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Tom Watson – Wedge Shots into the Wind

Golf legend Tom Watson and renowned club designer Roger Cleveland demonstrate the keys to hitting wedge shots into a stiff breeze in this episode of Callaway Golf’sWedgeducation.”

Roger Cleveland:  Hi. Roger Cleveland with legend Tom Watson. Tom, we have a problem. We have wind in our face. How do we control the distance with wind in our face with wedges?

Tom Watson: My old wonderful teacher and great friend, Stan Thurst had a little saying he used to say, “Swing with ease into the breeze.” The harder you swing at a wedge, into a wind, and it’s strong wind, the ball gets up in the air and it more and more …

Roger Cleveland:  Spinning.

Tom Watson:  … and it comes up shorter. If you take more club and swing easier, the ball doesn’t spin as much, therefore, it goes through the air more in a line and it gets through the air, plus you don’t have to hit it quite as hard.

Roger Cleveland: You have a 100 yard shot, or a 90 yard shot, you’d use your 56 normally. What would you do?

Tom Watson: For a 90 yard shot, I’d use a 56. If I had a 10 mile an hour wind, I might go to the 52 in my face. If I have a 20 mile an hour wind, I’ll definitely go to a pitching wedge. If it’s stronger than that, I’ll go to a nine iron at 90 yards.

Listen, you don’t have to swing very hard. Again, remember make sure you’re on your left foot at impact. You just take a swing like this and just go like that with your nine iron into the wind like that. You’ll be surprised how easy it is to get to the ball the hole. You don’t feel like you’re always going to come up short.

Roger Cleveland:   You’re flighting it down and controlling it into the wind.

Tom Watson: The ball comes out shorter and lower and it doesn’t spin as much when it hits the green.

Roger Cleveland: Yeah. That feeds into the MD3, our new wedge line that has lofts from 46 all the way to 60. It gives you options for everything. MD3, get up and down from anywhere.