‘LET GO’ ON THOSE TRICKY
HALF-WEDGE SHOTS BY ASHLEY MALASKA MOSS, ARIZONA With wedge shots, distance con- trol is the top priority. To ensure you have your distance dialled in, you need to consistently hit the ball solid in the centre of the clubface. A saying I use with my students is, “To gain more control, you have to let go of control.” Let me explain what that means. With these half-swing wedges, I see too much tension in the hands, arms and bodies of many golfers at address and during the swing. Why? They try too hard to control every aspect of the shot, literally steering the ball to its target. That only leads to all kinds of mis-hits and undesirable outcomes. Next time you have a less- than-full wedge distance into a green, focus on having lighter grip pressure. You want to hold on soft enough so you can feel the weight of the clubhead throughout the swing. Take a few practice swings and play around with different grip pressures until you become really aware of the clubhead’s weight and move- ment. If you grip too hard, it will be difficult to feel anything but your hands, and you won’t swing freely. Your goal here is to let the club do the work. When you maintain loose grip pressure, it improves your swing tempo and lets you make centreface contact with the ball before the club hits the turf (above). That’s how you hit it pin- high from these tricky half-wedge distances.
PUT YOUR SPEED ON THE TARGET SIDE OF THE BALL BY JASON SEDAN, FLORIDA
Swinging your woods faster can put you further down the fairway, but only if you apply the speed in the right spot. Before I get to that, let me first say that if you’re not hitting your tee shots in the middle of the clubface, swinging faster is a waste of time. When you routinely get centreface contact, then you can amp up your clubhead speed. The thing about swinging harder is that you don’t want to yank the club down from the top with your hands and arms. Do that, and it will be actually slowing down into the ball. Instead, your transition into the downswing should be smooth and unhurried. You’re not applying full gas until the club is moving through the impact zone (right). After impact, it should feel like you’re letting the shaft out with full extension. Put the speed in front of the ball.
GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA 103
JUNE 2025
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator