The Punched Wedge
The punch shot is an ideal shot to play into a strong headwind or crosswind, conditions that are common on a Links course. The ball stays low and bores through the breeze, whereas a regular wedge shot can be blown off line.
Accuracy, and not distance, is the main concern so a three-quarter swing is required for this shot, with one extra club than normal.
Your feet should be closer together than normal at set-up. Hips and shoulders should remain square to the target but you should adopt a slightly open stance. On the regular pitch shot you should have 55-60 per cent of your weight on your left side, but for the punch this should be exaggerated - you now want 60-65 per cent on the left. The ball position is back in your stance, opposite your right instep. Your hands should be ahead of the ball, with the butt of the club pointing to near your left hip.
Now for the swing. We do not want any transferring of weight for this shot. You must keep your weight on the left side in the backswing and maintain it in the downswing. You are trying to bring yourself back to your set up position. The key for this shot is to keep your hands well forward of the ball as you hit it. If you let the club head come past your hands, the ball will fly too high. Experiment when you are on the driving range: exaggerate the forward hands position and the ball will fly really low. The shot is also ideal for escaping from under low-hanging branches.
Drivers and Irons
Many golfers suffer from the inability to hit both their driver and their irons well in the same round. Some days the driver works well and the irons seem difficult, other days the driver is horrendous and the irons work like a dream. Whenever this happens we instinctively believe there is a problem with the backswing or with ‘timing’, and set about rebuilding the swing during the round – not the best decision you will make in your golfing life!
The biggest difference between the driver swing and the iron swing is the set up position: the swing is predominately the same.
The most important thing to realise is that with an iron you are looking to hit the ball very slightly on the downswing (descending blow), with the driver you are aiming to hit the ball very slightly on the upswing (ascending blow). Without understanding this concept you will struggle for consistency.
As you can see in these ‘face on’ images there are a few subtle changes in set up, and the best way to remember them is to work from the ground up:
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The ball position with the iron is just left of the centre of my stance, but the driver is forward so it is opposite my left heel
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The stance with the driver is slightly wider for extra stability during the swing
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The hands are positioned slightly forward of the ball with the iron, but slightly behind the ball with the driver
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The spine should be angled a fraction to the right, which will make the shoulders tilt (giving the correct launch angle)
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If you have tilted the shoulders correctly you will now feel 55% of your weight on your right side
I can’t emphasise enough the importance of the spine being tilted to the right when you are using a driver. If you have your spine in the position you would adopt for an iron shot (where you are creating a descending angle of attack) you will hit the ball with a low ball flight and also run the risk hitting the dreaded skied shot. If this move is done correctly you will launch the ball with the optimum ball flight giving maximum distance
Bunkers
Most amateur golfers have a phobia about bunkers, believing them to present much greater difficulties than they actually do. Upon climbing into a bunker virtually every amateur starts going through a list of swing thoughts: open stance, open clubface, swing out to in, hit two inches behind the ball, follow through… and so on. As a result, by the time they come to hit the shot, they’re thinking about so many things they can hardly take the club back.
Basic bunker shots are easy: you don’t even have to hit the ball! All the same, there is more margin for error with a bunker shot than any other shot in the game. To get the best results, you have to understand how the sand wedge works and why the set up is all important.
You may have noticed that your sand iron features a heavy flange on its sole. Study the flange closely and you will see that the back edge sits lower than the leading edge. That gives the club what we call “bounce”. Some clubs have more bounce than others; as a general rule, the softer the sand the more beneficial the bounce factor is. When the sand iron is skimmed through the sand, the flange acts as a rudder, directing the club through the sand and forcing the ball up and out to safety.
Before you set up to the ball, open the clubface and then make your grip. Then, having placed your hands on the club, open your stance. As you settle down to the shot make sure that the lines across your feet, knees, hips and shoulders point to the left of the target. Position the ball just forward of centre in your stance. Be careful not to let the club touch the sand at address because grounding the club in a hazard is a penalty.
To play the shot, simply swing along the line of your toes and don’t be afraid to hit the sand fairly hard. As long as you maintain your momentum and accelerate through impact, the ball will come out softly. To play a shot out of the Road Hole bunker you would have to use an extremely open clubface making sure you maintain the open clubface all the way through impact – visualise the grooves looking up towards the sky.
If you follow these basic techniques you’ll see why the bunker shot is the easiest shot in golf.