A comfortable ball position

The trick to becoming a good wedge player is to make a swing that produces consistent results. Hitting a slight draw is an easy way to do just that.

To hit a draw, concentrate on swinging more from inside the target line to outside the target line. At impact, the body should not stop— make sure you keep rotating

In this photo, you can clearly see that my clubshaft is pointing to the right of the intended target. This means my ball will start to the right and draw toward the left.

No matter what shot you hit, a good one always finishes with the weight transferred to your left side and your right heel off the ground.

Becoming a good wedge player means you have to hit consistent shots. Many amateurs struggle with hitting consistent shots from within 125 yards. Sometimes the ball spins; sometimes it doesn’t. Sometimes it flies straight; other times not so much. Trajectory control becomes tricky too, with some shots flying high and others flying low. Whew, with that many variables, what’s one to do?



A great way to dial in some consistency with your wedge shots is to learn a shot that I personally love to hit. It’s a medium-height draw that, upon landing, trickles forward onto the green and rolls out about 10 feet. It’s not a high-spinning shot that trickles back toward the pin, nor does it stop dead on the green—although neither of those two types of shots are easy to predict. A draw however is easy to duplicate, and with some practice, you’ll quickly learn how the ball reacts on the green and soon start using this shot to your advantage.



How you hit this draw is simple. Address the ball as you normally would, with a comfortable ball position. Only now, close your clubface about 20 degrees. To get an idea of what that should look like to you, the photo to the left shows what I?mean. The two tees on top are pointing to the right of the target, and the two tees slanting down are where the face is pointing. The key to hitting this shot requires you to swing along the top two tees just to the right of the target, with a closed face.