Tom Stickney's One Hop and Stop Wedge

There's a new article over at golftipsmag.com called Learn Those Sexy Golf Shots. In it, Tom Stickney actually shows the basics of nine different shots that give weekend golfers problems.

I want to focus on the very last shot in the series, the one hop and stop wedge.



The basics:

• A good lie that's 30- to 70-yards from the flag
• Ball slightly back in your stance
• Spine centered but weight and hands forward (see photo 1 above)
• Choke down on a 56° wedge
• Just brush the turf

I didn't pick this shot because it's sexy. I picked it purely for Photo 3 above. Do you see the difference between "brushing the turf" (which is marked 'YES' in Photo 3) versus digging into the turf (marked 'NO' in that photo). If you're sticking the front edge of the wedge into the ground and taking a divot like the 'NO' example, you're not going to get the results you want!

I talk a lot on this blog about using the bounce on your wedge. And I know you're going to read those setup instructions, see the words "hands forward" and you're gonna dig that wedge's front edge into the ground. DON'T DO IT!

If you look at Photo 1 you'll see that your hands are just barely ahead of the ball, and you'll see in Photo 2 that the shaft gets vertical pretty quick after impact. If you set your hands just barely ahead of the ball, as in Photo 1, the thick sole on your wedge is going to sit pretty flat on the ground and the edge won't dig in.

You can't "brush the turf" if you take a divot. So make sure you set up properly, so you can use the bounce when you make your swing. If you do, you're going to get a lot of spin and that ball should behave like you sent it to obedience school.

Make sure you read the rest of that article at golftipsmag.com because it covers lots of useful shots. But I wanted to mention this one because, well, the one-hop-and-stopper is a shot that EVERYBODY wants in their repertoire.