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The Wedge Guy: 3 surefire ways to never get better at golf

Published

6 months ago

Feb 12, 2025

Hello again, GolfWRXers. I’ve been taking a break from writing my Wedge Guy article for you, but I’m back to sharing insights from 40-plus years in the golf equipment industry with you.

For this first piece marking my return, you might find this to be a rather strange title for an article…but please hear me out. I’ve always felt my main mission here on GolfWRX.com is to help any and all of you on your path to learning how to play this game at a higher level.

I’ve been a bag room snoop and observer of everyday golfers for longer than I can remember, and what amazes me the most is how many golfers I encounter who must really not want to get better at this game. How else can you explain the fact that – despite all the gains in equipment technologies and the unlimited amount of instruction available (much of it free) – so many golfers seem to be stuck at a skill level that just does not improve year after year?

So, a bit tongue in cheek, let me share what I believe are the “3 surefire ways to never get better at golf.”

1. Ignore the importance of a proper grip

The most basic fundamental of golf is learning how to hold the club properly.

This takes no athletic ability, and you can practice it to perfection anywhere.

It doesn’t matter whether you opt for the traditional overlap, interlock or full-finger (not “baseball”) style, only with a proper hold on the club can your swing function at its best through impact. Your grip can be rotated a bit stronger or weaker, but the fundamentals are the same:

The club has to be controlled with the last three fingers of the upper hand, and the grip needs to be positioned under the heel pad, not across it.
The lower hand pressure should be only in the middle two fingers, with the thumb and forefinger more lightly engaged, if at all.
The upper or lead hand has to be in dominant control of the movement of the club.

Very simply, if you are not holding the club in this fundamentally sound manner, the body and club just cannot move properly through the swing motion.

2. Disregard the importance of proper posture and setup

Likewise, it requires little to no athletic ability to assume the proper posture for the golf swing. Like with the grip, close observation of the best players in the world shows very little “personalization” from one to the other – they all start from basically the same posture and setup. Anyone can mimic this proper set-up position, which – along with a proper grip on the club – gets you much of the way “there” to a sound repeating golf swing.

And the last thing I see that causes many golfers to be stuck in a rut is…

3. Take instruction from your buddies

Golf instruction is part art and part science, and your buddies — even those who seem to be pretty good players — are not likely versed in golf instruction (if they are, perhaps this is a different matter). Tips and advice are cheap, and I cannot begin to count the number of times I’ve observed a golfer who can’t break 80 (or even 90) try to “coach” someone who also can’t break 80 or 90. Unless your buddy has spent years studying the golf swing and can play a pretty good game him/herself, close your ears and eyes when they offer advice.

In conclusion

I’ll close this post with this: Compared to all the costs associated with golf, leveraging those investments with professional instruction is pretty darn cheap. My Dad often said, “If it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing well.” My bet is that you have already committed to the fact that golf is certainly “worth doing.” So, if doing it well is important, begin by improving your grip and posture, and consider finding a professional instructor who “gets” you and go see him or her regularly.

So, there you have it. Frank Sinatra made a fortune singing “My Way,” but that certainly isn’t the pathway to better and more consistent golf!

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Terry Koehler

Terry Koehler is a fourth generation Texan and a graduate of Texas A&M University. Over his 40-year career in the golf industry, he has created over 100 putter designs, sets of irons and drivers, and in 2014, he put together the team that reintroduced the Ben Hogan brand to the golf equipment industry. Since the early 2000s, Terry has been a prolific writer, sharing his knowledge as “The Wedge Guy”. But his most compelling work is in the wedge category. Since he first patented his “Koehler Sole” in the early 1990s, he has been challenging “conventional wisdom” reflected in ‘tour design’ wedges. The performance of his wedge designs have stimulated other companies to move slightly more mass toward the top of the blade in their wedges, but none approach the dramatic design of his Edison Forged wedges, which have been robotically proven to significantly raise the bar for wedge performance. Terry serves as Chairman and Director of Innovation for Edison Golf – check it out at www.EdisonWedges.com.

5 Comments

Sergio N.

Feb 26, 2025 at 9:15 am

I couldn’t possibly disagree more. The late Moe Norman had, according to the golf illuminati the wrong stance, the wrong grip, the wrong posture and the wrong set up. Yet, he had dozens of professional wins, and course records. Jim Furyk stood much too close to the ball and had this terrible habit of looping his back swing. They call him U S open champion. Hubie Green had a horrible swing to look at but they called him U S Open Champion too. John Daly took the club back way too far and gripped down too much, not to mention the smoking and drinking, They called him two times major winner. Golf is a game, when you stop concentrating on “the golf swing” and start concentrating on getting the ball in the hole, the miracle of breaking 80 quite naturally follows. It did for me. Once I started to listen to teachers like Manuel De La Torre, and Darryl Klassen, who learned as a kid to break 90 with just a putter (what could be more wrong than that?) golf got much easier.

Reply Report comment
RI_Redneck

Feb 20, 2025 at 8:16 am

Terry,

I was wondering if you might expand on the meaning of the third fundamental in the Grip part of this article:

“The upper or lead hand has to be in dominant control of the movement of the club.”

I’m pretty sure I know what you mean, but if you could elaborate a bit more on the specifics I would appreciate it.

Thanks,
BT

Reply Report comment
- Terry Koehler
  
  Mar 1, 2025 at 8:46 am
  
  Thanks, BT.
  What I meant is that to play golf at a consistent level, you have to accept that it is a “lead side” athletic move. For right handers, that means the entire left side has to lead the golf swing so that impact consistency can be improved.
  I will elaborate more in an upcoming post.
  
  Terry
  
  Reply Report comment
  - RI_Redneck
    
    Mar 1, 2025 at 2:31 pm
    
    Got it. I was thinking you might be emphasizing the lead hand’s position on the grip in relation to the clubface. I have always been of the mind that the relationship between the orientation of the lead hand on the grip and the clubface is individualistic as opposed to somewhat static as many seem to promote. I was always taught that the “V” formed by the thumb and forefinger of the lead hand should point to the trail shoulder (Typically called a Neutral position) and any major alteration from that would lead to all kinds of problems. Looking at professional golfers, we see all degrees of positions of the lead hand. I would suspect they concluded that position was right for them through trial and error early in their career and stuck with it. I believe every new golfer should do the same.
    
    Looking forward to your upcoming posts.
    BT
    
    Reply Report comment
Germ

Feb 12, 2025 at 7:22 pm

Great info, especially for the duffers out there.
MrShortGame just did an interestingly eye opening video on grip pressure. I highly recommend it. Unfortunately I live in Buffalo, so by the time I can try to actually try anything on the course I’ll have forgotten everything. A 5-6 month outdoor golf season is a bucket of yuck!

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News

Tour Rundown: Bend, but don’t break

Published

3 weeks ago

Aug 4, 2025

Ronald Montesano

I’m going to gush in this intro paragraph, to get the emo stuff done early. I’ve not pulled harder for a professional to win, than Cameron Young. I coach golf in New York state, and each spring, my best golfers head to a state championship in Poughkeepsie. I first saw Cameron there as a 9th grade student. I saw him three more times after that. I reconnecected with Coach Haas from Wake Forest, an old interview subject from my days on the Old Gold and Black, the Wake newspaper. He was there to watch Cameron. After four years at Wake Forest, Young won on the Korn Ferry Tour, made it to the big tour, almost won two majors, almost won five other events, and finally got the chalice about 25 minutes from the Wake campus. Congratulations, Cameron. You truly are a glass of the finest. #MotherSoDear

OK, let’s move on to the Tour Rundown. The major championship season closed this week in Wales, with the Women’s Open championship. The PGA Tour bounced through Greensboror, N.C., while the PGA Tour Americas hit TO (aka, Toronto) for a long-winded event. The Korn Ferry lads made a stop in Utah, one of just two events for that tour in August. The many-events, golf season is winding down, as we ease from summer toward fall in the northern hemisphere. Let’s bask in the glory of an August sunrise, and run down a quartet of events from the first weekend of the eighth month.

LET/LPGA @ Women’s Open: Miyu bends, but she doesn’t break

Royal Porthcawl was not a known commodity in the major tournament community. The Welsh links had served as host to men’s senior opens, men’s amateurs, and Curtis and Walker Cups in prior years, but never an Open championship for the women or the men. The last-kept secret in UK golf was revealed once again to the world this week, as the best female golfers took to the sandy stage.

Mao Saigo, Grace Kim, Maja Stark, and Minjee Lee hoped to add a second major title to previous wins this season, but only Lee was able to finish inside the top ten. The 2025 playing of the Women’s Open gave us a new-faces gallery from day one. The Kordas and Thitikulls were nowhere to be found, and it was the Mayashitas, Katsus, and Lim Kims that secured the Cymru spotlight. The first round lead was held at 67 by two golfers. One of them battled to the end, while the other posted 81 on day two, and missed the cut. Sitting one shot behind was Miyu Yamashita.

On day two, Yamashita posted the round of the tournament. Her 65 moved her to the front of the aisle, in just her fourth turn around a women’s Open championship. With the pre-event favorites drifting off pace, followers narrowed into two camps: those on the side of an underdog, and others hoping for a weekend charge from back in the pack. In the end, we had a bit of both.

On Saturday, Yamashita bent with 74 on Saturday, offering rays of hope to her pursuing pack. England’s Charley Hull made a run on Sunday closing within one shot before tailing off to a T2 finish with Minami Katsu. Katsu posted the other 65 of the week, on Saturday, but could not overtake her countrywoman, Yamashita. wunderkind Lottie Woad needed one round in the 60s to find her pace, but could only must close-to’s, ending on 284 and a tie with Minjee for eighth.

On Sunday, Yamashita put away the thoughts of Saturday’s struggles, with three-under 33 on the outward half. She closed in plus-one 37, but still won by two, for a first Major and LPGA title.

PGA Tour @ Wyndham: Young gathers first title near home

Cameron Young grew up along the Hudson river, above metro New York, but he also calls Winston-Salem home. He spent four years as a student and athlete at Wake Forest University, then embarked on tour. This week in Greensboro, after a bit of a break, Young opened with 63-62, and revved the engine of Is this the week once more. Runner-up finishes at the Open, the PGA, and a handful of PGA Tour events had followers wonder when the day would come.

On Saturday, Young continued his torrid pace with 65, giving him a five-shot advantage over his closest pursuer. Sunday saw the Scarborough native open with bogey, then reel off five consecutive birdies to remind folks that his time had, at last, arrived. Pars to the 16th, before two harmless bogeys coming home, made Young the 1000th winner of an official PGA Tour event (dating back to before there was a PGA Tour) throughout history. What’s next? I have a suspicion, but I’m not letting on. Mac Meissner closed with 66 to finish solo 2nd, while Mark Hubbard and Alex Noren tied for third.

Korn Ferry Tour @ Utah Championship: Are you Suri it’s Julian?

Who knows exactly when the flower will bloom? Julian Suri played a solid careet at Duke University, then paid his dues on the world’s minor tours for three years. He won twice on two tours in Europe, in 2017. Since then, the grind has continued for the journeyman from New York city. At age 34, Suri broke through in Beehive state, outlasting another grinder (Spencer Levin) and four others, by two shots.

Taylor Montgomery began the week with 62, then posted 64, then 68, and finally, 70. That final round was his undoing. He finished in that second-place tie, two back of the leader. Trace Crowe, Barend Botha, and Kensei Hirata made up the last of the almost quintet. As for Suri, his Sunday play was sublime. His nines were 32 and 31, with his only radar blip a bogey at ten. He closed in style with one final birdie, to double his winning margin. Hogan bloomed late…might Suri?

PGA Tour Americas @ Osprey Valley Open presented by Votorantim Cimentos – CBM Aggregates

Some tournament names run longer than others. This week in Toronto, at the Heathlands course at TPC Toronto, we might have seen the longest tournament title in recorded history. The OVOPBVCCBMA was a splendid affair. It saw three rounds of 62 on Thursday, but of those early risers, only Drew Goodman would stick around until the end. 64 was the low tally on day two, and two of those legionnaires managed to finish inside the top three at week’s end. Saturday brought a 63 from Patrick Newcomb, and he would follow with 64 on Sunday, to finish solo fourth.

Who, then, ended up winning the acronym of the year? It turns out that Carson Bacha had the right stuff in TeeOhhh. Bacha and Jay Card III posted 63 and 64, respectively, on day four, to tie for medalist honors at 23-under 261. Nathan Franks was one shot adrift, despite also closing with 63. If you didn’t go low on Sunday, it was about the check, not the championship.

Bacha and JC3 returned to the 18th hole twice in overtime. Card nearly chipped in from the thick stuff for birdie, while Bacha peeked and shoved a ten-feet attempt at the win. On the second go-round, Card was long with his approach, into the native grasses once more. He was unable to escape, and a routine par from the fairway was enough to earn the former Auburn golfers a first KFT title.

Card III and Bacha both miss their birdie tries on the first playoff hole.

We’ll play 18 again @OspreyOpen. pic.twitter.com/vNpHTdkHDg

— PGA TOUR Americas (@PGATOURAmericas) August 3, 2025

Tour Photo Galleries

Photos from the 2025 Wyndham Championship

Published

4 weeks ago

Jul 29, 2025

GolfWRX Staff

GolfWRX is live this week from the final event of the PGA Tour’s regular season, the Wyndham Championship.

Photos are flowing into the forums from Sedgefield Country Club, where we already have a GolfWRX spirit animal Adam Schenk WITB and plenty of putters for your viewing pleasure.

Check out links to all our photos below, which we’ll continue to update as more arrive.

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See what GolfWRXers are saying and join the discussion in the forums.

News

BK’s Breakdowns: Kurt Kitayama’s Winning WITB, 3M Open

Published

4 weeks ago

Jul 28, 2025

Brian Knudson

Kurt Kitayama just won his 2nd PGA Tour event at the 3M Open. Kurt is a Bridgestone staffer but with just the ball and bag. Here are the rest of the clubs he used to secure a win at the 2025 3M Open.

Driver: Titleist GT3 (11 degrees, D1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD VF 7 TX

3-wood: Titleist GT1 3Tour (14.5 degrees, A3 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 TX

7-wood: Titleist GT1 (21 degrees, A1 SureFit setting)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 9 TX

Irons: TaylorMade P7CB (4), TaylorMade P7MB (5-PW)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100

Wedges: Titleist Vokey Design SM10 (52-12F, 56-14F), Vokey Design WedgeWorks (60-K*)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: Scotty Cameron Studio Style Newport 2 Tour Prototype
Grip: SuperStroke Zenergy 1.0PT

Grips: Golf Pride Tour Velvet

Ball: Bridgestone Tour B XS (with Mindset)