Golf Instruction Zone: How to Escape the Bermuda Triangle

June 28, 2017

 

Hi, I’m Ted Frick, owner and director of instruction at Classic Swing Golf School located at Legends Resort in Myrtle Beach. Today, I’m going to execute a shot around the green called a hinge-and-hold. I’m roughly 30 yards from the green and 20 yards from my landing area but my ball is in the deep, southern Bermuda rough and it’s laying down.

I’ve come out here with two wedges. I’ve got a game plan; I know I want to hit a shot that is going to land 20 yards from me but I’m caught in a predicament. I have my lob wedge, which is 60 degrees, and my sand wedge is 55 degrees.

So what am I going to do?

First off, I’m going to stand here by the ball and see which one feels better to me. I want to know what feels good for this shot, but at the same time I have to know about my clubs.

The sand wedge is heavier in gram weight than the lob wedge and the sand wedge, even though it’s 55 degrees, has more bounce on the sole. In this rough, I actually want to use the heavier golf club that has more bounce to help me get through the rough.

Let me execute this hinge-and-hold. The hinge is in the backswing where I’ll take that left wrist so it gives me velocity through the grass. The hold is in the follow through. Through impact I’m going to keep my left wrist flat and my right wrist bent. I’m not going to let my forearms rotate and the toe past the heel.

The hold is I’m holding off the club face through educated hands – flat left, bent right wrist. I’m holding on to my angle.

So here we go, I’m setting up and going through my routine; always have a picture and take a deep, cleansing breath. As I’m getting into my setup, I’m going to grip down for control. I’m hitting the hinge-and-hold motion. The ball is in the rough but I still have to hit down on it. Watch this little shot right here as I hold off on the follow through. It comes out nice and clean because I have control of the club face. I wasn’t sloppy.

I hope y’all enjoyed that. You need that down south in the Bermuda grass here around the green.

 

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