059: Distance Wedges — Controlling Your Scoring Shots

What do junior golfers really need to learn to develop their games? In this snake draft, Erik, Jayson, and Tyson (and then Tyson, Jayson, and Erik ) pick six priorities, from understanding why a junior wants to play golf and having realistic expectations about the time and commitment improvement requires, to building a solid setup and avoiding excessive turn in the swing. They also discuss controlling speed, developing short-game skills before frustration sets in, and using programs like Operation 36 to help beginners get on the course and experience scoring sooner. The central theme is that junior development isn’t just about hitting the ball well or generating power—it’s about motivation, fundamentals, short-game skills, and understanding that getting better takes time. Junior Learning Snake Draft:

The guys tackle five listener questions covering a range of golf instruction and equipment topics. They discuss whether shortening a driver to 45 or even 44 inches can improve driving accuracy, the one drill they would keep if they could use only one for the rest of their careers, and the potential downsides of external-focus swing instruction. They also consider what their students who make the biggest improvements tend to have in common and whether golfers with strong grips should weaken them to produce higher-launching shots with more spin. Questions:

Pelvis thrust toward the ball during the backswing is an extremely common swing fault, and the guys break down how to recognize it, what causes it, and what problems it can create. Thrust often starts at setup with the golfer’s pressure too far toward the heels, then shows up as the pelvis moves toward the ball, the trail knee extends, and pressure shifts toward the trail toes rather than allowing the torso to turn the pelvis. The resulting reduction in pelvis turn can lead to compensations such as early extension, rolling the club inside, heel strikes, and shanks, with internal hip mobility and the golfer’s attempt to “turn” from the lead side sometimes contributing to the problem. Hosts: Erik J. Barzeski, Jayson Nickol, Tyson Deskins — If you enjoyed this episode, please share that with us and your friends on Instagram @thespinaxis or Twitter/X @thespinaxis. You can also share or visit our site at https://thespinaxis.com/.

The “flat left wrist” (or lead wrist) has been a staple of golf instruction for decades, but what does “flat” actually mean, and is it even a useful goal? The guys discuss why grip type changes the appearance of the lead wrist, why a flat-looking wrist at the top can encourage a laid-off or “off-plane club,” and why many Tour players actually have some extension in the lead wrist at the top. They also get into the more important distinction between the wrist’s appearance and its function, including moving toward flexion during the downswing and achieving an inline impact position rather than trying to force a particular wrist shape. Hosts: Erik J. Barzeski, Jayson Nickol, Tyson Deskins — If you enjoyed this episode, please share that with us and your friends on Instagram @thespinaxis or Twitter/X @thespinaxis. You can also share or visit our site at https://thespinaxis.com/.

A launch monitor can be useful for far more than simply checking how far you hit a club. In this episode, the guys break practice into four broad phases — initial diagnosis, swing-change practice, ongoing maintenance, and skills practice. Erik, Jayson, and Tyson discuss how the information you need from a launch monitor changes with each phase. Early on, you may want to examine everything from speed, low point, path and face-to-path relationships to swing plane and ball flight. Once you’re working on a specific movement, however, narrowing your attention to one or two meaningful parameters can make the feedback much more useful. The conversation also gets into the danger of chasing numbers without understanding what creates them. A launch monitor can tell you what happened, but good coaching and practice still require understanding why it happened. As a swing change becomes established, the monitor can shift into a maintenance role, where a handful of key parameters (and particularly their consistency) can help ensure the player’s movement hasn’t drifted. And when the goal becomes skill development, the numbers become targets: can you curve the ball, hit a particular trajectory, carry a specific distance, or repeatedly produce a desired shot? Hosts: Erik J. Barzeski, Jayson Nickol, Tyson Deskins — If you enjoyed this episode, please share that with us and your friends on Instagram @thespinaxis or Twitter/X @thespinaxis. You can also share or visit our site at https://thespinaxis.com/.