Shoot 89
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Three-Length Wedge Ladder

No idea how far your partial wedges actually carry — so every one is a guess.

20 minintermediatehomeMat, simulator, drivingRangeWorth ~1 stroke/round
POCKETWAISTCHESTONE WEDGE · THREE LENGTHS
Side view on a mat · pocket, waist, chest — three repeatable lengths, rotated rather than grooved one at a time

Set up

One wedge, three backswing lengths defined by where your lead arm stops: pocket, waist, chest. On a simulator, note the carry each length produces. On a home mat with no ball flight, the job is repeating the three lengths cleanly — get the yardages the next time you're on a sim or grass.

The reps

Five balls at each length, rotating pocket-waist-chest and around again. Never five in a row at one length. 15 balls total.

How you know it's working

On a simulator: each length's carries inside a 5-yard band. On a mat: all 15 struck ball-first with the three lengths obviously different from each other.

Why it works

Most wedge yardage errors are not swing errors — they're the golfer having only one length and trying to control distance with speed. Three repeatable lengths turn a guess into a choice. Rotating the lengths instead of grooving one is deliberate: it's harder in the session and it's the reason the skill survives to the course.

The evidence

Broadie's strokes-gained work places roughly two-thirds of the amateur scoring gap outside 100 yards, and the scoring-zone wedge is where that gap is most fixable without a swing change. The rotating format is contextual interference — random practice consistently beats blocked repetition for transfer, even though blocked practice feels better while you're doing it.

See the full method & sources →

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