Work on this part of your game, says top teacher

As you make progress in your sport, paying shut consideration to your rating begins to matter an increasing number of. Milestones like breaking 100 really feel like a extremely huge deal.

But for mid-handicappers hoping to proceed to enhance, going from breaking 100 to breaking 90 can really feel like a giant leap. There’s actually a lot of work to be accomplished, however it may be troublesome to discern what space ought to obtain essentially the most consideration for max enchancment.

At GOLF’s latest Top 100 Teacher Summit at Talking Stick in Scottsdale, Ariz., I requested Top 100 Teacher Tina Tombs for her recommendation.

“The 90-player has a lot of trouble with their wedge game,” she mentioned. “They’re never consistent with it, and they’re uncomfortable with the finesse wedge around the green.”

It’s making positive aspects in wedge play that Tombs says is the important thing to actual enchancment.

“When players get better with their wedges, they’ll break 90 and even 80,” she mentioned. “Because I see so many people shoot 90, 95, and they’re three-putting all the time, or hitting two and three pitches when they should just need one. It comes down to learning, and adding more tools to your toolbox.”

Which wedge do you have to work on? Tombs is adamant that mid-handicappers shouldn’t use the next loft than a typical sand wedge, which is between 54 and 58 levels.

“I don’t think people who shoot 90 should have a 60-degree wedge,” she mentioned. “I think you should wait until you can shoot in the 70s to have a 60-degree. Instead, learn what you can do with your other clubs. You don’t have to hit a Phil-Mickelson flop on a 40-yard shot. That’s why you’re shooting 90.”

For extra ideas from Tina Tombs, click on right here.

Golf.com Photographer

As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of feminine varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everybody on the masthead. She can out-hustle them within the workplace, too, the place she’s primarily liable for producing each print and on-line options, and overseeing main particular initiatives, akin to GOLF’s inaugural Style Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview collection, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in each within the journal and in video kind on GOLF.com.