The Importance Of Trajectory With Golf Wedges (Video) - by Pete Styles
The Importance Of Trajectory With Golf Wedges (Video) - by Pete Styles

So when we talk about the importance of the trajectory of a golf shot particularly with the wedges. It’s really important we understand why the trajectory of how high and how far we hit the golf ball is important. Now, if we were palying into a headwind for example or a severer crosswind. Hitting the ball high up in the air is going to be causing us problems, because we’re going to have to make much larger compensations for the amount of wind. So playing into a headwind I'm going to have to hit that ball a lot harder if I'm going to hit it high. And if I'm going to hit it high and there's a big crosswind I need to allow a lot more significant direction change to allow that wind to blow the ball back in. So if I can hit the ball at a lower trajectory that can be quite a skill in the wind. Also understand that the trajectory of the shot can help us understand how far the ball will roll on the opposite side. So if I've got a high trajectory and I'm hitting lobe wedges really high up in the air, it stands to reason that when that ball lands it’s not going to do much, its going to land and stop pretty quickly, but if I was pitching the ball in lower and contolling my trajectory a lot more, when that ball lands chances are it'll release out.

And there's times and places when I need to hit the ball so it lands and stops, and there's times and places where I need to land the ball and get it to roll out. So change in the trajectory is going to be quite an important skill. Now if you’ve got four wedges in your bag, changing the trajectory is easier anyway because you've got four different lofts to hit. But if you've only got two lofts, a sand wedge and a pitching wedge it can be a bit more difficult but it’s not impossible. What we've got to understand is that change in trajectory is directly affected by the change of the loft and the strike angle; the angle of attack effectively. The loft is the easiest thing to change for most golfers and that's changed by altering the handle angle. So if the angle of the handle is vertical, the loft on this wedge is 50 degrees. But everytime I move that handle forwards or backwards; it changes the loft on the club face by the same degree. So if I move these handle ten degrees forwards, that's now only a 40 degree wedge, and it would produce a much lower golf shot. If I change the handle backwards now a 60 degree wedge again changing the angle of the shot quite aggressively. Moving the handle forwards is something we would encourage you to do; moving the handle backwards has inherent risks to it and is a lot more difficult to do. So let's just focus on having the handle more forwards but never backwards. Ball position can also change a little bit, ball position could go back. That would encourage the handle to be more ahead and also encourage a slightly steeper angle of attack. So angle of attack is the angle that the club head is travelling downwards as it hits the golf ball, and the downwards angle will generally come off the loft angle as well. So if we’re hitting down at five degrees chances are this ball is going to come out lower than if we’re hitting down at one degree for example. So the ball position is probably the easiest thing for you to alter to change your angle of attack. It’s very difficult for a club golfer to actually manipulate the angle of attack. Its easier just to move ball position. So put the ball back, put the handle forwards, you are going to have a bit lower ball flight. Put the ball middle, handle neutral, middle high ball flight. Put the ball forwards have the handle back, much higher ball flight. But also a very, very risky way of playing golf because it’s very difficult to strike the ball from this position. So rather than moving the ball forwards and having that handle back to create loft, change clubs, don’t bother about trying to hit this one. Play it from the middle with a more lofted club, that's why the more wedges you’ve got in the bag, the easier it is to change the height of the of the golf shot for you. 2015-10-15

So when we talk about the importance of the trajectory of a golf shot particularly with the wedges. It’s really important we understand why the trajectory of how high and how far we hit the golf ball is important. Now, if we were palying into a headwind for example or a severer crosswind. Hitting the ball high up in the air is going to be causing us problems, because we’re going to have to make much larger compensations for the amount of wind. So playing into a headwind I'm going to have to hit that ball a lot harder if I'm going to hit it high. And if I'm going to hit it high and there's a big crosswind I need to allow a lot more significant direction change to allow that wind to blow the ball back in. So if I can hit the ball at a lower trajectory that can be quite a skill in the wind. Also understand that the trajectory of the shot can help us understand how far the ball will roll on the opposite side. So if I've got a high trajectory and I'm hitting lobe wedges really high up in the air, it stands to reason that when that ball lands it’s not going to do much, its going to land and stop pretty quickly, but if I was pitching the ball in lower and contolling my trajectory a lot more, when that ball lands chances are it'll release out.

And there's times and places when I need to hit the ball so it lands and stops, and there's times and places where I need to land the ball and get it to roll out. So change in the trajectory is going to be quite an important skill. Now if you’ve got four wedges in your bag, changing the trajectory is easier anyway because you've got four different lofts to hit. But if you've only got two lofts, a sand wedge and a pitching wedge it can be a bit more difficult but it’s not impossible. What we've got to understand is that change in trajectory is directly affected by the change of the loft and the strike angle; the angle of attack effectively. The loft is the easiest thing to change for most golfers and that's changed by altering the handle angle. So if the angle of the handle is vertical, the loft on this wedge is 50 degrees. But everytime I move that handle forwards or backwards; it changes the loft on the club face by the same degree. So if I move these handle ten degrees forwards, that's now only a 40 degree wedge, and it would produce a much lower golf shot. If I change the handle backwards now a 60 degree wedge again changing the angle of the shot quite aggressively. Moving the handle forwards is something we would encourage you to do; moving the handle backwards has inherent risks to it and is a lot more difficult to do.
So let's just focus on having the handle more forwards but never backwards. Ball position can also change a little bit, ball position could go back. That would encourage the handle to be more ahead and also encourage a slightly steeper angle of attack. So angle of attack is the angle that the club head is travelling downwards as it hits the golf ball, and the downwards angle will generally come off the loft angle as well. So if we’re hitting down at five degrees chances are this ball is going to come out lower than if we’re hitting down at one degree for example. So the ball position is probably the easiest thing for you to alter to change your angle of attack. It’s very difficult for a club golfer to actually manipulate the angle of attack. Its easier just to move ball position. So put the ball back, put the handle forwards, you are going to have a bit lower ball flight. Put the ball middle, handle neutral, middle high ball flight. Put the ball forwards have the handle back, much higher ball flight. But also a very, very risky way of playing golf because it’s very difficult to strike the ball from this position. So rather than moving the ball forwards and having that handle back to create loft, change clubs, don’t bother about trying to hit this one. Play it from the middle with a more lofted club, that's why the more wedges you’ve got in the bag, the easier it is to change the height of the of the golf shot for you.