Connect with us

Instruction

How to use the bounce of your wedge correctly

Published

on

One of the many reasons tour players are so very good around the greens is that the golf clubs they use are so perfectly suited to them — particularly their wedges, and even more specifically the bounce of their wedges. Not only do they carry a variety of wedges for a variety of courses, but they are also quite skilled in using the unique advantages that lofted wedges have.

Bounce is a term that has skyrocketed recently in the golf vernacular. With the advent of the new lofted wedges and the myriad designs now available, many golfers are now learning the value of “bounce.” So let’s get a working definition of bounce. Bounce is the angle from the leading edge to the trailing edge on the sole of a wedge. A picture I try to paint for my students is this — when you address the golf ball with your wedge in its properly lofted position, how high is the leading edge sitting off the ground? The higher it is, the more bounce a wedge has. That’s an easy way to understand bounce, which keeps the leading edge from digging into the turf.

When used properly, your wedges are the most forgiving clubs in your bag. The bounce will slide along the turf, allowing golfers to hit shots even if the turf is contacted slightly before the ball. From Phil Mickelson to Uncle Phil, we all need bounce… and we need to know how to use it.

Here are my six general bounce guidelines:

  • If your attack angle is steep, you need more bounce.
  • If your attack angle is shallow, you need less bounce.
  • If the course has tight lies, use less bounce.
  • If the golf course has heavier lies, more bounce.
  • If the sand is fluffy, more bounce.
  • If the sand is firmly packed, less bounce.

There are other factors, of course: the heel grind, the toe grind, etc., but the guidelines above should be helpful.

Touring professionals are constantly grinding wedges to adapt to the playing conditions of the week. Most of us don’t have that luxury, but we can collect a variety of wedges and bounces over time and use them as needed. An example might be a day when you know rain the night before will leave the sand firmly packed down, or you’re going to play a links-style course that has tight lies. You might consider leaving the high bounce wedge in the garage that day.

Once you find a wedge with the right loft and bounce combination, you’ll need to understand how to use it properly. The secret to understanding good short wedge shots is realizing they are played very differently than full shots. It starts at setup and continues through the swing. When you’re hitting short wedge shots, you need to expose the bounce and swing the golf club so that the trailing edge can be in play. When you do it right, you’ll get grass stains or sand residue on the very back of your wedge sole. That’s a hint that you’re doing things correctly.

Here are some suggestions to help you expose the bounce on the golf club. Note that these are generalized hints that are not for everyone, but they will help the vast majority of golfers hit better short wedge shots.

  •  First, weaken your grip by moving both hands slightly to the left (lefties, do the opposite). This will assist you in getting and keeping the club face open.
  • Open the club face at address.
  • Set your body open to the target.
  • Move your ball position forward in your stance.
  • In taking the club away, you should get a distinct feeling of rolling the face open (supinating the right hand and forearm).
  • The downswing must allow for the rear side (right for righties) to stay UP. The biggest mistake I see is a body slide, a right side tilt, and the right shoulder going in too low.
  • The body turn through the ball must be complete with the front facing the target and the golf club exiting LEFT on the follow through.
  • The club face cannot turn over! It must be “held open” through the shot with little to no supination of the left arm.

The most embarrassing shot in the game is a chunked wedge or a shot left in the bunker.  Trying any or all of the above tips should help you minimize those errors. Remember, BOUNCE the golf club into the golf ball. Your scores will thank you.

Your Reaction?
  • 288
  • LEGIT37
  • WOW3
  • LOL7
  • IDHT7
  • FLOP7
  • OB4
  • SHANK21

Dennis Clark is a PGA Master Professional. Clark has taught the game of golf for more than 30 years to golfers all across the country, and is recognized as one of the leading teachers in the country by all the major golf publications. He is also is a seven-time PGA award winner who has earned the following distinctions: -- Teacher of the Year, Philadelphia Section PGA -- Teacher of the Year, Golfers Journal -- Top Teacher in Pennsylvania, Golf Magazine -- Top Teacher in Mid Atlantic Region, Golf Digest -- Earned PGA Advanced Specialty certification in Teaching/Coaching Golf -- Achieved Master Professional Status (held by less than 2 percent of PGA members) -- PGA Merchandiser of the Year, Tri State Section PGA -- Golf Professional of the Year, Tri State Section PGA -- Presidents Plaque Award for Promotion and Growth of the Game of Golf -- Junior Golf Leader, Tri State section PGA -- Served on Tri State PGA Board of Directors. Clark is also former Director of Golf and Instruction at Nemacolin Woodlands Resort. Dennis now teaches at Bobby Clampett's Impact Zone Golf Indoor Performance Center in Naples, FL. .

8 Comments

8 Comments

  1. Brian Zeigler

    Feb 24, 2019 at 9:57 pm

    Greetings Dennis… Thank you for very much for the conciseness of this tip. It’s been most helpful in the year since you published it and I’ve come across a new dilemma (for me) of which I would appreciate your guidance:

    Would you have an opinion on the more/less bounce guidelines and approach to varying turf? I play mostly hard surfaces and the “Northern” bent/blue grass courses but have started spending more time in the south/islands and am adjusting to Bermuda and grain. My standard setup is a low bounce/wide sole/+camber 56 that I do most of my chipping with and a lower bounce 60 that has high heel/toe/trailing edge relief that I use mostly from green-side bunkers and for lob necessary shots. For what it’s worth, I’ve always fought and worked hard on minimizing a flip/cast in my swing, and my HDCP has hovered at 7 for a while and I tend to give away a lot of shots inside 75 yards.

    Thank you.
    Brian

  2. cgasucks

    Oct 29, 2017 at 11:05 am

    I see people with $800 Wedges with special custom grinds with is great but won’t do any good for them if they flip the club through impact.

  3. Dennis Clark

    Oct 19, 2017 at 5:19 pm

    Steeper, if you’re -4 with a six iron you might be -6 with a wedge, hence the need for more bounce. -6 with the leading edge exposed will lay sod over the golf ball very often. The greenside bunker as well where we need to be steeper than ever. LOTS of bounce in fluffy sane. Hope it helps.

  4. TeeBone

    Oct 19, 2017 at 12:13 pm

    You say that short swings are very different than full swings. How should the Angle of Attack compare between the two with a TrackMan?

  5. Eldrick T

    Oct 19, 2017 at 9:52 am

    Can you teach me how. I don’t want to look like a loser again when I get back out on Tour and have to play in real tournaments blading the ball across the green

  6. Andrew

    Oct 18, 2017 at 7:56 pm

    It’s about time for the leaked SM7 pics. If I recall, the SM6 pics were leaked in October. Can we revisit this bounce discussion then?

  7. Dennis clark

    Oct 18, 2017 at 7:30 pm

    Use very low bounce, move the ball back slightly and DO NOT expect the ball to go high. A high lob off a tight lie is PGA Tour stuff.

  8. Acemandrake

    Oct 18, 2017 at 4:48 pm

    Do you make any adjustments when playing from a tight lie?

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Instruction

Clement: Stop ripping off your swing with this drill!

Published

on

Not the dreaded headcover under the armpit drill! As if your body is defective and can’t function by itself! Have you seen how incredible the human machine is with all the incredible feats of agility all kinds of athletes are accomplishing? You think your body is so defective (the good Lord is laughing his head off at you) that it needs a headcover tucked under the armpit so you can swing like T-Rex?

Your Reaction?
  • 0
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW1
  • LOL0
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK2

Continue Reading

Instruction

How a towel can fix your golf swing

Published

on

This is a classic drill that has been used for decades. However, the world of marketed training aids has grown so much during that time that this simple practice has been virtually forgotten. Because why teach people how to play golf using everyday items when you can create and sell a product that reinforces the same thing? Nevertheless, I am here to give you helpful advice without running to the nearest Edwin Watts or adding something to your Amazon cart.

For the “scoring clubs,” having a solid connection between the arms and body during the swing, especially through impact, is paramount to creating long-lasting consistency. And keeping that connection throughout the swing helps rotate the shoulders more to generate more power to help you hit it farther. So, how does this drill work, and what will your game benefit from it? Well, let’s get into it.

Setup

You can use this for basic chip shots up to complete swings. I use this with every club in my bag, up to a 9 or 8-iron. It’s natural to create incrementally more separation between the arms and body as you progress up the set. So doing this with a high iron or a wood is not recommended.

While you set up to hit a ball, simply tuck the towel underneath both armpits. The length of the towel will determine how tight it will be across your chest but don’t make it so loose that it gets in the way of your vision. After both sides are tucked, make some focused swings, keeping both arms firmly connected to the body during the backswing and follow through. (Note: It’s normal to lose connection on your lead arm during your finishing pose.) When you’re ready, put a ball in the way of those swings and get to work.

Get a Better Shoulder Turn

Many of us struggle to have proper shoulder rotation in our golf swing, especially during long layoffs. Making a swing that is all arms and no shoulders is a surefire way to have less control with wedges and less distance with full swings. Notice how I can get in a similar-looking position in both 60° wedge photos. However, one is weak and uncontrollable, while the other is strong and connected. One allows me to use my larger muscles to create my swing, and one doesn’t. The follow-through is another critical point where having a good connection, as well as solid shoulder rotation, is a must. This drill is great for those who tend to have a “chicken wing” form in their lead arm, which happens when it becomes separated from the body through impact.

In full swings, getting your shoulders to rotate in your golf swing is a great way to reinforce proper weight distribution. If your swing is all arms, it’s much harder to get your weight to naturally shift to the inside part of your trail foot in the backswing. Sure, you could make the mistake of “sliding” to get weight on your back foot, but that doesn’t fix the issue. You must turn into your trial leg to generate power. Additionally, look at the difference in separation between my hands and my head in the 8-iron examples. The green picture has more separation and has my hands lower. This will help me lessen my angle of attack and make it easier to hit the inside part of the golf ball, rather than the over-the-top move that the other picture produces.

Stay Better Connected in the Backswing

When you don’t keep everything in your upper body working as one, getting to a good spot at the top of your swing is very hard to do. It would take impeccable timing along with great hand-eye coordination to hit quality shots with any sort of regularity if the arms are working separately from the body.

Notice in the red pictures of both my 60-degree wedge and 8-iron how high my hands are and the fact you can clearly see my shoulder through the gap in my arms. That has happened because the right arm, just above my elbow, has become totally disconnected from my body. That separation causes me to lift my hands as well as lose some of the extension in my left arm. This has been corrected in the green pictures by using this drill to reinforce that connection. It will also make you focus on keeping the lead arm close to your body as well. Because the moment either one loses that relationship, the towel falls.

Conclusion

I have been diligent this year in finding a few drills that target some of the issues that plague my golf game; either by simply forgetting fundamental things or by coming to terms with the faults that have bitten me my whole career. I have found that having a few drills to fall back on to reinforce certain feelings helps me find my game a little easier, and the “towel drill” is most definitely one of them.

Your Reaction?
  • 11
  • LEGIT1
  • WOW2
  • LOL0
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP2
  • OB0
  • SHANK8

Continue Reading

Instruction

Clement: Why your practice swing never sucks

Published

on

You hear that one all the time; I wish I could put my practice swing on the ball! We explain the huge importance of what to focus on to allow the ball to be perfectly in the way of your practice swing. Enjoy!

 

Your Reaction?
  • 0
  • LEGIT0
  • WOW0
  • LOL0
  • IDHT0
  • FLOP0
  • OB0
  • SHANK2

Continue Reading

WITB

Facebook

Trending