Have you ever wondered how the pros on tour are able to consistently hit these wedge shots within 10 feet of the hole?  Have you ever marveled at how much control they seem to have on the ball when they play these shots?  Obviously, the pros practice these shots every day.

Now, I don’t expect you to go practice these shots every day, but when you do head to the range, you should always save 10 to 20 balls for your wedge game.  Here are some tips to control distance with your wedges.

One of the biggest mistakes I see golfers make is to take the same full swing with a wedge from 60 yards as they would from 120 yards.  In order to not hit the ball as far, they end up decelerating on the downswing.  This results in a lot of inconsistent shots, particularly shots hit too fat or too thin.

If you watch a tour pro prepare to hit a shot, you will notice that from different distances, they will vary the length of their backswing, but will not vary the speed of their swing.  For instance, from 60 yards out, you may see a player take out a 60 degree wedge and limit his backswing to the point where his left arm (for a right handed player) parallel to the ground, or at a 9 o’clock position in the backswing.  If he has a shot from 75 yards, he may swing the club to a 10 or 11 o’clock position on the backswing.  In each case, the player swings with the same tempo and speed.

With that in mind, get yourself out to the range and figure out your proper distancing with your pitching wedge, sand wedge and lob wedge.  Learn how far you hit each club when you swing it from each hand position on the clock, starting from 8 or 9 o’clock on up to the 11 or 12 o’clock position.  Once you KNOW how far you hit the ball with each club from each swing position, you will have greater confidence to execute the shot on the golf course!