- Have a shallow angle of attack
- Control your dynamic loft
- Position the ball center to back in your stance
- Flight the ball from right to left
- Control your low point
When many amateurs start to play golf they dream of hitting high lofted wedges shots into the green.
They dream of the ball hitting the green with plenty of loft and some serious spin backing the golf ball up 5-15 feet towards the hole.
But did you know that the best professional golfers usually hit their wedges lower and their long irons higher?
This is often the opposite of the weakest amateurs who hit wedges too high and long irons too low.
The professional golfers strive for distance control with their wedges and oftentimes prefer to flight their wedges down with moderate spin to stop the ball quickly without excessive spin on the ball.
How To Flight Your Wedges Down?
My Journey: The one mistake I used to make is to move the ball too far back in my stance. The end result was a steep angle of attack that made the ball spin and made it fly higher, espeically into the wind. Be careful with your angle of attack if you are going to move the ball back and work on keeping a shallow angle of attack with your hands a bit more forward, holding off the release.
Tip #1: Have a shallow angle of attack
When the golfer gets too steep coming into the shot, they will often hit the ball higher in the air and increase the spin rate which can cause the ball to fly higher as well. The steep angle of attack is inconsistent and can cause ball striking issues as well, making distance control a difficult thing.
Instead, the golfer should strive to have a consistent shallow angle of attack that takes a moderate divot to neutralize both the loft created and the overall flight of the ball.
Tip #2: Control your dynamic loft
Many of the weakest amateurs will flip their release through the shot presenting too much loft at impact. The launch angle on a 48 degree loft on the PGA Tour is only 24 degrees. This means the golfer is presenting a lot less loft at impact than the 48 degrees. The golfer wil often do this by slightly holding off the release and having a more abrupt follow through.
This provides two advantage:
- It controls the overall height of the shot
- It helps the golfer keep the clubface more square through the impact zone
Both of these results are positive as the golf ball will fly lower and straighter eliminating variables such as wind.
How far should you hit a pitching wedge?
Tip #3: Position the ball center to back in your stance
Your ball position on a flighted wedges should be somewhere between the center of the stance to the back of your stance. The golfer must be careful with the ball back in their stance that they do not get steep and produce poor contact and too much spin making distance control difficult. Even with the ball back in the stance the golfer wants to enter through the hitting zone with a shallow angle of attack.
Tip #4: Flight the ball from right to left
A draw shot will often fly lower than a fade shot due to the closed club face relative to the swing path. The right to left shot will come in lower and more aggressive towards the pin.
Draw shot in golf (complete overview)
Tip #5: Control your low point
Too many golfers struggle with height control, solid contact and direction because of poor low point control. This impacts angle of attack and the overall quality of the shot. The best golfers can control their low point control over 99% of the time, while the weakest golfers might only accomplish this less than 50% of the time. Here is a great drill to develop your low point control.
The Low Point Control Drill
- Take some yard paint and paint a 1-2 yard long line.
- Setup with 55% of your weight on your front side.
- Try to hit the target side of the line and see how many times out of 10 you can do this successfully!
- Repeat this drill every day for a month, tracking your progress and your ability to to this successfully in trials of ten.
- You may need to start with half swing and progress to full swings.
If you are struggling, put more weight forward and work on keeping your head still to help control the low point in the swing.
Next Steps: Build A Shot Distance Chart
All good wedges players can control their wedge distances whether they are hitting a high or low shot. I would highly recommend each golfer create a distance chart like the sample below:
| Club | Carry Distance (100%) | 90% | 80% |
| 2 Utility Iron | 210 | ||
| 4 iron | 190 | ||
| 5 iron | 181 | ||
| 6 iron | 171 | ||
| 7 iron | 163 | ||
| 8 iron | 153 | ||
| 9 iron | 143 | ||
| P Club | 130 | 123 | 115 |
| Pitching Wedge | 118 | 110 | 102 |
| SW Club | 105 | 97 | 91 |
| LW Club | 90 | 82 | 74 |
This might be the most important information you can use to help you play quality golf. I have heard so many stories and have seen it first hand where golfers completely over estimate how far they hit each iron.
They hit one 7 iron 165 yards one time and think this is their carry distance. So they step up to a 165 yard shot, hit the 7 iron and end up in a bunker. They blade it out of the bunker and are looking at a double bogey as their reality. Instead, if they had the right club and hit the 6 iron, their chance of hitting the middle of the green would increase greatly!
How can you create your own chart?
Option 1: I would highly recommend a launch monitor!
These portable devices can be used at the driving range, golf course or set up in your home net or golf simulator. These devices are game changers not only on being able to map your bag and know your distances, but they also provide quality feedback after on every shot and provide the following information:
- Carry Distance
- Spin Rate
- Launch Angle
- Spin Axis
- Total Distance
- Ball Speed
This information will help you map your bag, decide on which clubs are best for your game, develop a stock shot and much more. I love using my SkyTrak 365 days a year in my golf simulator setup.
The process for mapping your bag can looking something like this:
- Hit 5 shots with each club in your bag.
- Log the carry distance and total distance for each shot.
- Eliminate any outlier numbers (poor hits or low spin rates).
- Take the average and create a map of your bag.
If you visit any PGA Tour event you will see plenty of golfers utilizing their launch monitors. While most can’t afford a Trackman, there are some very affordable options in the 500-2000 dollar range. I own the SkyTrak and think the world of it.
Here are the top 3 options to check out:
Option 2: Use a Driving Range or Open Field
If you can’t afford a launch monitor at this time, here is another option.
- Find an open driving range or open field
- Take 10 balls of the type of golf ball you play
- Pick a target and either walk it off or use a rangefinder.
- Hit 10 shots with each club in your bag and take an average.
- Your rangefinder can help you get a specific distance.
Go ahead and create a chart of each club and their carry distance like the one above.
My Secret To Golf Improvement
Let’s face it, in order to get really good at golf, we must practice frequently. About three years ago, I made the leap and invested in a golf simulator build for my garage. I went with a SkyTrak Launch Monitor and the TGC software and can now play over 100,000 courses including Augusta, Pebble Beach, Bethpage Black, Whistling Straits. St. Andrews and many other of the top 100 courses in the world.
This golf simulator setup, which is more affordable that you might imagine, has been a game changer. I can now play golf everyday of the year regardless of rain, snow, cold weather or time of day. I can practice or play rounds of golf. I can stand in the 11th fairway at Augusta and with the auto-rewind feature I am able to practice my approach shots from various differences.
It is worth checking out through Rain or Shine Golf as they offer some incredible packages along with financing offers that are difficult to beat.
Some direct links to Rain or Shine Golf for pricing and financing:
Take Action – What You Can Do Today to Get Better
What does this mean for you? I believe in the following recipe to get better:
1 – Improve your motion in the golf swing by identifying a golf instructor. Here are some options:
Here is a list of golf instructors that we have reviewed:
2 – Train to swing faster and improve your swing speed. Here are some options:
Looking to gain more Speed and Distance in your swing. Two Options:
3 – Understand course strategy and work to break through your next barrier. Here is a series on breaking through:
We have provided guides on how to break 100, 90, 80 and 70. Check out more below, if interested.
4 – Practice Frequently
Did you know that I build a golf simulator in my garage and have played over 500 rounds of golf on my SkyTrak system? It has been a game changer and one worth checking out. Here are some of my other posts on golf simulators frequently asked questions:
- Is a Golf Simulator Worth It?
- How to Build a Golf Simulator?
- What is the Best Golf Simulator?
- Golf Simulator Accessories?
- How to Build a Golf Simulator for under $7000
- Top 11 Reasons to Buy a SkyTrak
- How to Build a Golf Simulator for Under $1000
- Why Build A Golf Simulator?
- What Space is Needed?
- Can A Golf Simulator Improve My Game?
- How Much Does A Golf Simulator Cost?
- Don’t Forget to Check out our 15 best golf swings of all time.