Distance Wedge Basics

WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.840
This is the distance wedge basics.

2
00:00:07.840 --> 00:00:12.250
This is kind of an overview of applying the big concepts of having more of your

3
00:00:12.250 --> 00:00:12.800
stack

4
00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:18.360
centers, more of your smooth force, and more of your constant radius.

5
00:00:18.360 --> 00:00:22.070
So we'll talk through kind of how to build your basic swing, and then wherever

6
00:00:22.070 --> 00:00:22.920
you struggle,

7
00:00:22.920 --> 00:00:28.170
you can try the drills later in this section and in troubleshooting and all the

8
00:00:28.170 --> 00:00:28.560
other drills

9
00:00:28.560 --> 00:00:31.500
we'll kind of build off of improving this model.

10
00:00:31.500 --> 00:00:36.000
So first one, let's talk about setup.

11
00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:40.140
So you can either use your primary, your regular grip, or some golfers do

12
00:00:40.140 --> 00:00:41.040
actually put the

13
00:00:41.040 --> 00:00:45.000
right hand a little bit more on top, more like their finesse wedge grip.

14
00:00:45.000 --> 00:00:48.880
So we'll start with just your normal grip so that we're not going to make too

15
00:00:48.880 --> 00:00:50.040
many changes.

16
00:00:50.040 --> 00:00:56.110
Now, setup-wise, with an iron, we usually set up so that the golf ball is more

17
00:00:56.110 --> 00:00:56.640
off of

18
00:00:56.640 --> 00:00:57.920
your right ear.

19
00:00:57.920 --> 00:01:05.010
With this, in order to help improve the low point location, we're going to set

20
00:01:05.010 --> 00:01:05.840
up so that

21
00:01:05.840 --> 00:01:08.890
your nose is just ahead of the golf ball or the golf ball is almost even with

22
00:01:08.890 --> 00:01:09.360
your right

23
00:01:09.360 --> 00:01:10.360
eye.

24
00:01:10.360 --> 00:01:13.930
So if I hang the club off my right eye, that should be pretty much in line with

25
00:01:13.930 --> 00:01:14.440
the golf

26
00:01:14.440 --> 00:01:15.440
ball.

27
00:01:15.440 --> 00:01:19.780
That's going to mean that I've set my upper body just a little bit more on top

28
00:01:19.780 --> 00:01:20.280
of my left

29
00:01:20.280 --> 00:01:24.580
foot, or that's where people get the feeling of having about 70% of your weight

30
00:01:24.580 --> 00:01:25.080
on that

31
00:01:25.080 --> 00:01:27.160
front foot.

32
00:01:27.160 --> 00:01:32.990
So we've got our grip and we've got our setup position, feet are pelvis width

33
00:01:32.990 --> 00:01:34.040
apart, maybe

34
00:01:34.040 --> 00:01:38.080
up to shoulder, but no wider, just like that.

35
00:01:38.080 --> 00:01:42.040
Okay, so that's putting us in position where we can keep our center stacked.

36
00:01:42.040 --> 00:01:47.290
The rest of center stacked is I'm going to apply more of my force vertically as

37
00:01:47.290 --> 00:01:47.640
opposed

38
00:01:47.640 --> 00:01:50.800
to having really big lateral movement.

39
00:01:50.800 --> 00:01:54.930
So during the backswing, I'm actually going to shift so that my upper body is

40
00:01:54.930 --> 00:01:55.520
slightly

41
00:01:55.520 --> 00:01:56.520
closer.

42
00:01:56.520 --> 00:02:00.570
It's going to feel like it doesn't really move, but one to two inches closer to

43
00:02:00.570 --> 00:02:01.320
the target

44
00:02:01.320 --> 00:02:05.280
is a good goal where your upper body is actually moved kind of this way.

45
00:02:05.280 --> 00:02:10.530
I'm exaggerating it there, but as you look at golfers, you'll see them just

46
00:02:10.530 --> 00:02:11.520
kind of loading

47
00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:13.400
more into that front foot.

48
00:02:13.400 --> 00:02:17.280
When I'm loaded all into that front foot, that's going to encourage all the

49
00:02:17.280 --> 00:02:17.800
keys for

50
00:02:17.800 --> 00:02:21.730
the downswing, because our key goal for the downswing is to get to an impact

51
00:02:21.730 --> 00:02:22.320
position

52
00:02:22.320 --> 00:02:26.550
where we've got a little bit of shaft lean in order to help launch the ball low

53
00:02:26.550 --> 00:02:27.040
and make

54
00:02:27.040 --> 00:02:30.000
clean contact, but we're controlling the depth.

55
00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:34.240
We're not going to let the club get too deep down into the ground.

56
00:02:34.240 --> 00:02:39.490
The way we're going to do that is by having our upper bodies stacked, our pel

57
00:02:39.490 --> 00:02:40.120
vis a little

58
00:02:40.120 --> 00:02:44.300
bit more level than our full swing if we were hitting like a mid-iron, and we

59
00:02:44.300 --> 00:02:45.000
're going to

60
00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:50.830
feel like we have a really nice coast on the way through, where our abs, our

61
00:02:50.830 --> 00:02:51.640
chest, our

62
00:02:51.640 --> 00:02:54.760
arms kind of all come through together.

63
00:02:54.760 --> 00:02:58.600
That brings us to this smooth force idea where we're going to have a feeling of

64
00:02:58.600 --> 00:02:59.360
a cast-in

65
00:02:59.360 --> 00:03:03.660
transition and a coast on the way through, more like an underhand toss where

66
00:03:03.660 --> 00:03:04.520
everything's

67
00:03:04.520 --> 00:03:08.810
moving together rather than an overhand throw where there's a big sequence and

68
00:03:08.810 --> 00:03:09.560
snap at the

69
00:03:09.560 --> 00:03:10.560
end.

70
00:03:10.560 --> 00:03:14.290
So, we've got our setup up to the top of the swing where we're a little bit

71
00:03:14.290 --> 00:03:15.080
more stacked

72
00:03:15.080 --> 00:03:18.600
and the arms are a little bit more extended, almost keeping that triangle,

73
00:03:18.600 --> 00:03:19.320
feeling like

74
00:03:19.320 --> 00:03:26.760
the arms sync up with the body really early and then coming through together.

75
00:03:26.760 --> 00:03:30.930
When you come through together, when you bring your arms and your body through

76
00:03:30.930 --> 00:03:31.680
together,

77
00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:35.620
you want to maintain that stacked center, so you don't want to be sliding this

78
00:03:35.620 --> 00:03:36.160
way and

79
00:03:36.160 --> 00:03:39.040
you don't want your upper body to lunge too far forward.

80
00:03:39.040 --> 00:03:42.940
So, in order to do that, we're going to have a blend of going into extension as

81
00:03:42.940 --> 00:03:43.400
well as

82
00:03:43.400 --> 00:03:44.400
that rotation.

83
00:03:44.400 --> 00:03:50.290
If you do that wall, you're stacked on top, that's going to bring your hands

84
00:03:50.290 --> 00:03:51.960
around nicely

85
00:03:51.960 --> 00:03:58.160
to the left instead of having more of kind of a really active, lengthening

86
00:03:58.160 --> 00:03:59.240
radius from

87
00:03:59.240 --> 00:04:04.380
the arms getting too active down to the bottom, which messes up the force as

88
00:04:04.380 --> 00:04:05.480
well as contact.

89
00:04:05.480 --> 00:04:09.160
So the basic picture is we have an upper body kind of just slightly ahead of

90
00:04:09.160 --> 00:04:10.400
the golf ball.

91
00:04:10.400 --> 00:04:13.430
The arms being the radius of the swing are going to be pretty straight and then

92
00:04:13.430 --> 00:04:13.760
we're

93
00:04:13.760 --> 00:04:17.960
just going to rotate the whole body as one unit trying to get the ground

94
00:04:17.960 --> 00:04:19.160
contact slightly

95
00:04:19.160 --> 00:04:20.160
ahead of the golf ball.

96
00:04:20.160 --> 00:04:23.440
If you're struggling with any one of those pieces, then we got drills in the

97
00:04:23.440 --> 00:04:23.960
rest of these

98
00:04:23.960 --> 00:04:28.030
sections to help you dial in and troubleshoot your individual needs, but that

99
00:04:28.030 --> 00:04:28.600
should be

100
00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:31.240
the basics for kind of getting you going.

101
00:04:31.240 --> 00:04:34.650
The last little point is to control distance, we want to practice making a

102
00:04:34.650 --> 00:04:35.560
couple different

103
00:04:35.560 --> 00:04:41.600
length swings, one being about nine o'clock or about hip height, two being

104
00:04:41.600 --> 00:04:42.480
about when

105
00:04:42.480 --> 00:04:47.880
the club is vertical or about chest height, and then three full swing being up

106
00:04:47.880 --> 00:04:48.560
to about

107
00:04:48.560 --> 00:04:53.520
shoulder height or more like eleven o'clock on the clock.

108
00:04:53.520 --> 00:04:58.960
So practicing the overall fundamentals with those different length swings

109
00:04:58.960 --> 00:04:59.960
should get us

110
00:04:59.960 --> 00:05:03.910
in the ballpark where we can start fine tuning your shot to work on either

111
00:05:03.910 --> 00:05:05.400
contact, trajectory,

112
00:05:05.400 --> 00:05:06.400
or distance control.

113
00:05:06.400 --> 00:05:10.570
Okay, if you're just practicing one shot, the one that is the most important is

114
00:05:10.570 --> 00:05:10.960
going

115
00:05:10.960 --> 00:05:16.210
to be your ten o'clock or about chest height, that's the kind of the gold

116
00:05:16.210 --> 00:05:17.080
standard for where

117
00:05:17.080 --> 00:05:23.680
we want to be taking your distance wedges, kind of like that, really smooth on

118
00:05:23.680 --> 00:05:24.320
the way

119
00:05:24.320 --> 00:05:27.670
through, three quarters both in the backswing and the follow through, you're

120
00:05:27.670 --> 00:05:28.240
going to hit

121
00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:33.490
some straight, well controlled distance wedges that will either help you make

122
00:05:33.490 --> 00:05:34.440
more birdies

123
00:05:34.440 --> 00:05:36.760
or save more parts.