Tight lies are where wedge games go to die. The ball is sitting down on firm turf, there is no cushion underneath it, and you need the ball to stop. So you do what every amateur does: you try to help it. You dig, and the club sticks. Or you thin it, and the ball rockets over the green. Real backspin on a tight lie feels like something only tour players get to have.
It is not. The problem is your path, and a cut-up tennis ball will prove it to you in about ten swings.
Here is what is actually happening. On a tight lie, you need the club to travel on a shallow path with the face doing the work. Most golfers either come in too steep (dig) or try to scoop under it (thin). What creates height and real backspin is a club that approaches just inside the ball and exits left of the target, with a slightly open setup that lets the loft work. That is the whole recipe. The tennis ball gate just forces you to do it.
Cut a tennis ball in half and place the two pieces about three feet apart with a golf ball in the middle. Set up slightly open. Now swing so the club stays just inside the back piece on the way back, then exits left of the front piece on the way through. The gate gives you instant feedback: clip a piece and you know your path was off. Thread it clean and you will feel the club glide instead of dig. The forced path produces the height and backspin you have been chasing, because the geometry is finally right instead of you trying to manufacture spin with your hands.
The one mistake to avoid: trying to "help" the ball into the air by flipping your wrists through the gate. The gate punishes that immediately, which is the point. Let the open setup and the path do the work. Your job is just to swing through the gate and trust it. Spin comes from clean contact with loft and speed, not from scooping.
Inside the back piece. Open a little. Exit left of the front piece. That is the whole drill, and it works.
This drill is one of 220+ in the Pro Vault at coachellapro.com for $1 a month. And if your wedge game is costing you five shots a round, book a lesson. Short game is where scores actually drop.