How an elite amateur uses a wedge to generate effortless swing speed

Winning at the collegiate level isn’t about style, it’s about patterns that hold up when the pressure rises. That’s the philosophy I’ve used in teaching many of my collegiate golfers, including University of Houston senior Hudson Weibel.

Hudson has three wins this season competing for the Cougars, but he doesn’t rely on swing thoughts or mechanical clutter when he’s competing. Instead, his game is built around three repeatable pillars: organized driver pressure, compressed iron contact and disciplined structure around the greens.

In this three-part series, we’re breaking down the patterns behind each one, and how to train them with intention. Today, we are focused on how Hudson uses the ground to generate speed off the tee.

How to use a wedge to create speed

Hudson doesn’t chase speed, but he does a great job of generating it anyways. And it all starts with the way he uses the ground. When we work on driver, we’re not searching for positions or layering in swing thoughts. Instead, we are focused on organizing the pressure in his feet.

One way we do this is by placing a wedge under his lead foot. It looks insignificant, but it changes how force moves through the ground, which determines everything about how the ball launches.

Most golfers try to hit up on the driver by leaning back or hanging behind it. If you look at elite players, you’ll see they create an upward angle of attack because they load correctly. With the lead foot slightly elevated, Hudson’s center of pressure is encouraged to move into the trail heel during the backswing. Instead of drifting forward or sliding laterally, his pressure loads into the inside of the trail foot.

From there, the body can rotate around a stable trail hip rather than sway. This allows the upper body to tilt away from the target naturally as opposed to artificially. By the top of the swing, the trail hip is loaded, the lead shoulder sits lower than the trail, and the spine is tilted away from the target.

On a launch monitor, this organized pattern consistently produces a positive angle of attack, a stable face-to-path relationship and optimized launch and spin — and it’s all because of proper sequencing.

Amateurs tend to sway off the ball, slide toward the target too early or stay stuck on the lead side and hit down on the driver. All three patterns rob them of speed and make an upward strike inconsistent. By placing a wedge under the lead foot, a different sequence occurs. And when the pressure moves correctly early, the downswing becomes athletic instead of manipulated.

If you want to train it, place a wedge under your lead heel and make slow backswings, feeling your pressure move into your trail heel. Pause at the top. From there, push into the ground and rotate through without trying to “hit up” on the ball.

At an elite level, mechanics fade under pressure. What holds up are patterns that are ingrained during practice. That’s what we’ve tried to do with Hudson by using a wedge under his lead foot. It allows him to swing freely on the course because the foundation doesn’t change.

If you want your driver to show up when it matters most, try organizing what happens beneath your feet when you’re on the range. Once you start to understand how to shift and manage your weight and pressure during the swing, it’ll become much easier to hit your driver like elite players do.

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