Chipping & Pitching

Wedge ladder

Hitting to a series of graduated distances builds feel for exactly how much backswing and speed each yardage needs.

intermediate15-20 balls working the full ladder, 2-3 times a week4 alignment sticksWedgesBalls

How to perform it

  1. 1.Place four alignment sticks a club-length apart, marking three zones at increasing distance.
  2. 2.Hit two balls trying to land in zone one before moving on.
  3. 3.Once two balls land in zone one, move to zone two, then zone three, in the same way.
  4. 4.If a ball misses its zone, drop back and restart from zone one to keep the pressure honest.

What you should learn

  • The relationship between backswing length/speed and how far the ball actually carries.
  • To trust feel over mechanical measurement for partial shots.

After a few weeks of practice

Your dispersion on partial wedge shots tightens, and you develop a much better instinctive sense of how far a given swing length will send the ball.