Welcome to Play Smart, a regular GOLF.com game-improvement column that will help you become a smarter, better golfer.
Your wedges are your scoring clubs. When you have one in your hand from the fairway, you should be thinking birdie. And when you have to grab a wedge greenside, it’s all about getting up-and-down for par. If you can increase your conversion rate in both scenarios, you’ll quickly see your scores drop.
But despite how important the wedges are to low scoring, lots of recreational golfers have no clue what the proper technique is for hitting them. When they head to the range, it’s all about gripping it and ripping it — there’s little thought given to the short clubs.
This lack of attention in practice sessions often leads to bad habits, and with them, higher scores. But if you know what kinds of mistakes you should be avoiding, hitting crisp wedges becomes much easier.
In the video below, Dr. Greg Rose from the Titleist Performance Institute shares two huge mistakes he often sees recreational golfers make with their wedges that reduces spin. Correct them and you’ll hit shots with more spin in no time.
2 ways to add spin
Wedges are crucial for scoring because they can access hard-to-reach pin locations, allowing you to stuff the ball close to tucked hole locations. That’s largely thanks to how much spin they produce.
When you can put spin on a wedge, you can hit it high and land it soft. Plus, you can stop the ball on a dime when the situation calls for it. Simply put, knowing how to properly put spin on the ball can unlock your scoring ability.
Putting spin on the ball is achieved in two ways. One is speed through impact (i.e. clubhead speed) and the other is high spin loft, which is the difference between attack angle and the loft of the clubface at impact.
1. Accelerate through impact
The first mistake golfers make when trying to create speed is decelerating through impact. This typically happens because they make a backswing that is too long for the shot they’re trying to hit, so they slow down through impact to keep the ball from screaming past the flag. If you really want to create spin, you’ve got to start by making a smaller backswing and accelerating through impact.
“For wedges, if you want the ball to backspin, I need speed through the bottom,” Rose says. “Make sure you release and increase your clubhead speed.”
2. Increase spin loft
The other mistake golfers make when trying to generate spin is not creating enough spin loft. As outlined above, spin loft is the difference between your angle of attack and the loft of the clubface at impact.
Feeling like you are hitting down on the ball is a great way to get the proper angle of attack to create spin. However, where many recreational players go wrong is that when doing this, they close the clubface and de-loft the club.
“The key here is feel like you’re swinging down, but make sure you’re adding loft,” Rose says. “If you look at great wedge players, not only are they creating a downward attack angle, [but] the face is also open.”
