Posted by Dexter Francois
| Posted in
Bob Vokey,
Michael Breed,
Mike Southern,
The Golf Fix,
wedges
| Posted on Tuesday, July 26, 2011
I just finished watching last nights replay of The Golf Fix with Michael Breed. The topic was wedge play, which is something I was very interested in, because this is where I lose strokes if I am not able to cozy the ball up to the hole within tap in distance from just off the green.
Mike Southern recently posted an article called I'm stuck in the Greenside Rough. At the end of his article he jokingly said, "Of course, if the weather stays this hot, I may have to post a tip on playing hardpan... or maybe cracked mud..." I immediately commented by saying, "Actually...That would be a good post for me. Some of the courses out here in Phoenix, such as the last one I played, had areas where the rough wasn't grass. It was like hard clay. You can see them in my pictures. Not the easiest shot to execute with any kind of consistency. At least not for me."
As always, Mike responds to his readers wishes, and he followed up with an article entitled, What Rough? This Is Hardpan. After reading this article, I realized why I was struggling with my shots off of a hardpan lie. Too much bounce.
In my last round, I had two shots that were from my favorite distance, which is 110 yards with a sandwedge in my hands. Both shots were off a hardpan lie, and on both occasions, I left my shots well short of the green. I couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong until Mike explained that on this type of lie, a club with less bounce is needed.
During this episode of The Golf Fix, Breed visited wedge guru Bob Vokey in the Titleist truck, which travels to each PGA Tour event to aide the players that use their equipment. Breed and Vokey touched on the subject of bounce and they confirmed what Mike had taught me. Vokey even mentioned that golfers in Arizona, where I live, need less bounce on their wedges than someone who lives in another region of the country where the turf doesn't get as baked by the extreme heat.
My 60 degree wedge has 7 degrees of bounce and my 52 degree wedge has 8 degrees of bounce. My sandwedge, however, doesn't have the number on the wedge, but I would say it has somewhere between 12 and 14 degrees of bounce. What I should have done on the two shots I mentioned before was take my 52 degree or maybe a pitching wedge which has less bounce and hit more of a knockdown shot.
I'm playing a course this week which has areas that will leave me with a hardpan lie if I miss the fairway off the tee. I don't want to be in this situation, but I am actually looking forward to trying it out now that I have a little more knowledge of how to execute this tricky shot. Most of the United States is experiencing very hot weather, so you too may be faced with a similar situation. Hopefully this will help you as well. Have a great round and always hit your target.
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