What wedges should a beginner have in his bag?

[newtogolf]

I took my 60* out of the bag because I couldn't hit it consistently, but I do okay with the gap wedge.

[jmanbooyaa]

love 58 degree wedge

[mdl]

Originally Posted by GolfBear

I'm going to assume you have a PW that's approximately 48 degrees of loft. I'd add a 52 degree gap wedge and a 56 degree sand wedge.

I'd stay away from the lob wedge for a while. They're great when you hit them properly but they require a LOT of practice to play properly. You have to be experienced enough to read the lie and confident enough to be really aggressive and I don't think it's the best choice if you're learning the game.

I think a lot of amateurs tend to get over zealous with a LW and try to hit it all the time whether it's required or not. If you're hitting your wedges properly you won't have trouble stopping the ball so there's no reason to throw the ball 90 yards into the air on every shot around the green.

How about stopping the ball on the around the green shots?  I only have my PW and a 54˚ CG15.  I'm pretty good with the CG15, but there's one or two times a round when I've short sided myself or just have a down hill chip or something where I wish I could get it to land softer.  I've been working on opening the blade more, but I have a much harder time being as accurate as I'd like that way rather than with a more square face, so I keep wondering if I should invest in a 58˚ or 60˚.  Should I just work on getting that steep attack low spinner chip?  I'm always too scared to use that shot when I'm afraid my normal chip will run out too far...

Thoughts?

[ND Fan]

I honestly think a  beginner should learn to use one wedge properly.  Like a 54 degree SW  Learn to use that and the rest will fall into place with some practice.  But if you only have one you're forced to use it for every kind of pitch shot, and that should help in learning how to hit different shots more so than having a wedge for every occasion.  I've only carried two wedges for the past 8 years, prior to that I just had one, well including my pitching wedge that comes with every set of irons.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by mdl

How about stopping the ball on the around the green shots?  I only have my PW and a 54˚ CG15.  I'm pretty good with the CG15, but there's one or two times a round when I've short sided myself or just have a down hill chip or something where I wish I could get it to land softer.  I've been working on opening the blade more, but I have a much harder time being as accurate as I'd like that way rather than with a more square face, so I keep wondering if I should invest in a 58˚ or 60˚.  Should I just work on getting that steep attack low spinner chip?  I'm always too scared to use that shot when I'm afraid my normal chip will run out too far...

Thoughts?

Opening up a SW is a great idea, in theory, but a pitch with a very slightly opened up 60 is easier than laying a 54 way open and hitting with all the added bounce - often leads to hitting the ball in the forehead and blading it across the green. Why not experiment by picking up a 60 degree Cleveland 588 off ebay. Keep your eye open - they often go for ~ $10 and have a lot of life left in them.

[anthony]

For what it's worth, my 50 degree gap is my favorite club in the bag. I use it from 100 in on nearly every shot. I have a 56 that I use if I need to, but the margin for error is a lot higher with that club and I only use it if I want as little roll as possible. I used to chip and hit short pitches with my 56 exclusively, but now I use a gap down to my 8 iron. My results have been much much better around the green.

[PackFan 1]

I recently bought a adams watson mirror 52 degree gap wedge and a 56 degree sand wedge and love them.  I've never been able to hit my wedges consistently but these wedges are very easy to hit. I think they were made with beginner/high handicap golfers in mind.

[tristanhilton85]

An AW is the same thing as a gap wedge... just different terminology.  I think that Cleveland also uses a "D" which is also the same thing.

[mdl]

Originally Posted by sean_miller

Opening up a SW is a great idea, in theory, but a pitch with a very slightly opened up 60 is easier than laying a 54 way open and hitting with all the added bounce - often leads to hitting the ball in the forehead and blading it across the green.  Why not experiment by picking up a 60 degree Cleveland 588 off ebay. Keep your eye open - they often go for ~ $10 and have a lot of life left in them.

Thanks sean.  Blading the laid open pitch with the 54˚ is exactly why I'd usually rather just hit it with a fairly square face and know I'll be 20 feet past than try to lay it way open and either be <10 feet or way off the other side of the green.  Obviously lie comes into play, and if I'm on fluffy grass sitting up I'll usually go for it, but otherwise no.

I've never bought wedges on ebay (though my CG15 was a used demo and works great).  Something like this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/CLEVELAND-588-TOUR-SATIN-CHROME-60-LOB-WEDGE-STEEL-/270720710183?pt=Golf_Clubs&hash;=item3f08363627#ht_5915wt_964

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by mdl

Thanks sean.  Blading the laid open pitch with the 54˚ is exactly why I'd usually rather just hit it with a fairly square face and know I'll be 20 feet past than try to lay it way open and either be <10 feet or way off the other side of the green.  Obviously lie comes into play, and if I'm on fluffy grass sitting up I'll usually go for it, but otherwise no.

I've never bought wedges on ebay (though my CG15 was a used demo and works great).  Something like this?

http://cgi.ebay.com/CLEVELAND-588-TOUR-SATIN-CHROME-60-LOB-WEDGE-STEEL-/270720710183?pt=Golf_Clubs&hash;=item3f08363627#ht_5915wt_964

Yes and no. That's a great wedge but that specific item is a 3 out of 7 on 3-balls' rating system. You'll probably never find a 6 or 7, but shoot for at least a 4-5.  There are a lot of great wedges out there (Also Ben Hogan made great forged wedges, Callaway's, Mizuno Pro, Nike VR, etc). Even though some guys hang onto their wedges too long (liek me), just as many guys adopted the new groove rule and dumped all their wedges even though the rule doesn't affect hackers like us.

[Eloh]

Use any wedge/club you can play with comfortably.  Especially if you are a beginner.  You are going to suck wether you have a wedge or not...lol. So you might as well get your wedge and learn how to play with it.  I say beginners, like myself, need lob wedges.   You try to chip that 56 5 feet away from the green and you'll fly right over the hole or the whole green...lol! Like me...because I am a beginner and I suck! So I got a nice little used Ping Eye 2 LOB and I have been practicing with it for a while...guess what, I'm still gonna suck.  So to me you get what you want and practice using it...eventually you wont suck anymore.

[jmanbooyaa]

I say buy what you want because yes you may suck but at least u will suck with what u want and not spend extra money when you do get better and buy what you want. I also suggest to buy used wedges. I bought a Vokey used 56 sw for $69 free shipping no tax and it was and still is in good playing shape.

[max power]

Are you saying that beginners are worse now than they were in the past?  Or that there was no such thing as shots over hazards or tight pins prior to the advent of the LW?  If you can hit a LW properly you can definitely use a SW.

Originally Posted by Eloh

Use any wedge/club you can play with comfortably.  Especially if you are a beginner.  You are going to suck wether you have a wedge or not...lol. So you might as well get your wedge and learn how to play with it.  I say beginners, like myself, need lob wedges.   You try to chip that 56 5 feet away from the green and you'll fly right over the hole or the whole green...lol! Like me...because I am a beginner and I suck! So I got a nice little used Ping Eye 2 LOB and I have been practicing with it for a while...guess what, I'm still gonna suck.  So to me you get what you want and practice using it...eventually you wont suck anymore.

[Eloh]

Originally Posted by max power

Are you saying that beginners are worse now than they were in the past?  Or that there was no such thing as shots over hazards or tight pins prior to the advent of the LW?  If you can hit a LW properly you can definitely use a SW.

Nope. Not saying any of that.  Just saying that what ever clubs a person selects to play with they have to learn how to use it.  No reason not to use a specific type of club just because a person is a beginner.  In fact, IMO that's the best time to learn.  Having the proper expectation about your beginner game, leads to less frustration, more fun, and the patients to learn the skill.

[Fourputt]

Originally Posted by Eloh

Nope. Not saying any of that.  Just saying that what ever clubs a person selects to play with they have to learn how to use it.  No reason not to use a specific type of club just because a person is a beginner.  In fact, IMO that's the best time to learn.  Having the proper expectation about your beginner game, leads to less frustration, more fun, and the patients to learn the skill.

The argument against this opinion is that it takes a longer time and more practice to develop the skills needed to use a 60° LW than it does to learn to use a 52° GW.  The novice golfer rarely has the ability to hit the ball near the sweet spot with any club, and that spot just becomes more difficult to find on a club with an extreme loft.  A beginning player will develop faster and get quicker results from his short game practice time if he avoids the LW until he has found his stroke.

If you want delay your progress by trying to use a LW, be my guest.  I'm not the one who's paying the price for it.

[Mr. Desmond]

In this discussion about which lofts -- I don't know, I use a 52 as just another iron that normally has relatively low bounce. I love it for precise shots at 90-100 yards. I used it a lot around the greens when I was a Pelz short-game disciple. Now, not so much. I don't see any disadvantage to a 54-56, and really don't see a disadvantage to a 58-60 as long as the beginner doesn't flip, or is too armsy, and keeps his weight on the front foot. It's swaying to the back foot, and then trying to getting back on to the front foot -- that I believe leads to problems with higher lofted wedges; too much armsyness also leads to very bad results.

My 2 cents -- keep the weight on your front foot during the swing with a wedge and start the swing by turning the hips. I think that cuts out being armsy and handsy. Too much upper body screws most swings, but it really looks bad in the wedge game.

[BugDude]

After going the full gammet of wedges, I simplified my wedge play life.  I have my standard pitching wedge with my set, and a 54* sand wedge with 8* bounce.  The 54 is somewhat of a strong sw and the lower bounce makes it easier to chip with around the greens from various lies.  It also allows me to lay the face open quite a bit to vary the loft of the same club.  I find it much easier to learn various ways to hit one club than three clubs.  I now have an old golf bag with about 8 different wedges in it.  The wilson staff forged wedges have great feel and playability.  Easy to hit different trajectories with the same club.

[golf4fun12]

when I first started playing, I had a 56 and 60. I found the 60 difficult to hit cause of how precise you have to be. nowadays, I go with a 54 and 58. with a 51 AW. so, I have my bases covered nicely.