Instruction
Good Timing
Find your ‘clock’ to nail half-wedge shots
by RYAN ZYLSTRA
I
n the May-June issue of Virginia
Golfer, Ryan Zylstra—a PGA associate
at The Federal Club in Glen Allen,
host of last month’s 105th VSGA Amateur
Championship—shared some tips on bet-
ter bunker play.
Zylstra will defend his title at the 2018
Delta Dental State Open of Virginia at
Ballyhack Golf Club July 19-21, and his
short game played a big role in his vic-
tory last year at the Roanoke club. In
this issue, Zylstra shares a tip on how
to get the most out of wedge shots near
the green.
34
Maintaining a consistent rhythm
from the backswing to the follow-
through will help dial in distances
and improve your short game.
down in front of you at 6 o’clock. The next
step is to make five or six practice swings
getting your left arm (for the right-hand-
ed golfer) parallel to the ground in the
backswing or 9 o’clock position. The
key to this drill is to maintain a consis-
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tent rhythm in the backswing and the
follow-through.
Once you have practiced the motion
several times, address the first ball and
hit your first wedge shot paying attention
to where the ball carried, not to where it
vsga.org
THE DREADED LESS-THAN-FULL
WEDGE SHOT
In a round of golf we are faced with a
variety of shots and many of them require
the player to make less than a full swing.
A shot that I get asked about a lot is the
50-60 yard wedge shot and how to dial
those distances in. In college (at Virginia
Commonwealth University), our coach
taught us the “clock system” as an effec-
tive way to determine our wedge distanc-
es. I have used this drill for many years
in my practice and have taught many
students the same system.
The first thing you need is to grab 10
balls and the wedge you hit most of your
short shots with. You can perform this
drill on the driving range, but if the course
you practice at has a short game area, that
would work best. The main objective of
this drill is to focus on distance control
and not so much on the direction.
For right-handed golfers, your lead
arm or left arm will be your clock. When
you take your address position with your
wedge, your left arm will be hanging