You are 98 yards out and need to stick it close to put pressure on your competitor. You know you hit your pitching wedge about 135 and your 8 iron often flies well over 150. Doing the calculations in your head, you know a 56 degree wedge should not only get there, it might even go long if you pure it. You pull out your trusty 56 degree Titliest Vokey or Cleveland RTX. It may even be a little rusty because you are that badass. You feel your heartbeat in your fingertips as you know a shot inside of 10 feet here could close out the match.
You do everything you do with other iron swings. You get over the ball, you take a deep breathe, waggle the club a few times, take it back and let it rip. As soon as you hit it you know it’s pure. It goes straight up in the air and lands 15 yards short of the green. WTF? Why in the hell did my pure 56 degree wedge just go 75 yards yet I can hit a pitching wedge 135 yards?
I see this all the time with amateur golfers. It is especially prevalent with those that attempt to flatten their swing with their arms which then forces them to flip at impact. I call these golfers “fall back flippers”. They hit their driver 280, a hybrid 235, an 8 iron 160 and can’t hit a wedge further than 80 yards. Let’s dissect why this is the case.
