Trust Your Lob Wedge On The Golf Course (Video) - by Pete Styles
Trust Your Lob Wedge On The Golf Course (Video) - by Pete Styles

Quite often when asking golfers, “Why don’t they like their lob wedge, why is it not in your bag, why do you struggle to hit it?” They talk about this concept of trust, I just don’t trust it. And I think how can you not trust an inanimate object? It can’t make a decision for you; it can’t do anything to belie your trust. But why don’t people trust their wedge? We’ll probably because it’s got them into a lots of trouble in certain situations, maybe you’re having a good score, you’re having a good range, you play in the 18th hole club house at the back of the 18th green, pond to go over, it looks like a nice lob wedge shot, you think I will just hit this one nicely up in the air and they thin it, and they thin-it in the middle of the ball, because they looked a bit keen but eager to see the ball shot, thin it, gone straight through the other side of the green rolled up the bank into the patio and amongst all the tables and chairs where the golfers are having a drink after their run at golf.

And the trust issues that that brings into your game, because this club let you down, well in reality it was you that created the problem of course, but you blame the club. The club gets banished into the garage never to be seen again. But the lob wedge really should be a big part of your game and it should be an important weapon in your bag if you can learn to trust it. And the problem is we just highlighted with that example is that generally when you hit a lob wedge badly, it will kill you. There’s no two ways about it, it doesn’t let you off with – that wasn’t great, but I’m still on the green 10 feet past the flag. If you hit a lob wedge thin, it will knife off through the green. The point is you have to hit it quite hard to get it to work. So when you hit thin and you catch the middle, you catch the middle of the ball that swing there is going about 75 yards and kill the playing partner as he was around the back of the green. But if I hit that ball well, it probably could have gone 30 yards. So my 30 yard swing hit badly can go 75 yards. The alternative is you stay down too much, you hit the ground too far behind the ball and the same swing that could go 30 yards, could go 75 yards, goes about three yards here. So the importance of this – the concept is with a wedge you should hit down on the ball, so we want to strike down taking ball on the turf, but it’s got to be at the right point, and if you can’t consistently hit down or hit the right point that’s when you struggle to trust your wedge. But remember it’s not the wedge that you need to start trusting, it’s you. You need to start trusting in your own ability to use this weapon to your best advantage. 2016-10-03

Quite often when asking golfers, “Why don’t they like their lob wedge, why is it not in your bag, why do you struggle to hit it?” They talk about this concept of trust, I just don’t trust it. And I think how can you not trust an inanimate object? It can’t make a decision for you; it can’t do anything to belie your trust. But why don’t people trust their wedge? We’ll probably because it’s got them into a lots of trouble in certain situations, maybe you’re having a good score, you’re having a good range, you play in the 18th hole club house at the back of the 18th green, pond to go over, it looks like a nice lob wedge shot, you think I will just hit this one nicely up in the air and they thin it, and they thin-it in the middle of the ball, because they looked a bit keen but eager to see the ball shot, thin it, gone straight through the other side of the green rolled up the bank into the patio and amongst all the tables and chairs where the golfers are having a drink after their run at golf.

And the trust issues that that brings into your game, because this club let you down, well in reality it was you that created the problem of course, but you blame the club. The club gets banished into the garage never to be seen again. But the lob wedge really should be a big part of your game and it should be an important weapon in your bag if you can learn to trust it. And the problem is we just highlighted with that example is that generally when you hit a lob wedge badly, it will kill you. There’s no two ways about it, it doesn’t let you off with – that wasn’t great, but I’m still on the green 10 feet past the flag. If you hit a lob wedge thin, it will knife off through the green. The point is you have to hit it quite hard to get it to work. So when you hit thin and you catch the middle, you catch the middle of the ball that swing there is going about 75 yards and kill the playing partner as he was around the back of the green. But if I hit that ball well, it probably could have gone 30 yards. So my 30 yard swing hit badly can go 75 yards. The alternative is you stay down too much, you hit the ground too far behind the ball and the same swing that could go 30 yards, could go 75 yards, goes about three yards here.

So the importance of this – the concept is with a wedge you should hit down on the ball, so we want to strike down taking ball on the turf, but it’s got to be at the right point, and if you can’t consistently hit down or hit the right point that’s when you struggle to trust your wedge. But remember it’s not the wedge that you need to start trusting, it’s you. You need to start trusting in your own ability to use this weapon to your best advantage.