Your Wedge Game Stinks --> Let's fix it! + The 2nd Best College Course in the US

TIPS & DRILLS
Here’s Why Your Wedge Game Is Garbage
Don’t worry, The Honest Golf Coach shows you the fix

honestgolfcoach

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To Recap…

Let’s face it- we could all use a little more practice with our wedges. When you have a 70-130 yard shot into the green, you should be licking your chops, not wiping your brow in fear. Michael Choe, dubbed “the Honest Golf Coach” on social media, believes the typical golfer stinks with a wedge in their hands because they just flat out swing too hard. For more consistency and frequent looks at birdie, follow these steps:

-STEP 1: As you take your set-up, stand a little closer to the ball than you normally would and soften your arms/grip.
-STEP 2: Swing with a constant, smooth speed - no herky-jerky acceleration here. Note: This does not mean swing the club slowly… you still need to move through the impact zone with some level of speed.
-STEP 3: Finish with an abbreviated follow through to keep the ball flight lower than normal and minimize time in the air (i.e. the amount of time the ball can go offline).

PRO TIP: A lower ball flight is a more controlled ball flight. If you watch the the pros, you’ll notice their wedge shots stop on a dime not because of how high they’re hitting the ball in the air, but because of their perfectly crisp contact.

COURSES
An Elite Collegiate Course In the Berkshires Started in 1896
Restored to its original intent in 2006 by Gil Hanse

Taconic Golf Club
Wiliamstown, MA

It’s back to school season so we’re starting a series highlighting some of the best collegiate courses in America. We know what you’re thinking- when you hear the words “elite college golf,” you immediately think of Williams College and its tiny student body of just 2,100 students, right? Well you should. A small private liberal arts school with a mere 8.5% acceptance rate may not prioritize golf over academics, but they certainly fooled us. Taconic Golf Club is home to the Men’s & Women’s teams, and it’s one of the finest courses you can play in America, ranked the 84th Best Public Course by Golf Digest.

The course was first laid out in 1896 after 3 men, armed with tomato cans for golf holes, requested permission to play some rudimentary golf on the college’s Weston Athletic Field. A few weeks later, they’d laid out a 7-hole course (expanding to 9 holes in 1897). At the time, the annual dues for the course were just $20.00 per year, which equates to just ~$750 in 2024! With no real master plan for the course- Taconic slowly took shape over time, using a historic home on South Street as the original clubhouse and slowly adding parcels of land for expansion.

Taconic was expanded to a full 18 holes in 1928, and it hosted 3 different USGA Amateur Championships between 1956 and 1996. In 2006, Gil Hanse was commissioned to renovate and restore the course, re-routing cart paths, adding drainage, and expanding greens and fairways to match the original intentions of its creators, the Boston duo of Stiles & Van Kleek. The course stands out for its fantastic routing with beautiful views of the Berkshire mountains in the background. And Golf Digest has it ranked as the 2nd best college course in the country. So if you find yourself wanting a bit more college charm in your life, plan a long weekend to Williamstown this Fall, and put Taconic at the top of your itinerary. Leaf peeping season is just around the corner, after all.

One callout- the greens may seem relatively flat but have subtle breaks that will leave you confounded if you don’t look at putts from both sides of the hole. Take the extra time to give them a second look!

Rates: The course is semi-private, but tee times are made available to the public 5 days in advance. Those who have played report ~$200/round.

Check out this rundown from @baystate_golf

baystate_golf

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STATISTICS
Stat of the Day: Greens in Regulation- Comparing Scratch Players, the Tour Average & Vintage Tiger
presented by…

The Stat: Tiger Woods had one of the greatest statistical seasons of all-time in 2000, and yet he only hit 1.14 more Greens in Regulation than the PGA Tour average.

The Takeaway: Tiger was pretty much untouchable during the 2000 season, but he was only 8% better than the Tour average in terms of Greens in Regulation. Of course, this stat only tells part of the story. He was also 2nd in Driving Distance, 2nd in Scrambling Percentage, and 1st in Scoring Average (by 1.5 strokes)! His ability to get up and down on the other 4.8 holes when he missed the green is ultimately what gave him clear separation from the rest of the Tour.

Translation: Toss a few balls in various lies around the green and work on your scrambling!

TODAY’S TRIVIA
Answer to Win a Rapsodo Mobile Launch Monitor
(1 winner chosen on 8/31/24 across all August trivia entries, 1,000 respondents minimum)

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