Should I Forward Press with a 60 Degree Wedge?

Yes. And no. It is all dependent on the type of player you are and the shot you are trying to hit. From my early days of golf I wanted to be a great chipper of the golf ball. All my golfing friends told me that strokes are gained on and around the greens. Now that I can consistently shoot in the low 80s I can concur that being able to keep scores low takes a great short game. I have always forward pressed my 60 degree wedge and here is why:

When I first learned to chip a ball I did it on concrete. I had those orange rubber balls you can get at Golfsmith or Golf Galaxy and I had a basement that had a concrete floor. I would take out my trusty 60 degree Callaway wedge and do whatever I could to pop the rubber orange ball up in the air. Let’s just say it took many hours to finally figure out how to do this. Once I figured it out I could pop the rubber ball up, hit the wall and catch it when it came back to me.

The first thing I learned is that my hands must be in front of the ball to get it in the air. If my hands were at or behind the ball I would thin it straight into the wall every single time. It would end up screaming back at me and hit me in the shins or stomach. This only happened a few times before I figured out that I needed to change something.

In the Vine video above you will see that I forward press all my irons. That particular shot was a 105 yard approach wedge. I hit it right on the button and it actually went over the green. When I forward press I deloft the club and end up making it go much further than most golfers. I am find with this as my ball striking is fantastic.

When trying to learn how to hit a 60 degree wedge try forward pressing and see what happens. When you forward press remember that you must hold the angle. If you forward press and lose the angle you are defeating the purpose. Also notice how short my back swing is in the Vine video. There is no reason to take a full swing with a wedge. A wedge shot is a precision shot, you don’t need to hit it with a full swing.

Let me know how it goes!