There are a few practical recommendations I can make for learning to time your distance wedges.
You should realize by now that the finesse swing will work with all the wedges in your bag, regardless of brand name, loft angle, or shaft length (assuming you
have an acceptable lie in the grass). For most people, however, all your wedges means just a pitching wedge and a sand wedge.
Don't be afraid to hit your sand wedge from the fairway. It should have about four to five degrees more loft, and be about one-half inch shorter, than your pitch-ing wedge (if not, you need to get one that is; see Chapter 10). Because of these dif-ferences, the same 10:30 finesse swing with both clubs will produce shots about 15 yards different. For example, if your pitching-wedge distances are 90 yards (10:30 swing), 67 yards (9:00), and 45 yards (7:30), then your sand wedge with the same three swings should fly roughly 75 (10:30), 56 (9:00), and 37 (7:30) yards. These won't be your exact yardages, but you get the idea.
Before worrying about having to run out and buy more clubs, first groove your 9:00 o'clock and 7:30 swings. You already can make a full swing with your wedge, so you know how to make a 10:30 finesse swing. Just take the coil and "hit" out of your old wedge power swing, and keep your upper and lower bodies synchronized. Re-member, your 10:30 finesse swing is as full as it gets (no coil allowed), and in this swing your shaft should never get back to horizontal. Because of the shorter shaft, more upright swing plane, and the requirements of dead hands and synchroniza-tion, you should never take any club back past 10:30 in a short-game shot.
It's also vital, as you work on your three reference finesse swings, which will all have the same rhythm, that you get immediate and reliable feedback after every shot. From shot to shot, day to day, week to week, even from year to year, you will constantly be correlating swing lengths with shot carry distances. Your swing rhythms should always be constant and look like you, just the way your walking stride looks like you. If you maintain your rhythm and use dead hands, your finesse swings will perform under pressure like you've never seen before.
Begin each swing with a "slow-ish" one-piece takeaway to the top of the back-swing (slow by your standards, not in comparison to anyone else). Come down and through the impact zone aggressively (not hard, but positive: Imagine "saaawish-swish" is your backswing-to-through-swing rhythm), and make a full, high, well-balanced finish. You should be able to hold your pose with your weight fully on your left side and only the right toe touching the ground. You can own these three swings if you include all the principles for the finesse swing outlined in Chapter 4 and spend enough time to train your subconscious mind to repeat them.
One more time: The rhythm of all the swings must be the same, and the back-swing lengths for each of the three reference back-swings must be repeatable. If they're not, they won't produce repeatable distances in practice or on the course. You can practice your 9:00 o'clock backswing at home in front of a full-length mirror (you
won't believe what 10 or 20 swings every night for a few months will do for your ability to repeat these moves). Or get a learning aid to help you learn the look and feel ofthe 7:30 and 9:00 o'clock backswings (see "SwingStop" in Chapter 12).
One last pieceofadvice. Cock your wrists continuously, gradually as you make your backswing (exceptions are discussed in Chapter 6), and have them fully cocked before you get to the right backswing "time." If you wait to cock your wrists until you've reached the right time, the swing will carry on as you cock and get too long for the distance you want. Also, keep your left arm extended throughout the swing, until it folds at the finish. Not only will this keep your swing radius con-stant, but it's the easy way to judge backswing time and length.
Shorter Swings Are More Difficult
Like the pros, you'll probably find the 9:00 o'clock swings the easiest to make and the 7:30 much more difficult. I've seen this over and over again, with thousands of students. Though I'm not exactly sure why, I'm absolutely sure it's true.
I've also noticed that men seem to have a more difficult time with short backswings than do women. Men seem very insecure when trying to make short backswings such as in the 7:30 swing, when their hands barely get above their thighs. This insecurity seems to come because men fear not being able to hit the ball far enough with a short backswing, even though they consistently hit their shots too far with their normal swings. Maybe it's a male ego thing. When men first take up the game, they control their clubs and
"hit" with their hands, trying to avoid whiffing. This seems to become a habit that is difficult to break.
Another problem with the 7:30 swing is that there is not much time to get your body parts synchronized. It's the same feeling you may have over very short putts: You jab with the hands because you feel there's not enough time to get into the flow and rhythm of the stroke. With a wedge, it may seem easier to "hit" the ball than to wait for the smooth, 7:30 finesse swing to come through it. But I never promised to teach this game the most instinc-tive way. Just the best, simplest, and most effecinstinc-tive way.
So it is important when making the 7:30 swing to think rhythm back and through with both your hips and upper body synchronized. In our schools we often mention thinking about the swing as going "saaawish-swish": That's
"saaawish" on the backswing, "swish" on the downswing (the backswing takes a little longer because it starts from a standstill).