Stop Doing This If You Want More Wedge Spin

I found a video of Collin Morikawa working through wedge shots with Grant Horvat and there was a lot in there about spin, ball choice, face angle and shot shape.

But I think the best takeaway for amateur golfers is to avoid this one bad habit that ruins wedge spin.

Morikawa said the one thing you cannot do when trying to hit a spinning wedge shot is stop at the ball.

The bad habit that kills wedge spin

Amateurs want the golf ball to stop and spin.

They hit down harder and try to trap it. Many times, it looks like a sharp little motion into the ball and then the body stops.

The intent makes sense. The player is trying to create clean contact and more spin.

But Morikawa said that is not how he thinks about it. His point was that spin does not come from stabbing the club into the ground and stopping at impact. The body has to keep moving through the shot.

Why stopping at the ball does not work

When the body stops, the club delivery changes.

The hands can stop moving, the face can add too much loft and the ball can start riding up the clubface. Instead of coming off low and crisp, the shot floats up the face, launches too high and comes out weak.

Morikawa talked about wedge shots that “ride up the face” and said those are the ones that make him mad because they come up short.

It feels like you made a big swing. It looks like the ball got plenty of height. But it lands short with very little control because the strike never had the right delivery.

How Morikawa creates spin

Morikawa’s spin comes from continuing through the shot.

He talked about keeping the body moving, getting through the ball and controlling how the face is delivered at impact. For him, that often means feeling like he is playing a cut wedge shot. He wants the club working slightly across the ball to help create that spin.

Morikawa was clear that not every golfer needs to copy his exact feel. Grant Horvat was working on more of a low draw feel and Morikawa said good wedge players can draw it or cut it. The shot shape is not the whole point.

The real point is the way the face is delivered through impact.

Morikawa can start the face wide open because his wrists naturally shut the face through the shot. If another player opens the face that much and does not close it back down, the ball can pop up, ride the face and lose spin.

How to work on it

Morikawa does not turn this video into a full wedge lesson but he gives us just enough to work on.

• Keep your body moving through the shot. The key feel is not to hit the ball and stop. Morikawa says spin comes from the body continuing through, not from stabbing the club into the ground.
• Listen for crisp contact. Morikawa and Horvat talked about the sound. When the strike is clean, you can hear it. If the ball rides up the face, it usually sounds softer and comes out higher with less control.
• Use a shorter motion and keep turning. Near the end, Morikawa tells Horvat his backswing looked a little too long for the shot. The fix was not to “accelerate” harder. It was to make a shorter motion while keeping the body moving through.

The real takeaway for amateurs

The best takeaway is to stop trying to manufacture spin by hitting down and quitting at the ball. Keep the body moving, control the face and make sure the ball is coming off the face cleanly instead of sliding up it.

The best spinning wedge shots are not usually the high, floaty ones. They come off a little lower, sound crisp and have enough spin to grab when they land.