I asked James about the differences in the kinematic sequence with a power swing vs a finesse wedge, and he said the goals are different, so it would make sense that the movements would be different. By letting the club release past the body with a finesse wedge, the sand wedge brushes the turf instead of taking a divot. Two types of contact; the club and the ball, and the club and the ground. With bounce the misses become more acceptable. So, if you hit a little behind it, drop kick it, that miss goes about the same distance as if you hit the ball first. Think about how you want the club to interact with the turf. If you are into the grain, take a less lofted club, play the ball more forward with less forward shaft lean, and now you don’t have the sharp leading edge sticking into the ground. Kids not using less lofted clubs around the green are robbing themselves of being creative. They can’t just go out with a lob wedge and think they are learning the skills to compete on the PGA Tour.

We talked about how to practice and James said that at first you want block practice to get consistent with your fundamentals, set-up, and technique. Next comes random practice and start with hitting four different trajectories with each sand wedge. There is only one arm swing so change trajectories by changing your set-up.  If you miss- hit a shot, you are not second guessing your technique because you hopefully mastered that skill in block practice. The best type of random practice is playing. Second best type is to have games and compete. Practice the art of short game and develop your eyes and feel. Sometimes you have to keep doing what you are doing and don’t hit the panic button. Get your technique first and then learn how to control the length and tempo of your swing to control distance. James Sieckmann can be reached at www.jsegolfacademy.com

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James wanted to get this message out so he came out with a DVD series titled Phase 5.  A lot of people came up to him after this and said the other stuff they were working on didn’t work, and agreed with James that playing the ball more forward in the stance, with the body open, the club face open, and releasing the club head worked and was more successful. What put James on the map as an instructor, was when he said that the kinematic sequence of a power swing, was not the same sequence as a finesse wedge swing. In a power swing the lower body starts the down swing. In a finesse wedge swing the club head starts the down swing and the lower body is more passive, with the club head falling down the plane and the motion being controlled by the arms and hands. Another genius thing James came out with was his steeps and shallows. He said there are five unique moves with two steeps, two shallows, and one neutral which is an on-plane swing. Over the plane is steep and under the plane is a shallow. Releasing the club head is a shallow so to have balance there needs to be a steep which is setting up so that the center of your chest is open and pointing in front of the ball. There is more to this but they just have to balance.

Lastly we talked about bounce. James said Bob Vokey always said, bounce is your friend, so it’s better to have too much bounce than not enough. You want to have a sand wedge with a lot of bounce, 11-14, and a lob wedge with a lot less bounce 6-8. This will allow you to play from variable situations and always allow you to have a good choice of loft and bounce. He said that his Tour players always defer down or use less loft, play the ball more forward, with less shaft lean, and an open club face. This will allow the bounce to be exposed and used and the turf interaction doesn’t interfere with the shot. James said at the end that purchasing a lob wedge for a junior, when they are young, is really ruining development. A lob wedge is one dimensional and using it around the greens doesn’t develop the skills to be world class. Chipping has become a lost art because they fall in love with their lob wedge. Seve had a 3-iron that he played with on the beach and learned to hit all kinds of shots with it. That’s probably why he developed hand eye coordination with a lot of imagination. Young people need to learn how to manipulate the club and set-up to hit different trajectories with the same club, so they should wait as long as they can to put a lob wedge in the bag. James Sieckmann can be contacted at jsegolfacademy.com.

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