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Anyone who plays golf in Bahrain (on any of its golf courses) will likely have found themselves in a variety of lies around the green.
Whether you are chipping from a mat at Awali Golf Club or pitching for the semi rough at the Royal Golf Club, it is important to understand how to use the design of your wedges to your advantage.
Let’s discuss how you can use the ‘bounce’ of your wedges to help you succeed in different situations.
What is Bounce?
As you can see from the diagram, bounce refers to the angle that is formed between the point at which the trailing edge of the wedge touches the ground and a point on the leading edge of the club. Bounce is measured in degrees and is normally a number between four and 16 which can usually be found on some part of the club head.
In basic terms, the bounce of a wedge helps a golfer control how likely the leading edge of the club is to dig into the ground at impact. Due to the fact that most short game shots require the club to accelerate through the ball as opposed to dig in to the ground, understanding how to utilise the bounce of your wedges will allow you to become more versatile and successful in a variety of different lies and situations.
For example, imagine you are trapped in the very deep bunker to the left of the fourth green at the Royal Golf Club and you require a high, soft escape shot onto the middle of the green.
If you set up properly, with the ball position forward and your hands central, you will be able to present the bounce of the club to the ball which will help the club head glide through the sand and produce the desired outcome. However, if you mistakenly set up with the ball in the middle of your stance and your hands ahead of the ball, it is likely that the sharp leading edge of the club will enter the sand first and dig down, making it very difficult for the ball to have enough energy to fly out of the bunker.
Similarly, in a standard chip shot off the fairway or a mat, many people fall into the trap of putting the ball too far back in their stance and pushing their hands significantly ahead of the ball, which effectively eliminates the bounce of the club.
They then make a steep ‘jab’ at the back of the ball, which produces inconsistent results including ‘duffs’ and ‘thins’.
Next time you are practicing your standard chip shots, place the ball in the middle of your stance, keep your hands very central and make a few practice swings.
What you should notice is that as opposed to taking divots, your club will be simply contacting the grass and then ‘bouncing’ through to your finishing position.
In practice, you will soon become aware that by utilising the bounce of the club, you have a larger room for error. Even slightly miss-struck shots will produce a better outcome as the energy of the club will still go through the ball instead of digging into the ground.
As with anything in golf, this concept requires practice before you can rely on it on the course.
Remember, the bounce of the club is there to help you, so make sure you analyse what sort of impact the shot requires before deciding how to set-up to the ball.
If you do this, you should find that the consistency of your short game ball striking improves significantly.
For more information on this topic or for information on the golf coaching services offered at Awali Golf Club, please contact me on 39761873.
Good luck and happy golfing!
