How to Control Launch, Spin, and Distance in Your Short Game – Golf Tips

⛳ Using one wedge to hit different trajectories is a valuable skill for short game versatility.

📏 Ball position and shaft lean are key factors in controlling shot height with a wedge.

🦶 Keeping pressure on the lead foot and body slightly ahead of the ball helps produce lower shots.

🔄 Avoid excessive tilts between upper and lower body to prevent poor contact and early bottoming out.

🎯 Striking the ball lower on the clubface generally lowers launch angle and increases spin.

🌀 Hitting wedge shots more towards the toe can increase club speed and backspin for advanced players.

📈 Adding loft and adjusting grip are essential for hitting higher shots with a wedge.

🤲 The finish position and wrist action influence shot trajectory, with higher shots requiring more wrist extension.

🧪 Practicing with launch monitor data helps identify preferred shot types and refine technique.

🎯 Finding a stock shot you like builds confidence and gives you more options for attacking different pin positions.

00:00:00 - Okay, Mark, we're going to talk some short game inside. Okay. So, we can use Sky Track and some of the cool stuff that we can do in here to talk about how to maybe hit some different trajectories. So, I know a lot of people out there always want to know how do you hit like a low shot, just a normal sort of standard shot, and then something maybe a little higher. We'll use the same club. So, then that way we can vary the trajectory, talk about launch angles, spin, all that stuff.

00:00:27 - >> Which one do you want to start with? Should we go low first? >> Sure, let's do that. >> So, just so I'm using a 58° wedge. >> Okay. >> Obviously, if I wanted to hit different trajectories, you've got different lofts as well. We're doing it with one wedge cuz or one loft cuz this is a good skill to have to be able to do it with one club. >> I I agree. >> But if you're good at doing a low with a nine iron, keep doing it that way. It is good to do it with one loft and varied

00:00:53 - loft. So, if I'm going to go with one or 58, I'm going to get the ball back in my stance that a little bit more than I normal would. >> Okay. >> Pushing my hands up to their normal position, which is up towards my lead leg. >> Yep. >> Um, but because the ball's back, that's going to give in effect a little bit more of a lean forward of the shaft. >> Correct. >> And I've got my pressure lead foot. So, I do feel like I'm leaning on the lead side. And I feel like I am slightly

00:01:16 - ahead of the ball. So, I feel like my body is literally slightly ahead of the ball. >> Yeah. So, I'd say like your sternum would be a good sort of benchmark there, like having that just slightly ahead of the ball, like your the center of your pelvis slightly ahead of the ball. >> But what I am going to be wary of is trying not to get in any way kind of people do it a little bit this way sometimes. So, they push this forward and this stays back. >> I don't want to be adding huge tilts in

00:01:38 - here and be dumping the club in the ground back here. Agreed. >> So, I'm trying to make sure that I'm pushing pelvis and upper body is going slightly forwards. >> Yeah. So everything kind of works towards the target versus just having one or the other. >> Correct. Yeah. And I see that all the time. I see them go I going, you know, try and get ahead of the ball more and they go that way and then they're literally because of the tilts they're going to bottom out so early and fins

00:02:02 - which is often what they >> I've seen the other one too where they'll get their pelvis actually backwards and their chest up here so that they can get the handle forward and that's just a recipe for disaster as So I've still got some kind of balance if you like >> in the sections between lower and upper half. >> What would when when you're practicing this shot and talking about like launch angle, what would you expect for a shot like this? Obviously this is a 58° so

00:02:25 - we're not going to hit like a degree launch. >> Let's see what it comes out. I mean I'm going to be in the we're going 30 yards. So trying to punch it out there nice and low. It's going to also I'm going to try and work in a little bit of roll. Going to hit it a little bit harder cuz it's not going to >> uh roll out as much. And we're down in the 28s. I'd expect it to be kind of 25 26. >> Yep. I was going to say sort of upper 20s between 25 30 would be a good place

00:02:49 - to be. Obviously, you just, you know, the the hard part about this is with so much loft trying to figure out exactly how far to hit it, how much roll. But what this is, this is the other common one you'll see is just the amount of backspin. Yes. >> Right. As you take that loft away, that's going to essentially reduce the amount of backspin you create. So that's why you'll see that ball roll. >> Absolutely. you got land angle and obviously the lack of spin is going to

00:03:10 - you're going to have to work that into your shot when you are doing it and I would play with um launch as well cuz remember where you strike the ball on the face that one was slightly higher on the face which is why I would say that was the higher say of my tolerances if I strike it hopefully a little bit more towards the middle bottom part of that club. >> Yeah, that was this game is really easy. >> That's so embarrassing when that happens. Don't you just hate that? It

00:03:36 - just goes in and I hate that when that happens. >> That was that was one take, by the way. That was that was not edited that. >> So, you can see I'm now down at 24. And these are patterns I would look for. So, 24 flags up as slightly red because it's obviously not I've not told the software that I'm doing a low shot. >> But if I have better results when I try to get it going out lower, >> that might become my stock shot. Even looking at those patterns. >> Yeah. And even just noticing like how

00:04:01 - you finish that swing. Like for a lot of people when they try to hit a low shot, I see this all the time. They finish extremely high. Their body stands up. The hands go up above their head. Um, you can see when Mark was hitting that, everything stayed nice and low. The the handle stayed ahead of the club head. >> That's what's going to help create that lower trajectory and get that ball to roll a little bit more. >> Should we go like a regular just a standard height?

00:04:21 - >> So, normal pitch shot here. You got 30 yards. What are you doing with this one? So ball positions going a little bit more now in line with my buttons, which is kind of in line with my middle of my stance, which can get a bit confusing. You can see I'm standing a little open. You don't need to. You can stand whichever way you want, but >> these lines to feet can get a little confusing when you're standing a little open. So lining it up with the middle of my body. Hands still up towards lead

00:04:46 - leg. >> Pressure on lead foot. I don't feel as much pressure on lead foot. Okay. And then I'm going to need a slightly bigger arm swing cuz this one is now going to fly more there and hopefully not run quite as much. >> Yeah. So there's kind of >> I like it in here. >> There's kind of your stock shot. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So you can still see that launch angle was still upper 20s which is totally fine. But look at the difference in the spin on that one versus the low

00:05:10 - one. Like even the one you hold out had I think 4,400. This one's at 52. So because that handle isn't as far forward because that follow through isn't quite as low. That's adding a little more of that dynamic loft. That's where you get some of that spin. >> And every time you play these shots, again, I felt that one was in the kind of golden zone of striking. So, it was second groove moving up the face. >> Yep. >> I can hit somewhere on a mat as well. If you're practicing this at home, I might

00:05:35 - be hitting third or fourth groove cuz your strike will vary. >> The higher I hit it on the face, the launch will go up. The lower I hit on the face, generally that will come down. Spin goes up when I hit it lower on the face. So, you're going to work those patterns into the variables as well. >> For better players, let me ask you this question. This is a this is one that I see a lot. Um, ball speed versus club speed. So, your smash factors.9 or 089 on that one.

00:05:58 - >> Do you tend to try to hit these more toe, center, heel, or does it does it matter to you? >> It doesn't matter that much to me, but I definitely am much. You can see if you look at that, see how much more toe I am? >> So, he's kind of hitting out here, guys, for for those of you looking at home. I mean, I actually use this wedge where I've got grooves all across the face. >> Sure. >> In my lofted and I like the fact so my strikes will go from here >> up to this part subject to if I'm

00:06:21 - opening face balls set up on grass, those kind of things. >> That's generally what I see with better players too is like the strike tends to be if this is the club face looking at you, it's more out here towards the toe. Yeah. You'll see a lot of really good golfers make these types of shots where their smash factor is below one and that's because that strike gets more out to the toe. So, what what that allows you to do is swing a little faster, but because you hit it on the toe, your ball

00:06:42 - speed's lower. Yeah. >> And because you have more club speed, you can create more backspin. So, that's that's kind of a little hidden pro tip for you. If you really want to create more backspin, like work on trying to get that contact more towards the toe because you can actually create more club head speed and get the spin where you want it to be. >> Like it. So, that one would be my I'm not really thinking much. Ball position more central to my body. Pressure slightly forward. Hands slightly

00:07:03 - forward. And then I'm just kind of trying to feel that distance. So, I'm not trying to hit it low, not trying to hit it high. I'm just Yes. >> What would we do for high? >> So, high, first off, I'm going to make sure I add a bit of loft. >> Love it. >> Then I'm going to grip it. >> Okay. >> So, the amount of people I ask them to try and add loft. And what they do is twist their hands around >> and all that does is twist the grip, the hands on the grip, and they often just

00:07:24 - move that back when they hit the ball. >> Correct. >> So, I'm going to add loft and then hold. >> Which is So, I've got a Golf Pride logo on here. I'm going to turn that Golf Pride logo around to the side. I can see the face is now pointing more at my face. And then hold it. >> Yep. >> Now, people get scared that it's going to go off to the right with this. With a club with this amount of loft, you do not need to lower the handle very much for that loft to be pointing dead

00:07:49 - straight at that target. >> Um, so just trying to play a little bit with lie >> as I add loft to try and make sure I get some kind of direction. >> Love that >> ball position. This can vary with this shot. Subject to the lie. I'm going to push it maybe forward or keep it in the position I had for the regular. >> But what I will do is make sure my hands feel more in line with the leading edge of the club. I'm not pushing them forward. So if my ball goes forwards,

00:08:13 - then the hands stay level with that lead line. If I feel I want to get a little bit more ball in the middle. >> Yep. >> So then I will just make sure my hands are kind of they're actually almost feeling like they're back. >> Correct. Correct. >> They're not. Yeah. What I see a lot of golfers do when they try to hit it high is they'll they'll sort of do what you just described, but they'll exaggerate it and they'll get their hands like back by the trail side. >> Yeah.

00:08:33 - >> And now you've got a really really difficult arrangement to try to hit that golf ball. >> Yes. Yes. >> Absolutely. So twisting loft on holding little bit further forwards hands level with the uh leading edge of that club a little bit more. I'll also feel like I let that lead that right hand really flick that loft forward. I'm going to try and keep this loft kind of pointing at me. Yep. And I'm gonna have to make a longer swing. That's a horrible strike. So I will do another one. >> It's okay.

00:09:00 - >> That comes out lots for people. That was cuz I was talking. We do remember I hold one. >> You did. You did. >> I want to play that one again. >> So I'm just going to let that bottom hand flip forwards. >> But you can see the length of the swings got bigger. >> So from the hitting it low to the medium to higher. I'm playing with length of swing. And I'm also playing a little bit with how much I feel like I'm using my wrists as well. >> Yeah. And so even I mean this is a good

00:09:26 - one. You'll see a lot of really good players when they finish a shot where they hit this thing a little higher. You can see the launch was at 38 there. Like the hands will be much closer to your lead hip. The shaft's going to be standing more up in the air like almost like you're holding an umbrella. >> Putting it in that holster idea, putting it down in your pocket kind of idea. >> Exactly. That's the best way if you're trying to hit those really high shots is

00:09:45 - just get that club head past the handle faster so you can extend your lead wrist more. Adds more loft. That's what you see a lot of the best players in the world do when they need to stop one really quick or hit one super high. >> Yeah. And then things I would practice which Sky Track makes so easy cuz we can put it on the green. So that first fin if I hit that in a practice session I'm going to hit a lot more to confirm if that was cuz I was talking or is that an

00:10:06 - excuse? So I would then think, right, didn't like that. If I hit another 20 of these, does that come out? If it doesn't, I'll notch it down. I wasn't concentrating so much. If it does come out, I think I might get a lesson on this cuz like, why is that coming out twice in 30 shots? I don't want it to come out once. Um, and then the other thing I would do with the free shots as well with the data and looking at where it finishes on the green >> is find out which one I like playing. >> Yeah.

00:10:31 - >> Like that I've played with really good players, tour players who play lobs in kind of a lot of situations cuz they like it >> and they might even go for a lofty club and hit knockdowns. that's just their preferred goto shot. And you they're all going to have your own ones. >> Yeah, for sure. I would start by, like you said, finding one that you like and then from there you can work on the ones that you don't like just to refine that and give yourself essentially more

00:10:54 - arrows in your quiver. Absolutely. >> Different ways to attack the the different pin positions or different hole locations depending on what you're trying to do. So, >> really, really cool. Super helpful. That should go a long way to helping people at home control their trajectory. >> Absolutely. [Music]