Opinion & Analysis

The Wedge Guy: Have some “go-to” shots

Published

6 years ago

May 20, 2020

I’ve always been a proponent of having one or more “go-to” shots–those you have full confidence you can pull off whenever you need it.

The first “go-to” shot you need is one that is almost certain to put you in the fairway off the tee. Not necessarily long, of course, but one that will find the fairway a very high percentage of the time. For me, it’s the “bunt” driver. When I just have to hit a shot in the fairway, I am pretty darn confident that I can grip my driver down by about 2-3” and put what Ben Hogan called an “arm swing” on it. It’s not actually all arms, but rather a swing with very controlled pace and power, with the whole idea of making solid contact and producing a reliable trajectory and straight path. From my normal drives of 250 or so or so, this one gives me about 225-240 depending on roll out–plenty long for most short par fours where accuracy is key.

I’ve long been a firm believer that shorter and in the fairway beats long and crooked every time. For most, that might mean a 3-wood off the tee, but I see too many golfers club down and then amp up their swing because of it, and still hit it crooked. I strongly recommend that you spend some time on the range learning that ‘go-to’ bunt driver or other shot that you can rely on when things are demanding, or your full swing gets a little cantankerous.

Another ‘go-to’ shot should be one that can be counted on to get you reasonably close to the hole from ranges of 60-100 yards. That means having that one swing you know you can always rely on when you need to save a hole from disaster or when you have that shorter birdie hole. Again, I favor a throttled backswing, and then choose clubs from PW to sand wedge to make that swing deliver reliable, repeatable distances in that window.

If you are confident in a range that you can get up and down a reasonable percentage of the time, and almost never take more than three shots, it gives you an “out” when you put a drive in the trees, or a reasonable birdie chance on most all par-fives and short par fours. If you have confidence in getting up and down from 2-3 different distances inside 100 yards, you can play to those distances and remove the double-bogies from the card.

So, I’d like to toss this one to all you readers for more ideas for “go-to” shots. What are yours?

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Terry Koehler

Terry Koehler is a fourth generation Texan and a graduate of Texas A&M University. Over his 40-year career in the golf industry, he has created over 100 putter designs and dozens of wedges. In 2014, he put together the team that reintroduced the Ben Hogan brand to the golf equipment industry with his TK 15 wedges and Ft. Worth 15 iron designs. Since receiving a U.S. Patent for his “Koehler Sole” in the early 1990s, he has been challenging “conventional wisdom” in the wedge category. In addition to inspiring multiple companies to emulate this sole technology, the performance of his wedge designs have stimulated all other companies to reposition some mass toward the top of the blade in their wedges. Terry is retired from his role as Chairman and Director of Innovation for Edison Golf, and remains active in the industry as an independent designer and consultant. But his most compelling work is in the wedge category. Since he first patented his “Koehler Sole” in the early 1990s, he has been challenging “conventional wisdom” reflected in ‘tour design’ wedges. The performance of his wedge designs have stimulated other companies to move slightly more mass toward the top of the blade in their wedges, but none approach the dramatic design of his Edison Forged wedges, which have been robotically proven to significantly raise the bar for wedge performance. Terry serves as Chairman and Director of Innovation for Edison Golf – check it out at www.EdisonWedges.com.

4 Comments

Frank Crowe

May 22, 2020 at 3:31 pm

If it’s windy as it usually is in Scotland I hit a straight arm shot with a 6 iron off the back foot. It goes low and straight with a bit of bite when it lands about 100 yards away. An easy 8 iron for better weather 100 to 120 yards and a half shot with a 5 wood about 150 yards

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Jack

May 21, 2020 at 10:10 pm

Fully agree that straight and in the fairway is worth much more than long and sometimes straight. You can’t make up the differences in hazard, OB, or even rough by the times you stripe it 30 yards further down the fairway. Trick is, people need a reliable swing to be able to hit a 3 wood properly. Bunt driver really is a easier option. I can do either the 80% 3 wood (which probably goes just as far as 100% LOL since I hit closer to the middle of the club) or arm swing driver which is easier to control and makes me wonder why I don’t just use it as my normal driver shot.

Over a lot of other things golfers should work on is this actually. To have a consistent shot off the tee is invaluable to posting a respectable score. It also improves your swing on fairway shots too.

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Matt Callison

May 21, 2020 at 10:50 am

I think a go-to shot that not enough people practice (myself included) is the low, rolling, and straight punch-out shot from the rough. We all end up in the trees at some point and have limbs to go under or around.

I’ve been looking into tips on this recently and it seems the consensus is: use a long iron, grip down, understand how to adjust to your lie, err on the side of thinning it, know where ball position needs to be for your unique swing to start straight and not curve.

Don’t try to make-up for a bad drive on your second shot. Put yourself in a position to be aggressive with your THIRD shot while also taking the double bogey out of play.

I’d love GolfWRX to do a video or short article on the punch-out shot.

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Mark M

May 21, 2020 at 9:05 am

Hi Terry,
I am also a big fan of the choke down driver when you have to hit a fairway. I’ve been using it for about 10 years now and it is definitely a “go-to” shot. I’m already confident with my normal driver swing but the choke down swing frees me up to make a good swing cause I know I’ll get a good strike if I just maintain a good tempo. I found a lot of times I was trying too hard to hit it straight but not TOO short with a 3-wood.

I’d say my next “go-to” shot is one I use a lot from 100 yds to 50 yds. I make a 9:00 backswing swinging with similar tempo back and through the ball. No effort to accelerate through, just turn back – turn through. I can use it with gap down to lob wedge and it’s pretty reliable.

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Opinion & Analysis

AVL: My U.S. Amateur local qualifying experience

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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.

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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.

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