Mark Blackburn was voted No. 1 by his peers on Golf Digest’s 2026-’27 ranking of The 50 Best Teachers in America. In this series, “What the Pros Do That You Don’t,” Blackburn highlights the key adjustments that tour players make to play the right shot at the right time.
The best wedge players typically flight the ball low by limiting the amount of wrist hinge in the backswing (above, left). By focusing on turning the ribcage back and through with minimal wrist set, tour players shallow out their downswing to hit penetrating wedge shots that have tons of spin. You can see me demonstrate this backswing below.
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This is a great technique to copy, but it doesn’t work in every situation. If the hole is cut in the front of the green, say, over a bunker, pros will generate more height to have the ball land softly. Average golfers tend to leave these shots short because they know their typical lower trajectory has no chance of stopping near the hole. By hitting wedges higher to front pins, pros create more margin for error.
They do this by moving the ball slightly up in their stance, just forward of center. But the real key is to hinge the wrists more in the backswing (above, right). More hinge sets up a fuller release of the club through the ball—and more loft on the clubface at impact. Notice how much more wrist hinge I have in the video below, compared to the low shot I demoed above.
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Be sure you still make a full turn going back by rotating your ribcage. This is not an arms-only swing. Then, from that extra wrist set, feel the club unhinge coming down and then rehinge on the other side to create more loft.
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Blackburn’s new book, The Coaching Code, is out October 1. In it, he explains the concepts he has used in coaching dozens of tour players, including Justin Rose, Matt Fitzpatrick, Max Homa and Collin Morikawa. Blackburn is a Golf Digest Teaching Professional.
This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
