Equipment advice regarding Sand wedges
If one is to improve their ability to lower their scores, it’s with certainty that they become proficient with the sandwedges. When making a choice of what sandwedges to buy, it is NOT critical that you select the same club manufacturer as your irons. What’s more important to you in your selection is the correct bounce on the club and a look of the clubhead that you enjoy. It would be a good idea to have a knowledgable golfer (friend, pro, or salesperson) help you decide to purchase new sandwedges.
Bounce on a sandwedge is the degree on roundness on the sole of the club or bottom of the club. Assuming normal playing conditions, the bounce will help you achieve a better result when making imperfect contact on the ball. The clubhead will skip through impact much easier whereas less bounce could cause the club to dig into the ground producing short mishit shots. So in the end, the higher the handicap, the more important it is to have sufficient bounce on your sandwedges. For improving your technique, please go to my golf tips section.
Chipping and short shots with your Sand wedges
Now that you have read my blog on “Equipment advice regarding sandwedges”, it is important that you have the right ones in your bag with a sufficient amount of bounce. To become a good golfer, it’s essential that you spend time on your chipping and short shots. With that said, you must learn to use your sandwedges to maximize your potential to consistently hit good shots. I’ll try to keep this as simple as possible regarding the technique but in the end, rhythm has much to do with becoming a good short game artist.
1 Stance. Turn your feet and hips a little towards the direction you are aiming. Feet should be somewhat close together and your knees, move them slightly towards the forward foot putting a little more weight on the forward foot. Keep your arms fairly close to your ribcage and let them hang straight down to grip the club. You should be closer to the ball more so than your regular full swing shots.
For now, we are trying to create just a normal chipping motion with typical traditional technique. With the ball in the middle of your stance, grip the club and position your hands slightly forward of the ball. This is a traditional chipping and short shot stance.
2 Keeping the same position that you have now with your hands and the club, take it straight back then pull it straight forward past and thru the ball. Keep your head in the same position the during this motion. Do not move forward. Keep doing this until you start making better or more consistent contact. Take it back far enough to you don’t need to rush back to the ball. This is importan. You are learning rythym and timing. Practice following thru as you keep your eyes still looking where the ball was. Keep your arms and hands extended the whole time. Arms stay next to the ribcage going back and coming thru. Keep it simple and short in the beginning until you make progress, then you can start to take longer backswings. It’s important that you follow thru and go thru and past the ball.