How to Control the Distance on your Wedge

Hi, I am Brent Franklin with the McGetrick Golf Academy here in Denver, Colorado. What I want to talk to you right now is how to learn to control your distances with your wedges. What you are going to need for this first and foremost either a laser or a couple of balls that you can maybe use in the fairway when you are playing. You need to get to a point that has been measured or you can measure yourself. If you are trying to work on your sand wedges and you want to know how far they go, the first thing I believe you should do is take the club back where you know you can remember it.

Rather than try to hit a shot a specific yardage I would rather you try to figure out your own yardage. That means if I am working on wedge control and distances all I am going to try to do, I have three wedges, a 60, a 56 and a 52, and all I want to do is make sure I take the club back to where my left arm is parallel to the ground.

The thing that makes this work really well is you have to keep your speed relatively constant through the ball. I get set up, ball position is going to be about the same, middle of my stance, and I want to make sure that the left arm stays fairly close to about nine o'clock. Then I hit a couple of shots from that position and then I go out and measure how much they actually carried. You can do this on a driving range or you can do this on a golf course if you are out there playing nine holes by yourself. But you have to learn how far the ball actually carries.

Once you figure out how far it carries from your nine o'clock position, or where your left arm is parallel to the ground, then it is easier to add or take off distances from that. It is very simple, learn two distances with each wedge, the nine o'clock and the full and then do your best to calculate everywhere in between. Those are very good starting points where you can just figure out one distance for nine o'clock with each wedge, whether it is 40 yards, 60 or 50. Then to add five or 10 yards to that when you are on the golf course is not that hard to feel like it goes back a little further.

It is very important in learning to score better, especially for the better players. You really need to control those distances well. Learn your distances, walk them off or have a friend out there who is telling you exactly where they are landing after you have predetermined that distance when you are landing. It is very important for the best players, and for anybody to get good at this game.