How to turn crucial 50-yard shots into scoring opportunities

By remembering to pre-set your entire lead side, you set yourself up to make ball-first contact and stay forward through the shot, helping you improve the quality of your strike and avoid a common error that can quickly break down your contact and confidence.

Keep your nose over lead toes as you swing

After you’ve loaded your lead side and established a good setup, it’s time to practice your swing. Armitage says the key here is maintaining the foundation you’ve already built at address.

“As you make a backswing, I want you to feel like your nose and your weight stays there [just in front of the ball],” he says.

To build this feel, take a few practice swings without a ball, keeping your sternum and nose positioned over your lead leg throughout the motion. You’ll know you’re doing it right if your divot is happening in front of your ball position.

When you bring a ball back into the equation, you should notice that your shots have a lower trajectory and more spin — hallmarks of a great wedge player.

Develop stock swings for better distance control

There are several ways to dial in different yardages with your wedges. You can open the face or grip down, but Armitage says the most reliable method for controlling distance is to adjust the length of your swing.

To do that, you need a set of defined stock swings. You can build them by creating clear, repeatable boundaries — or “triggers,” as Armitage calls them. His checkpoints are:

• Hip to hip
• Rib to rib
• Shoulder to shoulder

Much like the clock system many players use, these checkpoints give you a clear, repeatable reference for how far the club travels back and through. That structure allows you to make a repeatable swing with the same tempo every time, which is ultimately what builds dependable distance control and feel.

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