Another Edel Wedge Video

Here's a video with host, golf instructor Chris Como (www.chriscomo.com), on the Edel wedges. There are some really good features on the wedges that I didn't go over in my review.










3JACK

Edel Golf Wedge Review

I just got my Edel wedges in last week. Here are some peripheral pictures of them.




Here are the specs:

52° loft & 16° bounce angle
56° loft & 18° bounce angle
60° loft & 27° bounce angle
Standard length and loft
KBS C-Taper shafts
2,725, 2,691 and 2,677 kg/cm2 MOI-weight (respectively)

I have the cast model, made from 304 stainless steel. Edel has a forged model made from 1025 carbon steel

And yes, you read that correctly.

27° bounce angle.

First up, here’s a general look at the grinds. The grinds on the 56° and 52° are very similar.



Now, here’s the grind on the 60° which has a bit of a ‘split-sole’ grind.



The main point of these pics is you should be able to tell that the sole isn’t some big, clunky sole with such a big bounce angle. Here’s a pic showing what the 56° looks like when I fan it open.



The range I play at has certain areas where it’s genuine ‘hardpan’ and I’ve practiced with the Edel wedges and actually found this to be a strength of the Edel design. Take a look at this video of me off the hardpan.



No problem whatsoever.

The idea behind the big bounce angles is to not have the clubhead stick into the ground. When that happens, golfers become conscious of that and Edel Golf’s idea is that the golfer will ‘hang back’ (aka leave their weight on their back foot) on the downswing.

What I believe Edel’s wedge design does for the more full swings is it allows the golfer better distance control since the club won’t stick into the turf. Here's some pics of the divots I take with my 56° Miura K-Grind which has 12° of bounce.



And here's my divots with the Edel 56° with 18° bounce angle.



You can see a bit of a difference with the Edel divots being smaller.

Another great feature is how the grooves and Center of Gravity is moved away from the heel. Here’s a pic comparison between my 56° Edel and my 56° Miura K-Grind wedge. Take a look at the difference in the grooves towards the toe.



I know that when I use wedges, particularly on chips and flops, the shots tend to go off towards the toe. This design of the grooves towards the toe allow me to avoid hitting the knuckleball shots.

Here’s a pic of the grip (in black).



This is a Lamkin grip and it’s a longer sized grip than your standard grip. This allows the golfer to choke down on the club more.

It’s a very workable wedge. I could hit every shot with it. While I like the Miura K-Grind for it’s playability, I think Edel has managed to one-up them with their custom designs. I could hit flips, lobs, pitches, punches, etc. off of all types of lies. And bunkers are a cinch.

I recommend finding an Edel wedge fitter in your area and giving them a try.








3JACK

3Jack Golf PGA Tour Rundown - Week 12

Here's something I wrote 3 weeks ago:

Whether his critics like him or not, Sean Foley has done a tremendous job in turning around Tiger’s swing. And as far as putting goes, Tiger is currently ranked 101st in Putts Gained after a good 3rd and 4th round of putting upped his Putts Gained ranking. However, Tiger is t-1st in Percentage of Putts Made from 3 to 5 feet. Historically, the best putters rank very well from 3 to 5 feet and golfers who improve from 3 to 5 feet tend to ‘get hot’ with the putter eventually.

In other words, I project Tiger to win soon and it wouldn’t surprise me if he flat out dominates the field. And that could even be in the Masters

Tiger's ballstriking continues to be strong and he's made 33 out of 34 putts this year from 3 to 5 feet.

I think the Tiger we will be seeing is more of a great, legendary ballstriker type who will be able to consistently strike the ball well. His putting may still be good, but since he doesn't have to scramble nearly as much as he did in the Haney era, it won't see quite as good as it once was, but in reality he could be on par with those days, putting-wise. I think he will be more consistent of a ballstriker than in the Butch days, but I would be hard pressed to see him reach the pinnacle of ballstriking like he did at times with Butch, particularly at the 2000 US Open.

I think the one thing that separates Tiger and Rory from the rest is that they really work the trajectory and curves of the shots and can hit all of the windows, depending what the shot calls for. It's not that you cannot play great golf hitting one type of shot. It's just that when you can hit all of the windows comfortably, you start to get into the zenith of ballstriking.

Anyway, I had a rough week with my picks at Bay Hill, but since Tiger won and was 7/1 odds (I don't pick anybody better than 25/1 odds), it didn't really matter anyway:

Bo Van Pelt: 28/1 (Did Not Play)
Jim Furyk: 33/1 (t-11th)
Brandt Snedeker: 40/1 (t-63rd)
Spencer Levin: 50/1 (Missed Cut)
Harris English: 80/1 (Missed Cut)

Value Pick: DJ Trahan 125/1 (t-53rd)

Here are my picks for the Shell Open:

Ernie Els: 28/1
Aaron Baddeley: 33/1
John Senden: 40/1
Bryce Molder: 50/1
Bud Cauley: 50/1

Value Pick: Nick O'Hern: 125/1


ADVANCED TOTAL DRIVING



1. Bubba Watson
2. Tiger Woods
3. Hunter Mahan
4. Paul Goydos
5. Roberto Castro
6. John Rollins
7. Jeff Maggert
8. Heath Slocum
9. Tom Gillis
10. Jason Dufner


175. Tommy Biershenk
176. Ryuji Imada
177. Chad Collins
178. Nick O'Hern
179. Billy Hurley III
180. Steve Wheatcroft
181. Matt Bettencourt
182. Anthony Kim
183. Derek Lamely
184. David Duval


PUTTS GAINED (VIA PGATOUR.COM)

1. Scott McCarron
2. Bo Van Pelt
3. Phil Mickelson
4. Aaron Baddeley
5. Martin Flores
6. Richard H. Lee
7. Johnson Wagner
8. Derek Lamely
9. Chris Stroud
10. Tiger Woods


176. Robert Garrigus
177. Boo Weekley
178. Heath Slocum
179. Troy Kelly
180. Scott Stallings
181. Ricky Barnes
182. Chad Campbell
183. Scott Brown
184. Greg Owen
185. Kyle Thompson


ADJUSTED SHORT GAME PLAY

1. Matt Jones
2. Mark Anderson
3. Kevin Kisner
4. Nick O'Hern
5. Ian Poulter
6. Sean O'Hair
7. Daniel Summerhays
8. Johnson Wagner
9. Scott McCarron
10. Cameron Tringale


169. J.B. Holmes
170. Chez Reavie
171. Mathew Goggin
172. Jason Kokrak
173. Jeff Maggert
174. Ryan Moore
175. Heath Slocum
176. Chris Kirk
178. Billy Hurley III
179. Kyle Thompson


BIRDIE ZONE PLAY (75-125 YARDS)



1. Troy Kelly
2. Jeff Maggert
3. Padraig Harrington
4. Vaughn Taylor
5. Brendon de Jonge
6. Sergio Garcia
7. Mathew Goggin
8. Ryuji Imada
9. Jeff Overton
10. Steve Stricker


170. Geoff Ogilvy
171. D.J. Trahan
172. Kris Blanks
173. Ryan Moore
174. Billy Hurley III
175. Boo Weekley
176. Scott Brown
177. John Huh
178. Stephen Gangluff
179. Jhonattan Vegas


SAFE ZONE PLAY (125-175 YARDS)



1. Nick O'Hern
2. Marco Dawson
3. Jeff Maggert
4. Matt Kuchar
5. Robert Allenby
6. Lee Westwood
7. Boo Weekley
8. Tom Pernice Jr.
9. Ernie Els
10. Chad Collins


163. Ryuji Imada
164. Derek Lamely
165. Stewart Cink
166. Sean O'Hair
167. Ryan Palmer
168. Billy Hurley III
169. J.B. Holmes
170. Briny Baird
171. Mark Anderson
172. Jamie Lovemark


DANGER ZONE (175-225 YARDS)



1. Nathan Green
2. Justin Rose
3. Gary Woodland
4. Bubba Watson
5. Bo Van Pelt
6. Webb Simpson
7. Nick Watney
8. Robert Garrigus
9. Jason Day
10. Lee Westwood


170. Steve Wheatcroft
171. Erik Compton
172. Derek Lamely
173. Stephen Gangluff
174. Joe Ogilvie
175. Nick O'Hern
176. Ryuji Imada
177. Mark Anderson
178. Richard H. Lee
179. Chad Collins





3JACK

Some Observations from Bay Hill

I went to Bay Hill this week to catch some action on Saturday and Sunday and here's some observations.

1. Bay Hill is a really fun tournament to go to. The parking and shuttle is a short ride from Universal Studios with only $10 for parking. I've been to events where it's $25 for parking and a 30-40 minute shuttle ride before.

But, there's a real party atmosphere there as the course is surrounded by homes with people throwing little parties and watching the golfers go bye. I was shocked how fun it was.


2. The course was your typical Arnie design, one of the most underrated designers in my mind. Arnie is adept at doing little things in his design that make the most out of the land he has to work with. #1 and #10 is a great example. Doglegs where you can't really see around the corner, but you generally don't want to cut the corner to begin with. It's not a blind tee shot, but since you can't see the hole from the tee, it gives you the feel of not knowing what's around the corner. Palmer also uses a lot of greens that tend to sit lower which usually adds an aesthetic to the hole design.


3. While Palmer design courses usually have some severe slopes, you just cannot leave the ball above the cup on tour. Your chances of 3-putting go up dramatically. If you leave yourself with a sidehill putt, your chances of making it go down, but you can usually 2-putt. But, avoiding downhill putts is really crucial on Tour.


4. I think that's one of the reasons why the long hitters who can hit it high have an advantage on Tour. They can hit less club and hit it higher in the Danger Zone. #2 at Bay Hill is a great example of this. It plays 218 yards into a shallow green. I watched Kevin Chappell hit a 4-iron well and go long because the green is so shallow and then have almost no chance of 2-putting on such a downhill putt. Then somebody like Bubba Watson hits a 6-iron about a mile high and can keep it below the cup much easier.


5. The best tournaments to go watch live are the ones at courses you have played before. It makes it much easier to gauge yourself against the Tour pros. For instance, I watched JB Holmes play and I *know* that he hits it far. But, I couldn't quite appreciate his length off the tee because I couldn't gauge it against my length off the tee since I've never played Bay Hill before.


6. The only Tour pro that I saw in the field that consistently makes that 'sound' that separates himself from the others was Gary Woodland. Not even Tiger could quite do it as much as Woodland does.


7. It's amazing how much these guys fire at flags. #3 was a good example on Saturday because the pin was tucked back left and hugging the water. The green has a swale on the right side which makes for a tough putt unless you hit it pin high. But the green is very narrow once you get about pin high. I saw golfer after golfer fire at that flag without batting an eye.


8. I think the main thing I see from the Tour pros is that they are very aggressive on approach shots and more conservative on tee shots. However, being 'conservative' on tee shots means that they are still aiming for the fairway. It's just if there's trouble left, they make sure to hit down the right side of the fairway and vice versa.


9. If you want to play on Tour, you probably need to learn how to hit the 3-wood very well off the tee. They don't seem to use it all that often, maybe 1-3 par-4's a round. But when they do use it, it's usually needed. We have to remember that the ball rolls more on Tour than it does at a home course because the Tour's fairways are much tighter. But, if you want to go to that next level, a 3-wood is a very valuable club to learn how to hit.


10. Everything I've researched and concluded with regards to metrics was accurate. Danger Zone shots are crucial and that's where most of the bogeys come from. Go For It's usually see lower scores than players laying up. Impeded shots are killers. Downhill putts and chips are really hard to make or to save par.







3JACK

The Con of Popular Golf Instruction

If you follow golf swing instruction enough, inevitably you will hear golf swing instructors say the same thing ‘you have to teach the golf swing in simple terms.’ Of course, this will then be utilized as an attack against other instruction like M.O.R.A.D. and The Golfing Machine as being ‘too complex’ and ‘the teachers are trying to prove how smart they are.’

I used to believe this as well. I had a friend of mine, about 6 year older than myself, who was going to an instructor who was very detailed and was not afraid to delve into the complexities of the golf swing. I was a teenager at the time and my friend was explaining some of the instruction and I was a bit baffled by it. Later on, my friend struggled that entire year and I chalked it up as ‘too complex and not simple enough.’


Eventually, my friend wound up going to a TGM instructor where the instruction was still complex and detailed, but discussed terms differently with geometric alignments and terms like ‘sustaining the line of compression’, ‘lag pressure’, ‘drag load’, etc. His game improved from this instruction tremendously. This was when I was in college and I later on went to this same instructor and saw my ballstriking improve as well.

Afterwards, I would still try and listen to ‘simplistic’ instruction or what I like to call ‘Bagger Vance’ instruction. But, it never seemed to really work or work nearly as well as the more complex and detailed TGM instruction. In the end, I started to wonder why I could not improve under ‘simple instruction.’


Eventually, I learned the rest of The Golfing Machine with the help of Ted Fort (www.fortifiedgolf.com). After that was done I eventually moved to Orlando and started to work with George Hunt (www.moradgolfgeorgehunt.com) on my swing using the knowledge he had from his dealings with the M.O.R.A.D. investigation. All along the way, my ballstriking and scores kept improving even though it’s alleged by many that M.O.R.A.D. is the apex of swing complexity.

Also along the way I started to understand things like Trackman, AimPoint for green reading and many other complexities of golf instruction. All of which helped improve certain facets of my game and lower my scores.

Part of my problem with ‘pop golf instruction’ and the claims that golf instruction has to be kept simple is that it does not really differentiate the top instructors who ‘keep it simple’ versus Joe Schmoe the golf pro working out of a driving range. If they have knowledge of the golf swing, than ‘keeping it simple’ is something that just about anybody can do. IMO, it takes less skill to simplify subject matter than it does to understand the complexities of subject matter. To me, I do not think that everybody who understands the complexities of subject matter can simplify it. However, I think most of the time people can simplify things pretty well more than they cannot simplify things.

I believe that swing instruction is much like the golf swing. There is no one way to do it. Not every golfer will have the same swing issues, swing compensations and swing fixes. And not every golfer will need to have every subject in the golf swing simplified.

Something like being laid off or being across the line at the top of the swing can probably be simplified in golf instruction. But, something like a golfer coming ‘over the top’ may take some very thorough and detailed set of golf instruction to fully remove that over the top move from that particular golfer’s swing.


I look at it this way.

Let’s say I got to meet a heart surgeon. And the heart surgeon told me ‘y’know, the one thing I liked about where I interned about becoming a heart surgeon is that the other surgeons taught everything in simple terms and didn’t go into detail at all. They told me that stuff is just too much to learn.’

I think I would hope that I never wind up having to get heart surgery from him.

Obviously, the example is a bit extreme. But, I don’t think anybody can legitimately deny that the golf swing is a very complex motion. Thus, treating everything in simple terms has to be a bit flawed in some senses.

I think the real con of pop golf instruction is that they lure golfers in with all this ‘simple talk’ and drill it into golfer’s heads that it is the ONLY way to learn the golf swing. But, for all of the simple talk…the golfers wind up learning things that are much more difficult to execute or they are flawed or could possibly cause injury or just be completely irrelevant to what it takes for a golfer to consistently hit quality golf shots.

And because of that, the golfer winds up thinking that it is their fault for not grasping ‘simple golf instruction’ and either wind up eschewing golf instruction all together or wind up going back to that ‘simple golf terms’ instructor again.

I also think that part of the con of pop golf instruction is that many instructors who avoid going into detail about their instruction simply don’t quite understand their instruction as they claim. They don’t understand the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of what they are teaching will result in consistently better shots or putts instead of ‘that’s what I want the swing to look like.’

To me, the teacher’s real job is, come hell or high water, to get the student to comprehend the information and be able to eventually implement that into their own game. If that takes some simple terminology, great. But, inevitably there will be times when complex and thorough information is needed.

The key is for the teacher to figure out the method that works best to get the student to fully understand it. Which has always been every teachers job in every profession to begin with. Golf should not be viewed as an exception.






3JACK

40-60 Yard Shots with Shawn Clement

Here's 3Jack Top-20 Putting and Short Game Instructor, Shawn Clement, with some instruction on those difficult 40-60 yard pitch shots.







3JACK

3Jack Golf PGA Tour Rundown - Week 11

Luke Donald got back on track with a win at the Transitions last week.



Here’s how my picks for the Transitions fared:

Jason Day: 33/1 (t-20th)
Bo Van Pelt: 40/1 (9th)
Martin Laird: 40/1 (Missed Cut)
Gary Woodland: 50/1 (t-29th)
Harris English: 66/1 (Missed Cut)

Value Pick: Jason Kokrak 150/1 (Missed Cut)

Here are my picks for Bay Hill:

Bo Van Pelt: 28/1
Jim Furyk: 33/1
Brandt Snedeker: 40/1
Spencer Levin: 50/1
Harris English: 80/1

Value Pick: DJ Trahan 125/1


ADVANCED TOTAL DRIVING



1. Tiger Woods
2. Bubba Watson
3. Hunter Mahan
4. Tom Gillis
5. Jeff Maggert
6. John Rollins
7. Roberto Castro
8. Paul Goydos
9. Jason Kokrak
10. Chad Campbell


178. Tommy Biershenk
179. Stephen Gangluff
180. Nick O'Hern
181. Chad Collins
182. Ryuji Imada
183. Steve Wheatcroft
184. Matt Bettencourt
185. Billy Hurley III
186. Anthony Kim
187. Derek Lamely


PUTTS GAINED (VIA PGATOUR.COM)

1. Luke Donald
2. Martin Flores
3. Bo Van Pelt
4. Chris Riley
5. Sergio Garcia
6. Aaron Baddeley
7. Phil Mickelson
8. Richard H. Lee
9. Ryan Palmer
10. Derek Lamely


179. Heath Slocum
180. Justin Leonard
181. Troy Kelly
182. Scott Brown
183. Boo Weekley
184. Garrett Willis
185. Kyle Thompson
186. Chad Campbell
187. Greg Owen
188. Roland Thatcher


ADJUSTED SHORT GAME PLAY

1. Matt Jones
2. Mark Anderson
3. Sean O'Hair
4. Kevin Kisner
5. Johnson Wagner
6. Nick O'Hern
7. Louis Oosthuizen
8. Tiger Woods
9. Cameron Tringale
10. Ian Poulter


171. Mathew Goggin
172. Roland Thatcher
173. Jason Kokrak
174. Jimmy Walker
175. Heath Slocum
176. Chris Kirk
177. Jeff Maggert
178. J.B. Holmes
179. Billy Hurley III
180. Kyle Thompson


BIRDIE ZONE PLAY (75-125 YARDS)



1. Trevor Immelman
2. Troy Kelly
3. Jeff Maggert
4. Sergio Garcia
5. Padraig Harrington
6. Vaughn Taylor
7. Brendon de Jonge
8. Jason Dufner
9. Garth Mulroy
10. Mathew Goggin


172. Kevin Sutherland
173. Geoff Ogilvy
174. Gary Woodland
175. D.J. Trahan
176. Ryan Moore
177. Kris Blanks
178. Scott Brown
179. Garrett Willis
180. Stephen Gangluff
181. Billy Hurley III


SAFE ZONE PLAY (125-175 YARDS)



1. Boo Weekley
2. Nick O'Hern
3. Jeff Maggert
4. Trevor Immelman
5. Marco Dawson
6. Robert Allenby
7. Matt Kuchar
8. Ernie Els
9. Lee Westwood
10. Ian Poulter


161. Richard H. Lee
162. Ryuji Imada
163. Derek Lamely
164. Stewart Cink
165. Sean O'Hair
166. Scott Stallings
167. Briny Baird
168. J.B. Holmes
169. Mark Anderson
170. Jamie Lovemark


DANGER ZONE PLAY (175-225 YARDS)



1. Jim Furyk
2. Nathan Green
3. Louis Oosthuizen
4. Webb Simpson
5. Justin Rose
6. Bubba Watson
7. Robert Garrigus
8. Gary Woodland
9. Bo Van Pelt
10. Robert Allenby


168. Derek Lamely
169. Stephen Gangluff
170. Joe Ogilvie
171. Nick O'Hern
172. Ryuji Imada
173. Ryan Moore
174. Erik Compton
175. Mark Anderson
176. Richard H. Lee
177. Chad Collins





3JACK