Opinion & Analysis

Improve your wedge distance control with Dustin Johnson’s unique drill

Published

8 years ago

May 18, 2018

Most amateurs understand how important hitting solid wedge shots are for their score. Many of us fail to practice a major factor of effective wedge play, however, distance control.

I was watching Dustin Johnson on the Augusta National range before his Monday practice round with Gary Woodland. Johnson was hitting his driver, and when Dustin Johnson hits his driver on the range you watch. After he finished hitting about 10 drives, he went back to hitting wedges. For the next 45 minutes, he was using a wedge drill I had never seen before. It threw me off because he was not aiming at any particular flag or worrying about how close he could hit a shot to the hole, which is common when practicing wedge play.

Johnson started the drill by finding the yardage to the back of the first green. He hit his first wedge to that yardage. His next shot landed slightly past his first shot, his third longer than his second and so on until he was outside of his wedge yardage. He repeated this process for 45 minutes working on wedge shots from 4o-100 yards. Once he got to 100 yards, he went back to the 40-yard target and restarted the drill.

This drill can be easily repeated by amateurs, even though their cluster of balls will probably not be as tight as Johnson’s. In order to do this on your own, head to your local range and find the yardage to the shortest pin on the range. Once you have it, aim to the left or right of the green in order to have a clear view of the landing area. Try to land a wedge pin high. After you have hit a shot that yardage and established a good starting point, try to land your next shot slightly past of your target ball. Repeat this process until you are out of your wedge range.

While doing the drill, it’s important to keep in mind an estimate of your target yardage so you can start to develop a feel for a 65-yard shot, a 70-yard shot, etc. You may not have a launch monitor behind you on the range like Johnson and a lot of PGA Tour players do, but you can get the data you need with a laser rangefinder or by walking off distances (provided no other golfers are around). In the process, you’ll develop dozens of stock swings for a variety of distances.

Leave a comment if you have any feedback regarding the drill or variations you have found to be successful!

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18 Comments

Speedy

Jun 9, 2018 at 9:32 pm

Too many “don’ters” here. Time to be a “doer”.

Reply Report comment
Luis Pantin

May 20, 2018 at 8:58 am

Buy the Swin Caddie SC200…. this tool is perfect for distance control… and to play games by yourself on the range… and for less than $350 it’s a teacher for life…. this is your 15th club in your bag… you will not regret ever.

I have it and use it as much as I can… it’s a par maker when you lay up …

Reply Report comment
- larrybud
  
  Jun 7, 2018 at 6:35 pm
  
  unfortunately, they’re not that accurate since it can’t measure spin rate or launch angle (only ball speed), and the distances are all calculated from “stock” or average values
  
  Reply Report comment
Greg V

May 19, 2018 at 10:46 am

Nick Faldo did this with his 7-iron starting at 100 yards. Good drill.

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Sin Nombré

May 18, 2018 at 11:41 pm

I asked for a full wedge and the salesman came out with an iceberg salad. It was delicious, but alas, still chili dipping out on the links. Doritos and guacamole anyone?

Reply Report comment
Mike C

May 18, 2018 at 9:21 pm

This drill is specifically designed for someone using Trackman during practice like DJ does so you know exactly how far the ball is flying. He addresses this in the article but his solution isn’t sufficient.

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Mike901550

May 18, 2018 at 5:52 pm

Yep
Until my range has 1. Balls with dimples 2. Balls not covered in mud. 3. Premium balls . It’s a waste of time

Reply Report comment
Mul

May 18, 2018 at 2:06 pm

Glad I came across this article, I usually just wing it under 100 yards!

Reply Report comment
TMan

May 18, 2018 at 1:47 pm

Interesting! Iam
going to try this drill. thanks for the information.

Reply Report comment
stacey

May 18, 2018 at 1:37 pm

Great stuff. I will definitely try this out!

Reply Report comment
Ty Webb

May 18, 2018 at 12:26 pm

Yeah saw Tom Lehman do this about 25 years ago. Yawn.

Reply Report comment
- DS
  
  May 18, 2018 at 5:11 pm
  
  Did you leave the same douchey comment then too?
  
  Reply Report comment
  - One-Iron
    
    May 19, 2018 at 11:27 am
    
    Hahahahaha!
    
    Reply Report comment
  - Holdthelag
    
    May 19, 2018 at 4:01 pm
    
    Impressive
    
    Reply Report comment
Gordon Crossman, PGA of Canada

May 18, 2018 at 12:11 pm

I am a Class “A” Teaching Professional in Canada and I have a drill I call the “Wave”. You take your the most lofted club, take a few practice swings stretch out a bit hit a few balls to get the feeling to start your practice session then you take a full swing with the club without hitting hard and note the landing area then the next ball must land short of the previous shot then the next shot short of the previous one until you can bring it in as close to you as you can by swinging the club as a mini swing. Once you accomplish this you start hitting a little longer by landing the ball pass the previous ball then the next ball pass the previous until you reach the length for that club then repeat the process back and forth like a “Wave” coming in and then going out, this can be done with any club in particular wedges where you may have to loft a shot over a bunker with a tight pin placement, maybe a 15 yard shot. I feel it helps to develop feel plus you create a number of more shots in your bag and it is a fun practice drill to develop feel.

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Curtis Demorest

May 18, 2018 at 11:53 am

This is called the ladder drill…can also be used on the putting green. Have a mark at 5 feet then another at 20 feet and see how many balls you can get in the 15 foot area, with each putt going past the previous putt

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DB

May 18, 2018 at 11:38 am

Sadly, this WON’T work accurately for most amateurs who are hitting distance-limited or just plain crummy range balls.

It’s good practice for partial wedge swings, but if you think that 65-yard wedge shot you perfected on the range is going to be exactly 65 yards on the course, you might be wrong.

Reply Report comment
Mower

May 18, 2018 at 11:20 am

I’m on it! “Wedge Guerilla!”

Reply Report comment

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Opinion & Analysis

AVL: My U.S. Amateur local qualifying experience

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5 days ago

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Andrew Von Lossow

This past Monday, I played in the U.S. Amateur local qualifier at Rock Creek Country Club in Portland, Oregon. A full tee sheet from 7:30 a.m. to 1:55 p.m., the top 11 scores would make it to the U.S. Amateur final qualifying.

I teed off at 10:48 a.m.. With the 7:30 am tee time, you can get a feel for the leaders’ pace, and they were off and running on the challenging setup at Rock Creek.

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Getting to the highlight of the round on the par five 17th, a drive up the left side and 212 yards left to the front hole location. I took out a 5-iron with plans of middle of the green. The ball ended up 8 feet left of the hole, pin high. A slight downhill putt dropped in for an eagle 3 on the 17th. With the cut line looking to be anywhere from -2 to even par. This was the boost I had been waiting for all day.

With making par from the trees on 18, it was time to wait for a potential playoff with a posted score of one under par 71.

Three hours later, it was playoff time. 8 players for 6 spots. I made par on the playoff hole, which was good enough to advance to the U.S. Amateur final qualifying in July. USGA qualifiers sure deliver on all of the emotions in golf!

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