Do like the pros and map your distance wedges
Improve your wedge accuracy significantly with this simple exercise
Map your gears
Your gears in distwedges are the different lengths of backswing (LoB) for your partial swings. We want to start out by setting your gears in LoB.
Make 3-5 normal full swings with your gap wedge or sand wedge. As full as you would hit them on the golf course. Notice your LoB for these swings. This is your 100% swing.
Now we want to map out your partial swings - a k a "gears". You do this by a simple calculation. We recommend three gears if this is your first time; 85%, 70%, and 55%.
It might look something like this:
100% = 51" / 130 cm
85% = 43" / 110 cm
70% = 36" / 90 cm
55% = 28" / 70 cm
Fill your carry table
If you have access to a launch monitor, great! But don't worry if you don't, you can still do this on the range using visual cues.
What we want to do know is to find the carry length for your different wedges and gears.
Select your first wedge and start trying to hit your first gear 5 times. Whenever you hit your gear - allow for +- 1.2"/3cm margin - make a note of the carry length. Tip: make sure you keep a consistent max handspeed for the same LoB for consistency, as it is highly correlated to clubhead speed.
Now move to the next gears with the same wedge and repeat. Proceed with this process for each wedge.
Congratulations, you now have a carry table for each of your wedges and gears, and it should look something like this picture.
Practice makes perfect - Dial in on your wedges
Now you know the carry distance for each of your gears and wedges you want to dial in on them for smash-on accuracy. This is how you practice like the elite users of deWiz!
1. In the deWiz app, choose “shuffle” under Practice and Learn/ Distwedges/ Practice goals. This will make the app call out your different gears in random order, just like you play them on the golf course.
2. Make sure you have chosen your LoB deviation tolerance level, e.g., +- 1.2" / 3cm. This will set your accepted boundaries.
3. To accelerate your learning process: turn on deWiz Learning Stimuli to your preferred level and start dialing in your distance wedges LoB!
"How to get your wedges dialed - get a deWiz!"
deWiz user David Maxfield has made a video where he walks you through the process of creating a distwedges carry table.
Click on the image to watch the video.