The 3 Ingredients for Great Wedge Distance Control
- First: know your yardage to the pin factoring in things like wind, elevation, lies.
- Second: have a reliable, repeatable technique so your contact and ball flight are consistent
- Third: pair which wedge + which swing length produces a certain distance. So you can choose without guessing.
Using Different Swing Lengths
- Mark Blackburn recommends using three different swing lengths (backswing/arc lengths) for each wedge:
- Half swing (about 7:30 → 9:00 on a “clock face”)
- Three-quarter swing (9:00 → approximately 10:30)
- Full swing (≈ 10:30 → 12:00)
- For each swing length, hit 3-5 balls, record the average distance. Do this drill for each wedge you carry.
Label / Mark the Distances
- After finding average carry or total distances for each swing length, mark them on the shaft of the wedge (or anywhere visible). So, in real-round situations, you can glance at the club and know approximately what distance it gives with that swing length.
- Repeat this for each wedge so you have a full distance matrix (club + swing length).
Technique Differences from Full Irons
- Blackburn suggests that wedge swings aren’t just scaled down full iron swings; there are subtle differences. Emphasis is on rotation (body turn) driving the swing rather than trying to muscle it. That helps consistency.
- Good contact, good launch, consistent tempo are important.
Watch the full video here
