Wedge-Game Essentials

Shane Lowry, the 2009 Irish Open winner, explains how growing up playing to the raised greens of his home course gave him the short-game skills to compete with the best in the world

Pitching Distances

From inside 60 yards I don’t get a yardage. I do it by eye and play different types of shots depending on the wind - if the wind is out of the right I would play a little cut shot to hold it up. Vice versa for when the wind is out of the left. That gets the ball landing softer.

Creating Spin

First of all you have to clean your grooves! Creating spin is all about striking the ball purely and with speed. Those who put the ball back in the stance at address cause the ball to come off the face too fast, the result being that they quit on the shot. So I like to see people getting the ball forward in the stance, they can then swing onto the ball, hitting down on it with a little bit more speed. That will help you create more spin.

Wedge Fitting

A 10- or 15-yard gap between each wedge is ideal. You need to think about the shortgame shots you hit, so that you select the right bounce angles. You can only really do that by hitting shots from bunkers, tight lies, and rough to see which combination of bounce angle and loft works best for you.

Competitive Edge

To improve my chipping I play a lot of games. I play against Padraig Harrington for at least an hour a day at tournaments. We’ll play for 50 dollars, first to ten nearest the pin on different shots. If you stand there and hit chip after chip, that’s not much good to you.

If you’re on your own there is a game called par 18 where you hit chips from nine different positions around the green and try to get it up and down nine times. If you can shoot par, you’re not bad!

Bunker Shot

I like to widen my stance and get into a squat at address. A lot of amateurs stand too close to the ball, this creates a steep angle of attack where you chop down on the ball and take too much sand. I get the ball in the middle of my stance and open the face as much as I can to use the bounce of the club though impact. So my one tip for bunker play would be to get low into a squat position and set the ball in the middle of the stance.

WHAT’S IN MY BAG?

Driver: TaylorMade Burner Superfast 2.0
3-wood: Callaway V Series
5-wood: Srixon Z F45
Hybrid: Srixon Z H45
4 & 5-irons: Srixon Z 545
6-9 iron: Srixon Z 745
Wedges: Cleveland RTX 2.0 46˚, 51˚ & 58˚
Putter: Odyssey Tank 2-Ball

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Written by Shane Lowry

Photography by AFP

Click here to see the published article.

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