Putting Series/Part 8: The Texas Wedge

When to Use Your Putter From Off the Green

Sometimes Your Best Chip Is Not a Chip

One of the first decisions golfers face around the green is not how to hit the shot. It is which shot gives me the greatest chance of getting the ball close to the hole? For many amateur golfers, the automatic answer is to reach for a wedge. I do not think it always should be.

If there is nothing between the golf ball and the hole that requires you to put the ball into the air, the putter should at least be part of the decision. The

A simple principle could anchor the article:

“If you don't have to put the ball in the air, don't!” Stuart Lambert, PGA

Start With the Lie

Before choosing the club, look at where the golf ball is sitting.

If the ball is sitting cleanly on closely mown grass just off the putting green, putting may be a very good option.

If the ball is sitting down in thick rough, putting becomes much more difficult. The grass can grab the putter head and affect both the strike and speed.

The decision starts with the lie.

Ask:

Can I make clean contact with the ball using my putter?

If the answer is yes, keep evaluating.

Look at What Is Between You and the Hole

This is where I would teach golfers to evaluate the entire journey of the golf ball, just as we did when reading greens.

Imagine a ball six feet off the green with another 25 feet of putting surface between the edge of the green and the hole.

What is between you and the cup?

If you have closely mown fringe and a relatively smooth transition onto the putting surface, the putter may be the simplest shot.

But suppose there is:

Thick rough

A sprinkler head

A severe mound

A depression

A bunker

Standing water

A significant change in elevation

or another obstacle

Now putting may no longer be the best option.

The question becomes:

Can I reasonably roll the ball along the ground from here to the hole?

How Much Fringe Do You Have to Putt Through?

This deserves special attention because putting through fringe changes distance control.

The golf ball will generally lose more speed traveling through fringe or closely mown grass than it will once it reaches the putting surface.

That means a 30 foot shot is not necessarily a 30 foot putt.

Imagine:

5 feet of fringe + 25 feet of green.

The first five feet may require considerably more energy than the remaining 25 feet.

You have to account for that.

This is where practice becomes important.

Do not wait until you have this shot during a round to discover how the ball reacts.

Go to the practice green and experiment.

Why Putting Can Be the Safer Choice

Think about what has to happen with a chip.

You have to select the club.

Choose the trajectory.

Determine the landing point.

Control the carry distance.

Make clean contact.

Predict the first bounce.

Predict how the ball will release.

There is nothing wrong with that. A good short game requires those skills.

But compare that with a putt from closely mown grass.

Now we can potentially keep the golf ball on the ground for the entire shot.

That eliminates several variables.

This leads to another teaching principle I think fits your series:

“Around the green, choose the shot that requires the fewest things to go right.”Stuart Lambert, PGA

That is a concept I would emphasize heavily.

We are not choosing the most impressive shot.

We are choosing the shot that gives us the best opportunity to produce a good result.

The Worst Miss Matters

This is an important part of club selection that amateur golfers sometimes overlook.

Do not only ask:

“What happens if I hit this perfectly?”

Ask:

“What happens if I don't?”

Suppose you have a straightforward shot from ten feet off the green.

With a wedge, a poor strike might be:

Chunked.

Bladed.

Hit too high on the face.

Carried too far.

Landed too short.

With a putter, the poor shot might simply finish four or five feet short.

Which miss would you rather have?

That does not mean the putter is always correct.

It means we should consider the consequences of the miss when selecting the shot.

When I Would Consider the Putter

I would strongly consider putting from off the green when:

1. The lie is clean.

2. The grass is closely mown.

3. There is no significant obstacle between the ball and the hole.

4. The transition from fringe to green is relatively smooth.

5. The ball can reasonably remain on the ground.

6. I can predict how the ball will react through the fringe.

7. My worst putt is likely to produce a better result than my worst chip.

That last one is particularly important for amateur golfers.

When I Would Probably Not Use the Putter

I would look for another option when:

1. The ball is sitting down in thick rough.

2. There is too much grass between the ball and the putting surface.

3. The putter cannot move cleanly through the lie.

4. There is a bunker or another obstacle to carry.

5. The ground between the ball and green is extremely uneven.

6. There is a significant mound or depression that makes the roll unpredictable.

7. The ball needs to get airborne to produce a predictable result.

Now we may consider a wedge, hybrid, fairway wood, or another club depending on the situation.

And that leads naturally into another article in the series:

It Does Not Always Have to Be a Putter

Because once golfers understand why we might putt from off the green, we can introduce the broader concept of using different clubs to produce a putting style motion.

A hybrid can be excellent when the ball needs to move through a little more grass.

A fairway wood can sometimes work from closely mown areas.

A lower lofted iron can produce a bump and run.

The question is not:

“What club am I supposed to use?”

The better question is:

“What shot gives me the largest margin for error from this lie?”

The Texas Wedge

I would absolutely include a short section on the traditional term Texas Wedge.

Golfers have long used the term to describe using a putter from off the putting green, particularly from tightly mown areas.

It gives the article some golf culture and makes the concept immediately recognizable.

But I would not make the article about the Texas Wedge.

The larger lesson is shot selection.

A Simple Decision Process

We could create a very useful Lambert Golf Academy decision tree for this series:

Can I putt it?

↓

Is the lie clean?

↓

Is the path relatively smooth?

↓

Can the ball stay on the ground?

↓

Can I predict the roll?

↓

YES → Consider the Putter

If not:

What prevents me from putting?

Grass?Consider a hybrid or another club that can move through the grass more effectively.

Uneven terrain?Consider carrying the ball over the unpredictable area.

Obstacle?Choose enough loft to clear it.

Need to stop the ball quickly?Consider a higher trajectory.

That teaches golfers to select shots based on conditions rather than habit.

And We Need a Skills Test

This series would also give us a fantastic practice experiment.

Place five balls approximately five to ten feet off the putting green.

Play each ball twice.

First with your putter.

Then with your normal chipping club.

Measure the distance each ball finishes from the hole.

Do not judge the prettiest shot.

Calculate the results.

Which club produced the smallest average leave?

Which produced the worst miss?

Which produced the most consistent result?

That is powerful because now the golfer is discovering their own best option rather than simply being told what club they should use.

The answer may differ by golfer.

A highly skilled wedge player may produce different results from a beginning golfer.

That is okay.

We are trying to answer:

What works for you?

I would actually turn this into a small “Around the Green Decision Making” series following the putting series:

Article 1: When to Use Your Putter From Off the GreenSometimes Your Best Chip Is Not a Chip

Article 2: Putter, Hybrid, Iron, or Wedge?Choosing the Simplest Shot Around the Green

Article 3: The Bump and RunGet the Ball on the Ground and Rolling

Article 4: When You Need LoftWhen the Ground Is No Longer Your Friend

Article 5: Short Game Shot SelectionLie. Landing Point. Trajectory. Roll. Risk.

And I think the common Lambert Golf Academy philosophy tying this entire next series together should be:

“Around the green, choose the shot that requires the fewest things to go right.”Stuart Lambert, PGA

We have now covered putting, now it is time to look at the short game. That takes us naturally from putting technique → putting practice → putting games → putting from off the green → complete short game decision making. Please look for my next article on short game decisions.