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Using your current speed are your optimizing your driver? Here is the YouTube channel with more info on swing direction and a driver drill to help change the swing direction and attack angle: CLICK HERE

Let’s take a look at a scenario.  Below is a photo from a students initial TrackMan driver assessment numbers to see what we were starting with.  You will see the student had good club speed at 101.5mph but as you start lookin at the rest of the numbers the club was traveling excessively left, down 7.7*, which created a swipe across the ball.  That projected the ball out with a lot of curve to the right with 35.3* spin axis.  The larger away form 0 the larger the curve.  That glancing blow created a lot of spin at 7602 rpm.  Photo below :

Let’s take that same swing speed with a different player.  Here is a close swing speed at  almost 98mph.  The club path was traveling almost straight at 1* to the right, attack angle was up 3.2*.

Presented dynamic loft was less at impact on the second scenario and closer to the attack angle for a difference of 13.2 vs the first scenario of 27.8*.  The larger the difference in the spin loft the more the spin.  See previous blog about Spin Loft. Remember we want a high launching lower spinning driver shot so it gets max carry and can still roll out depending on what it lads on.  Look at the difference of carry between.  A full 82 yards of carry and 90.8 yards!!!  That is a long ways for swinging 3mph slower.

Here is an image showing the differences of optimal numbers for hitting up vs down on a ball and the corresponding carry/total numbers form TrackMan.  Remember if you are swinging above 100mph.. maybe 110mph you can get away with a level or slightly down attack.  You will give up carry distance but the ball is traveling far enough that getting the ball on the ground sooner will help your accuracy.  Overall height and landing angle will be reduced.  The yardage you are giving up might be worth saving 1 or 2 more clubs into the green for a ball to get out of the air sooner.  If you are swinging that fast your swing speed is higher than the average golfer and you hit your irons longer as well.

What does the right arm do in pitching? This article covers shots within 30 yards. Could go further out with a less lofted club before the motion turned more into a full swing motion. Read below or watch the new YouTube video walking you through a 30 yard wedge shot: YouTube Video

The best wedge players use their body to deliver the club. If the body is not participating, you’re trying to help the ball in the air, or swinging down too long into the ground chipping is tough. In the below photo you can see setup on the left photo that the elbows are soft. At impact the chest has turned more and the right arm is bent more than at setup.

Below is the 3D numbers using 4D Motion System to capture the swing. You will see the right arm started at 30* and at impact it returned with more bend at 41*. This is due to the chest rotating and delivering the club into the ball instead of the body not turning through and the right arm straightening in order to get to the ball.

Click Here for a clip out of the full length video for a drill that will help increase the turn in-order for the right arm to become softer and less of a driving force. It is called the Furyk Drill. This was taught to me by James Ridyard during his WedgeMatrix training.

What do you do when you go to the rang to work on your game?  Do you just dump out the bucket and start hitting and it is over once the last bullet is gone? Here is a great way to get the most out of your practice time.  In the above photo there are 60 balls laid out and took 45-60 minutes to go through the process. Remember quality over quantity. If you are a newer golfer quantity matters but when you start to get proficient quality takes the lead.

60 Ball Plan: YouTube Video on Practice Setup
-First 10 Balls are used with a wedge to warm up. Get the body moving, controlling contact, and playing leapfrog.

-Next 30 Balls will be for improving your technique. Results on the ball do not matter. What matters here is you are doing the drills you need in order to move your skills to the next level. A pass is if you pass your drill not if you hit the ball close to a target. One row is drill #1 and the next row is drill #2. Once you hit 5 balls of drill #1 move to #2. When done with drill #2 go back to drill #1 and repeat the process. This way you have 5 balls to work on the drill and create the motion change. After that you have to forget what you were doing and concentrate on the next drill. When you go back to the original drill now you have to remember what you were doing and repeat the motion. This adds a little spacing between drills, allows the body to forget, and gets it to recall. If you just did 20 balls in a row at some point the mind will shut off and progress will sees. Use alignment rods to make sure you are aimed in a good direction and the ball position is good.

-Next 10 balls are going through your process with full routines and hitting different shots: pre shot, react, and reflect. Visualize shots you will have for the day, holes you know on your course, and change targets/clubs often. OB might be right, water left, bunker short, or some other obstacle you need to avoid. If you are a high skilled golfer change your intention after every ball, if you are newer to the game swing the same club to the same target for 4-5 balls, and if you’re in the middle hit 2-3 before changing. Remember quality here is important so don’t just rifle through the balls. If it was a good shot store it in your mind and if you missed you missed. What could you change on the next shot to have a better outcome? On the course you get one chance then have down time to ponder what happened before you get to your ball and swing again. Go in and out of using alignment rods. Maybe alternate stations from a ball with guidance to a ball without.

-Last 10 balls is for you to challenge yourself. This is where you need to win your way off the practice field and put some pressure on. An example could be you are going to hit 5 drivers and 5 wedges alternating between. Can you hit one drive down a designated fairway and if you succeed you get 1 point. Then hit a wedge to a given target, something that is 60-100 yards out. If the ball comes to rest in a proximity you are ok with you get 1 point. At the end make up a consequence for the game say if you do not get 4 out of 5 points on the driver challenge you have 10 pushups and if the wedge is below 4 points you have 5 more minutes on the treadmill. The games and consequences can be what you want but if there if nothing tied to the game you will not feel the pressure. Challenge yourself! All alignment rods come up since you can not use these on the course.

Remember train smart and make practice harder than you play. That way when you play you know how to handle the pressure and the playing part is easy because you have done it in practice.

Here is a blog on launch angle with the wedge covering the factors that help launch that wedge like a tour player.  If you are not a reader and prefer videos here is the link to the video on YouTube

Tour players launch their wedges lower with more spin, lower overall heigh, and the carry distance is longer than the average golfer.  Let’s take a look at two different shots.  You can see on the left photo the ball is a foot above the pool noodle and on the right it is a foot below:

Below are the TrackMan numbers on those two shots showing the difference in Launch Angle, Spin Rate, Carry, Smash Factor, Ball Speed, but the club speed was the same speed.

What could cause a higher launch vs a lower launch?  I was not trying to push the handle forward to lean the shaft way forward to take a big divot and reduce the loft of the wedge 60* wedge on the right.  The left photo I let the club head pass faster at the bottom while the right felt my upper body to continue to turn through the shot.  Items that will help reduce your launch angle if it is too high:

1. Have a good wedge with decent grooves that are clean. Good players will take time to clean out the grooves with a damp towel then dry it off so the moisture is gone. Friction is king!!

2. Quality of the strike matters. If you are looking to keep the friction up the less debris you get trapped between the face and ball the better. Think of grass as a little bag of water. Add water between the club face and ball all friction will be lost.

3. Wide spin loft for a more deflected ball. Spin loft is the difference of your dynamic loft and angle of attack. On a GCQuad I have seen that the higher spinning wedge shots have a loft around 50-55* at impact. Anything higher than that friction is usually broke and the ball can launch higher. With a driver you are looking for a smaller spin loft to reduce spin.

4. Last is having a little shaft lean at impact. If you are stopping the upper body turn or throwing with the right side the club face will overtake too soon. That would get the club coming in too shallow which could get more debris between club and ball, land too early, or have too much loft at impact which is what you are looking for in a flop shot. Good wedge players on the PGA tour are somewhere between 8-12* down which will be on a little steeper approach and reduce the amount of debris that could be trapped between face and ball.

Let’s do some math to see how a 60* wedge can launch at 30* or lower:
-Start with a 60* wedge
-Have a few degrees of shaft lean at impact, say 10* which moves it to 50*.
-Tilt the spin loft downward with attack angle of say 10* and now your at 40*.
What is left? Friction!! A dirty wedge, moisture, etc would launch around the 40* number but add a dry face, premium golf ball, and no debris… BANG 30* or lower!!

If you are having trouble reducing the launch angle and have good strikes, a good wedge and ball, try moving from a 60* to a 56*. Your ball speed will go up slightly but launch control will go down. I use a 55* wedge 90* of the time since I am not a tour player and it is easier for me to control the launch that way.

Below is an example of an early release on the left just after impact.  The left photo is a 7iron and the right is a wedge.  You can see the left photo looks like the club head is pointing more to the sky than the wedge on the right.  Right photo was a low launching wedge and left photo was a high weak 7iron shot:

Here is how I set up the practice feedback station so you can see how high or low your ball is launching if you do not have access to a radar unit like TrackMan.  You want be 2 wedges or alignment rods behind the noodle or could use a string, tape, or anything else you can stretch across the top of the rods.  If you are using a wedge to measure you want the noodle one wedge high and if you used alignment rods it will be 1 alignment rod high.  Further back you will have to launch it lower to clear the constraint.  Click the link or picture below to watch the YouTube video on launch angle. YouTube Video Wedge Launch Angle

Full YouTube Channel