Wedge numbers: three swing lengths, nine distances

Inside 100 metres most amateurs have one shot: a full swing with whichever wedge is nearest the number. That is why the ball finishes twenty metres short or long from a distance where it should finish four metres away. Three swing lengths fix it permanently.

Three lengths, not three techniques

Think of your lead arm as a clock hand: nine o’clock, half past ten, full. Each position gives a repeatable distance with each wedge, and three wedges produce nine numbers between roughly 40 and 100 metres. You are measuring what you already do rather than learning something new.

Measure once, write it down

Go to a range with a launch monitor, or a paddock with a rangefinder and your own balls, and hit ten from each position with each wedge. Ignore the best one, keep the number that repeats, and put the nine figures in your phone.

Range balls fly five to ten per cent shorter than a premium ball, so use your own where you can.

Rhythm sets the distance, not effort

The common fault is to make the same backswing every time and control distance with hand speed. That works on the range and collapses under pressure. Keep the tempo identical and let the length of the backswing set the number, the way a pendulum does.

Ball position and the low point

For partial wedges play the ball just back of centre with the weight slightly on the lead side, and leave it there. The club should reach the ground after the ball. Trying to help the ball up moves the low point behind it, which produces the fat and thin pair that ruins wedge play.

Bounce on firm ground

The rounded sole is built to skid rather than dig. On the hard, tight lies of an Australian summer there is very little turf to help you, and the temptation is to lean the shaft forward and use the leading edge. That removes the bounce and turns a small error into a thin shot across the green. Keep the shaft closer to vertical and let the sole work.

Practise the awkward numbers

Everybody can hit a full sand wedge. Almost nobody can hit 57 metres. Spend a session playing to a flag at an uncomfortable distance, adjusting swing length until the ball lands beside it. That is the shot the course gives you and the one nobody rehearses.

What to do this month

• Record nine numbers: three wedges by three swing lengths.
• Spend a session entirely on distances that are not full swings.
• On the course, pick the swing that matches the number rather than the club that gets there.

Wedge play is the cheapest scoring gain in golf, because it needs no equipment and no athleticism, only nine numbers you do not currently have.