WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:06.630
In this finesse wedge drill video, we're going to go over the keys to the setup

2
00:00:06.630 --> 00:00:08.000
position

3
00:00:08.000 --> 00:00:15.000
and understanding the overall swing look and understanding steeps and shallows.

4
00:00:15.000 --> 00:00:21.000
A lot of my wedge instruction has come from conversations with Stan Utley,

5
00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:22.000
James Seachman,

6
00:00:22.000 --> 00:00:26.000
and some other guys out there who've kind of studied this similar pattern.

7
00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:30.000
When I grew up and similar to most people that I've talked to,

8
00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:34.000
we were all taught the same chipping style, or finesse wedge style,

9
00:00:34.000 --> 00:00:41.000
where you have a narrow stance, you play the ball extremely far back, like so,

10
00:00:41.000 --> 00:00:45.670
and you basically hold your hands ahead and then you just turn and hold on to

11
00:00:45.670 --> 00:00:46.000
it.

12
00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:51.570
Now, that technique works fine for a limited number of shots, like I could

13
00:00:51.570 --> 00:00:54.000
actually probably get away with using it here.

14
00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:57.000
The problem is, as you get better and as you play nicer golf courses,

15
00:00:57.000 --> 00:01:01.000
you're going to get tighter fairways, you're going to get firmer greens,

16
00:01:01.000 --> 00:01:05.320
and it's going to be much more difficult for you to control that swing versus

17
00:01:05.320 --> 00:01:07.000
what I'm going to teach you today.

18
00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:13.230
So, the setup for this finesse swing is going to involve a little bit of a hand

19
00:01:13.230 --> 00:01:14.000
release.

20
00:01:14.000 --> 00:01:17.000
It's going to involve a little bit of a body pivot,

21
00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:22.220
but it's not going to be this block and hold that completely exposes the

22
00:01:22.220 --> 00:01:23.000
leading edge,

23
00:01:23.000 --> 00:01:27.520
or the dig side of the club, because that dig side of the club, when you get

24
00:01:27.520 --> 00:01:28.000
nervous under pressure,

25
00:01:28.000 --> 00:01:32.000
if your own really tight lies, can get you in a lot of trouble.

26
00:01:32.000 --> 00:01:38.000
So, instead of having the shaft leaning way forward and the ball way back,

27
00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:44.160
we're going to play the ball anywhere from center of my stance to middle of my

28
00:01:44.160 --> 00:01:45.000
foot.

29
00:01:45.000 --> 00:01:48.140
We're not going to play it all the way back on the heel, although it's possible

30
00:01:48.140 --> 00:01:50.000
with this technique,

31
00:01:50.000 --> 00:01:53.380
just because I think you get a little bit cleaner contact and you can do the

32
00:01:53.380 --> 00:01:56.000
same shot with it virtually off the toe.

33
00:01:56.000 --> 00:02:01.000
But by adjusting where it is in the setup, we can control how much loft we get

34
00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:04.000
as well as how much roll.

35
00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:08.000
Instead of trying to get the shaft to come in with a whole lot of lean,

36
00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:13.000
we're actually going to try to get the shaft to come in relatively vertical,

37
00:02:13.000 --> 00:02:14.000
like so.

38
00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:20.000
The way that we're going to do this is our setup position is going to create

39
00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:21.000
kind of a steep angle of attack,

40
00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:24.000
so that our swing can be shallow.

41
00:02:24.000 --> 00:02:27.300
Essentially, the way that we're going to do that is we're basically just going

42
00:02:27.300 --> 00:02:28.000
to bend forward

43
00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:31.990
so that our chest would be pointing slightly out in front of the golf ball,

44
00:02:31.990 --> 00:02:33.000
like so.

45
00:02:33.000 --> 00:02:37.670
With an iron and a driver, you'll often have your chest pointing behind the

46
00:02:37.670 --> 00:02:38.000
golf ball,

47
00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:42.220
but with this short swing, if your chest is pointed behind the golf ball, as

48
00:02:42.220 --> 00:02:43.000
you saw there,

49
00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:45.000
the club will bottom out behind it.

50
00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:48.000
It's roughly going to bottom out in front of your chest.

51
00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:52.000
For this finesse swing, this chip style technique,

52
00:02:52.000 --> 00:02:55.000
you're going to have the ball in the middle of the stance with the shaft

53
00:02:55.000 --> 00:02:57.000
virtually straight up and down,

54
00:02:57.000 --> 00:03:00.000
or leaning just slightly forward.

55
00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:04.720
In order to use the bounce of the club and allow the face to rotate with the

56
00:03:04.720 --> 00:03:06.000
path in the backswing,

57
00:03:06.000 --> 00:03:09.550
you're going to have your right hand grip a little bit more on top or in a weak

58
00:03:09.550 --> 00:03:10.000
position,

59
00:03:10.000 --> 00:03:15.570
where this is pointing where the V in your right hand is pointing more straight

60
00:03:15.570 --> 00:03:17.000
up and down the shaft.

61
00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:23.000
We'll get into that in the release video for the finesse swing,

62
00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:28.510
but by doing so, it allows you to set the club on a proper path which allows

63
00:03:28.510 --> 00:03:29.000
you to release it on the way down.

64
00:03:29.000 --> 00:03:32.000
You'll understand when you watch that other video.

65
00:03:32.000 --> 00:03:38.170
The third thing, so we've got our sternum ahead of the golf ball and pointed

66
00:03:38.170 --> 00:03:39.000
out here,

67
00:03:39.000 --> 00:03:43.000
in the backswing, this was one of the big revelations for me.

68
00:03:43.000 --> 00:03:47.000
James Sickman describes it as the energy is always moving towards the target.

69
00:03:47.000 --> 00:03:53.000
What I see when I'm doing 3D evaluations is that even the guys who look like

70
00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:55.000
they have a very flippy swing,

71
00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:58.000
they kind of finish like this, but they're like, "Hey, you know what? Don't

72
00:03:58.000 --> 00:03:58.000
worry about my chipping.

73
00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:00.000
I get up and down from everywhere."

74
00:04:00.000 --> 00:04:05.000
They all tend to have this common pattern, which is during the backswing,

75
00:04:05.000 --> 00:04:10.900
the upper body is going to move about 3 inches closer to the target than when

76
00:04:10.900 --> 00:04:12.000
it started.

77
00:04:12.000 --> 00:04:14.000
You heard me right.

78
00:04:14.000 --> 00:04:19.750
From setup, the upper body is going to drift forward in the backswing as the

79
00:04:19.750 --> 00:04:21.000
arms go back.

80
00:04:21.000 --> 00:04:26.260
This allows me to have my arms initiate the downswing or to have this proper

81
00:04:26.260 --> 00:04:29.000
sequencing and not hit behind the golf ball.

82
00:04:29.000 --> 00:04:34.330
What I realized was if you were to try to set up 3 inches in front and then had

83
00:04:34.330 --> 00:04:35.000
a little shift backward,

84
00:04:35.000 --> 00:04:40.100
you would still have a normal kinematic sequence because the upper body or you

85
00:04:40.100 --> 00:04:41.000
would have a normal energy flow,

86
00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:46.320
your body would basically lead the club down and you would get too much shaft

87
00:04:46.320 --> 00:04:47.000
lean.

88
00:04:47.000 --> 00:04:53.000
The reason that the better players figured this out is by leaning this way,

89
00:04:53.000 --> 00:04:58.590
now my arms almost have to start the downswing instead of letting my body do it

90
00:04:58.590 --> 00:04:59.000
.

91
00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:03.120
My arms are going to start the downswing and then my upper body is just going

92
00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:04.000
to catch it.

93
00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:08.000
From James Seachman, I call it the throw and catch.

94
00:05:08.000 --> 00:05:10.000
He talks about supporting it.

95
00:05:10.000 --> 00:05:12.000
I like the throw and catch model.

96
00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:17.000
Basically, you get to hear you just let your arms drop and then your upper body

97
00:05:17.000 --> 00:05:21.000
will turn with it so that you can get into this follow-through position.

98
00:05:21.000 --> 00:05:28.680
In the old style block and hold chipping technique, you would play the ball way

99
00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:29.000
back

100
00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:33.670
and we would finish with our hands kind of way out in front like so, which

101
00:05:33.670 --> 00:05:35.000
works for specific shots.

102
00:05:35.000 --> 00:05:39.270
But if I was to turn the face the camera, you can see basically I held off and

103
00:05:39.270 --> 00:05:42.000
didn't let my arms release at all.

104
00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:49.560
In this kind of new school finesse swing, when you go into this finished

105
00:05:49.560 --> 00:05:51.000
position, so I go left,

106
00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:56.000
when I go into my finished position, which looks relatively normal, from here,

107
00:05:56.000 --> 00:06:00.000
you want the shaft virtually pointed at your belly button.

108
00:06:00.000 --> 00:06:05.900
If your hands get like this, well, you got a little bit too much speed and

109
00:06:05.900 --> 00:06:08.000
emphasis from your hands.

110
00:06:08.000 --> 00:06:12.670
But the big thing is, when it went here, you just didn't support it with the

111
00:06:12.670 --> 00:06:13.000
chest.

112
00:06:13.000 --> 00:06:14.000
Does that make sense?

113
00:06:14.000 --> 00:06:17.750
So if your chest stays pointed at the golf ball the whole time and I have no

114
00:06:17.750 --> 00:06:19.000
movement in my body,

115
00:06:19.000 --> 00:06:23.670
you're going to tend to over release the hands, which will just give you spin

116
00:06:23.670 --> 00:06:25.000
and contact issues.

117
00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:28.000
So, let's go through the summary real quick.

118
00:06:28.000 --> 00:06:33.000
You're set up anywhere from middle to middle of your foot.

119
00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:39.000
Starting, leaning left, or what James Seacman, Dr. Rose, called a twisted spine

120
00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:39.000
,

121
00:06:39.000 --> 00:06:43.000
basically compared to your hips, your upper body is going to be open.

122
00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:47.000
Like so, bent forward, just like this.

123
00:06:47.000 --> 00:06:51.230
And then in the backswing, your upper body is going to drift forward as the

124
00:06:51.230 --> 00:06:52.000
club comes back.

125
00:06:52.000 --> 00:06:55.000
You forgot one little weak grip with your setup.

126
00:06:55.000 --> 00:07:00.220
As the upper body goes forward, when the club comes back, and then you simply

127
00:07:00.220 --> 00:07:02.000
have to just let your arms drop

128
00:07:02.000 --> 00:07:05.590
down onto the golf ball, catch it with your upper body to go to the finished

129
00:07:05.590 --> 00:07:06.000
position.

130
00:07:06.000 --> 00:07:10.000
We'll have drills in this section that'll help you learn these different pieces

131
00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:10.000
,

132
00:07:10.000 --> 00:07:14.000
but this kind of goes over the overview of the setup and the technique.

133
00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:18.730
With a little bit of practice, you'll find that this is much easier and much

134
00:07:18.730 --> 00:07:21.000
more superior to the block and hold technique.