuckle about it when we were out of his earshot.

[BrunoThePug]

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I also think some people overuse lob-type wedges because lobbing the ball way up in the air a la Phil is a lot sexier than a bump-and-run. That's a retarded line of thinking of course, but I honestly believe some people think that way.

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+1

[Shoot59]

I am not saying you should be hitting high shots with the lob wedge for simple chips and pitches. I will say that learning to hit low/medium/high shots around the greens with multiple clubs will improve your overall touch and feel. As long as you are good enough to make crisp contact most of the time, your margin of error with an L wedge is greater than with a 9 iron: i.e. if you take too big a swing with both, the 9 iron will go farther past than the L wedge. (assuming crisp contact) Most people who have trouble with the higher lofted wedges suffer from poor technique, and the slightly bigger L wedge swing can magnify that.

My suggestion would be to practice hitting different shots with different clubs, and finding out what seems most consistent for YOU.

FWIW I use the 60 degree for 75-80% of shots around the green, but most of the amateurs I play with are surprised at how low the ball goes.

[brettbrettr]

Or a 9 or an 8 iron.

[TripleH68]

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This distance calculator might interest you.

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That thing was freakishly right on for me.

[black knight]

Didn't work AT ALL for me.

[westhoff]

Wow, I have so much I want to say on this subject I don't know where to start.

OP, what's your handicap? And what kind of conditions do you play on? Fast or slow greens? Deep rough around greens or chipping/collection areas?

For what it's worth, I use my 56* wedge for 90% of my shots for inside 100 yards and my PW for the other 10%. I think having one club that you like and know how to use (which sounds like what you have now) is the way to go if you have any talent at all. Unless I'm playing a course with really slow greens, I rarely have a shot around the green where I can chip and run with a 6 or 7iron. I think a lot of older professionals teach getting the ball on the green as soon as possible and letting it roll the rest of the way are wrong. Because they don't consider how much the playing conditions have changed in the last twenty years. Greens are so much smoother and faster, and fringes are so much smoother and tighter, that you have to have a lofted club with some bounce on it that gets the ball it the air and stops it fairly quickly.

I think writing down how far you hit each type of shot is great. 1/2 swing=40yards, 3/4=50yards, etc. I think every pro can tell you an exact number if you ask them: In benign conditions, how far do you hit your lob wedge if you take it back to "9 o'clock" and swing full? Obviously, you'll be between yardages sometimes and have to adjust somehow, but when you get that "perfect" yardage you'll have the confidence to stiff it.

With regards to people saying you have less margin of error with a lob wedge I disagree somewhat. If you're good enough to make consistent contact with a higher lofted club you should actually have more margin of error. If you hit a full lob wedge 60 yards and hit a "3/4" one 45 yards, you can swing anywhere in between and be within 15 yards. If you have a 100 foot chip and have 90 feet of green to work with, there's nothing wrong with flying it halfway there and letting it roll from there. When I hit this shot with a 7iron I'm all over the place because you have to be so precise with how fast the club moves through the ball. If you just barely hit the ball harder than it goes way past. With a wedge, you can make a bigger, more relaxed swing and not worry because the ball basically lands and rolls the same everytime.

If you need to write down yardages for different types of shots, then do it. And if you like using your lob wedge and are fairly good at it, then use it for the majority of your shots. Don't try and complicate things by trying to use different clubs all the time. Having one club that you're confident with and that you know will perform well is what you need.