You're Correct!

Hitting the ball fat is one of the worst and most frustrating shots one can hit. Whether its from 200 yards or 20, the feeling is one of total frustration, anger and disappointment and can be more frequent when a player has a wedge in their hand.

Providing the set up is good, a wristy swing is often the cause of a wedge shot being fat because too much wrist hinge is developed during the swing but they do not have enough time to unhinge them on the down swing. This then slows the forward movement of the hands down and causes the wrists to flick the club at the ball resulting in the hands being behind the ball at impact and the club face hitting the ground before reaching the ball.

With wedge shots, it is important to understand that wrist hinge becomes less important as the shot requires distance control, finesse and a clean strike. In the golf swing the wrists can cause the club to speed up through impact making distance control very difficult and due to the swing being shorter than usual, once the wrists have hinged, they have less time to unhinge and get the hands ahead of the ball at impact.

To combat this, set up making sure your hands are ahead of the ball at address and start off by hitting very short chip shots approximately 10-20 yards where the wrists are not necessary at all. Then gradually increase your distances but pay special attention to increasing the range of movement in your body and keep your hands ahead of the ball, rather than allowing the wrists to speed the swing up to hit the ball further.

Fat shots with the wedges are a common mistake amongst golfers of all levels, sometimes the cure can be a fundamental issue such as grip, posture, width of stance or ball position, for example.

Ball position tends to be an area that is overlooked in all aspects of golf. In particular for a wedge shot, having the ball too far back in the stance increases the angle of attack causing the club to come down vertically on top of the ball and more often than not actually catch the ground first. The ball is best positioned in the middle of the stance or even just forward of centre with 60% of the players weight favouring the left side and hands should be positioned ahead of the ball at address to help create the steep angle of attack at impact.

Grip pressure is an area overlooked by amateurs and professionals alike, but this should be one of few things consistent amongst all golfers. The grip pressure should be light in order to allow feel and movement in the hands, however, not so free that the club moves too much.

A tight grip will lead to tense arms and shoulders and therefore a lack of body rotation and movement during the shot which completely eradicates all chance of feel.

This is not necessary, however, amending the lengths of your golf clubs could have a positive impact on fat wedge shots if they werent originally custom fit for you and are too long, however, a good fundamental set up, a rigid but free moving swing with a good impact position can be achieved with every club regardless of the length being correct or not. Go through the set up routine of a narrowed stance, weight to the left side, hands ahead of the ball and the ball positioned in the centre of your stance. This will correct any issues you may have in your set up.