TOUR TECHNIQUE
Flight It Like a Pro Tour players use different backswings to hit their marks BY MARK BLACKBURN
release through the ball. Notice how much more wrist hinge I have com- pared to the boring- trajectory shot. Yo u s t i l l
SET THE SHOT The amount of hinge matters for height and spin on short approaches.
make a full turn going back by rotating your rib cage. This is not an arms-only swing. Then, with that extra wrist set, feel the club unhinge coming down and rehinge after impact. This will put more loft on the shot and land the ball softer. – WITH DREW POWELL MARK BLACKBURN, voted No 1 by his peers on Golf Digest’s 50 Best Teachers in America ranking, has coached dozens of tour pros. His golf academy is located at Greystone Golf & Country Club in Birmingham, Alabama.
GREAT SHORT-IRON players typically flight the ball lower by limiting the amount
more height to have the ball land softly. Average golfers tend to leave these shots short because they know their typical lower-trajectory flight has no chance of stopping near the hole. By hitting wedges higher to front pins, pros create more margin for error. They do this by moving the ball slightly up in their stance, just for- ward of centre. The real key is to hinge the wrists more in the backswing ( above, right ). More hinge adds loft to the club at impact and sets up a fuller
of wrist hinge in the backswing ( above, left ). By focusing on turning the rib cage back and through with minimal wrist set, tour pros shallow out their down- swing to hit penetrating iron shots that have tons of spin. This is a great technique to copy, but it doesn’t work in every situation. If the hole is cut in the front of the green, say, over a bunker, pros will generate
PHOTOGRAPHS BY J D CUBAN
42 GOLF DIGEST SOUTH AFRICA
MAY 2026
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