The following practice drill will highlight whether or not you are striking your wedge shots correctly. Ben Hogan famously said ‘the secret is in the dirt ‘meaning that the divots you make indicate whether or not you are creating the correct swing path and angle of attack when hitting your golf shots.
I often get asked by pupils ‘why do I not create backspin on my wedge shots?’ The reason is normally to do with an incorrect strike. When hitting a wedge, it is important to hit down on the back of the ball. Your strike should be ball first – divot after (effectively squeezing the golf ball between two hard surfaces = the clubface and ground). Doing so forces the golf ball to spin up the clubface adding loft and backspin to the golf shot.
To create the correct angle of attack into the ball, it is important to have the correct ball position in your stance.
You will see in photo 1 that I have placed two clubs on the ground, these clubs should be in line with the centre of your stance.
Also in photo 1, the white golf ball indicates the correct ball position when playing a wedge shot (which is just forward of centre in your stance). The coloured golf balls show incorrect ball positions – the yellow ball is too far back and pink golf ball is too far forward.
Take three golf balls and place them in line with the clubs that you have placed on the ground (photo 2).
Now hit each wedge shot – the idea is to see your divot start in front of / ahead of the line, not before it or on it.
Photo number 3 shows three perfect strikes – you will see that all three divots start after the line/club, not before or on it.
A divot starting behind the line will cause a ‘heavy strike’ whilst a divot starting on the line will likely mean a loss of distance and very little backspin being imparted onto the golf ball.
By Tom Long