Tom Watson on the Half Wedge (Video)

Here's a Callaway video from roughly two years ago with Tom Watson's keys to hitting half-wedge shots. And I'm going to point out some things that are clear in the video BUT aren't mentioned.



Tom's key -- and yes, he only mentions one -- is pretty simple. He says you need to keep your weight on your lead foot because the half-wedge shot is so short that, if you let your weight move to your trailing foot, you won't have time to move back to your lead foot and hit the ball solidly. He recommends you lift your trailing heel so you're forced to keep your weight on your front foot. That's simple enough.

Now let's look at the unspoken keys.

Number one, Tom is using an open stance but it's only barely open. In fact, it's almost not open at all -- especially after Tom lifts that trailing heel, because he moves his foot back from his aim line slightly when he lifts it. Since he's doing it from a narrow stance, balance shouldn't be a problem.

And number two, which might be the most surprising of all, is how far forward in his stance Tom is playing the ball. He has it positioned opposite his lead heel. Check the video at the :32 second mark and you'll see it. That means his hands are actually just behind the ball and the shaft is almost vertical. (You can see that at the :50 second mark.) Tom is using the bounce of the wedge here, and he's allowing his body rotation at impact to get his hands over or just past the ball. If you have your weight over your lead foot as Tom suggests, that should happen automatically.

So there's another simple tip from Tom Watson... complete with the unspoken keys you might have missed otherwise.