Understanding Golf Club Wedges Within The Short Game

Pitch, chip, putt - a golfer who can't do these things well can't play well. It is a fundamental and perhaps inconvenient truth, but golf is all about getting the ball in the hole, which means getting onto the green and putting well. A golfer with the longest drive in the world who struggles on the second fairway shot and four-putts will have very little to show for the hours he or she put in with the driver at the range. This is why a golfer needs to get familiar with golf clubs wedges and how to make the most out of those short pitches and chips. Wedges are the best tool to hit a soft controlled shot onto the green from short distance, and the golf club wedge will also help a golfer get out of difficult lies around the green and into a more comfortable position where two-putting is possible.

There are common mistakes that golfers make at each phase of the short game. The biggest is that they fundamentally change their swing style because they want to hit the ball shorter. Yes, a chip or pitch should be hit softly with finesse, but the way to achieve the shorter distance is by cutting the back swing down and then doing basically everything else the same while concentrating on a relaxed grip. This idea goes hand in hand with the importance of never deliberately decelerating the club head. Taking a full back swing and then trying to slow down the club to cut distance will wreck havoc on a swing and the clubs performance.

The trick to not decelerating is to focus on a follow through. This holds when hitting from the sand, the rough, or just a short pitch up onto the green. This will also help new golfers prevent themselves from overusing their wrists in situations that don't call for it. The softness is achieved with a smooth and relaxed swing free of tension. Different pros will argue various details about how to tweak a swing when golf clubs wedges are involved, but the fundamentals of a consistent, controlled swing will always work out well.

These same common mistakes - decelerating instead of taking a shorter backswing, breaking the wrists too much and too frequently, not taking a full follow through, being too tense, not swinging smoothly and evenly - also show up on the green with a putter in hand. A backswing longer than the follow through and consistently missing short putts are clear signs of decelerating the putter. The backswing should be shortened or lengthened based on the length of the putt with backswing and follow-through speed about equal. This will correct this problem and lead to more consistently straight putts that go the desired distance, as well as make it easier for the golfer to identify how much backswing is necessary for a specific distance.

Interestingly, the most common short game mistakes all come from trying to do too much. It only takes the smallest changes to turn a swing with a driver into the right stroke with golf club wedges or tweak a swing principle to apply to putting. All of these basics will make the short game more successful and take strokes off a golfer's score.


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