Indoor Simulators and Wedge Play

Indoor Simulators and Wedge Play

Indoor simulators with wedge play gives all golfers an environment to calibrate distance control by how much one grips down, narrows and opens the stance. Lets begin with a review on wedge play to see how how one can both guarantee success and give versatility by using the four absolutes of pitching.

The first is to aim the face at the target as this determines where the ball goes. Next, make sure to point the clubshaft at a center line formed by the belly button and sternum as this maintains the clubface and bounce. (Remember bounce gives this club a resistance to digging.) The arms swing very nicely on the line of the shoulders and finally distance is controlled by how much one grips down narrows and drops either the right or left foot back. Here is how this works:

Gripping down on the lever shortens the shot and gives one more control over the club just as holding a pencil near the point does. Gripping down also results in a posture that is more bent over which reduces the upper body turn. The more bent over the harder it is for the shoulders to be turned, conversely the more erect the posture the easier it is. Narrowing the stance proportionally takes the lower body out of the shot. The more one narrows the more it is reduced as does dropping the right or left foot back. These adjustments mean that the more one grips down, narrows and opens the more the body is taken out of the shot while maintaining arm swing resulting in a shorter shot.

Mostly starting with the grip there are three positions: all the way down, all the way up or in the middle. Stance width can be feet together, clubhead apart, hip width and then shoulder width. And the opening with the feet can be toe to toe, toe to ball of foot, toe to instep and toe to heel.

To calibrate one’s wedge play use the simulator to find out how far the maximum is you hit your wedge. Now with a specific set up you will automatically hit it 1/2 the maximum: grip down to the middle, feet clubhead apart and the toe to the instep. This should result in a shot that goes 1/2 the distance, easily checked with the swing simulator. From here one can expand out or in to hit it shorter or longer with each change representing about a 3 yard difference. Remember to swing in balance and only to a point of resistance in the backswing. Partial shots are always with the weight starting, staying and finishing on the left side. Take advantage of the accurate feedback with the simulators to calibrate your wedges out of a perfectly controlled environment.

The next two pictures show lefty Daniel Lepre setup to hit a shot 1/2 his maximum and then using the swing simulator to check for the proper results.