Secret of Feedback; Rule # 3: Know Your Precise Yardage

What matters with your distance wedges is the flight distance of your shots, hence their name. Yet when most golfers hit wedges on the practice tee they know only the shots' direction. And they usually hit to targets off in the distance, farther away than the club they are hitting can handle. So most golfers have no idea how far each wedge shot travels, which means they aren't learning or gaining in their ability to control yardages.


If you're hitting a wedge toward a distant target and you don't know how far it's flying, then all you are doing is warming up your muscles. You're not practicing your wedge game or finesse swing at all.  


For valuable distance wedge practice, you need a known-yardage target or targets, that you have either accurately walked off or measured with a laser rangefinder. You also need good enough visibility of the landing area to accurately evaluate, at the moment the ball hits the ground, whether you need a long, short, or the perfect distance. I try to have my students hit to nets that are sloped toward them so it is easy to see within inches of where the ball hits: on the net, short, or over it. To clearly see a shots' landing spot, it helps to be hitting to a slight uphill slope. If you don't have nets, lay down a towel as a target on a slight slope, shoot the distance, and you are prepared to practice distance wedges with accurate, reliable feedback for the distance each shot carries.   

Whenever you practice distance wedges, don't be distracted by worrying about their flight direction; you'll note that instinctively. Focus on how far the shots fly. In practice, distance should be your sole criterion of a good wedge shot. The more you think that way in practice, the better your shots will fly on the course.