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Can a 64 degree lob wedge replace a sand wedge?


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When I buy irons I will have the choice of 3-PW or 4-AW. I REALLY want to get a 64 degree lob wedge because I have tried one out and it was hella fun and I liked being able to stop the ball close to where it landed on the green. If I buy the 3-PW, I can buy the lob wedge and have all my clubs. If I get 4-AW, I still want to get the lob wedge but then I will not have a 3 iron.

So, can a wedge with such a monstrous angle replace a sand wedge or would I be screwing myself for no real reason other than liking a certain club? 48 to 64 degrees is a very big difference...
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When I buy irons I will have the choice of 3-PW or 4-AW. I REALLY want to get a 64 degree lob wedge because I have tried one out and it was hella fun and I liked being able to stop the ball close to where it landed on the green. If I buy the 3-PW, I can buy the lob wedge and have all my clubs. If I get 4-AW, I still want to get the lob wedge but then I will not have a 3 iron.

This is only meant to be helpful-you don't need, and

shouldn't get a 3 iron or a 64* LW. Modern 4 iron is 3 iron loft anyway, and you should have a sand wedge in the range of 54*-58*.
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Well that is kind of good to know. I knew a lob wedge was just to help but I thought a 3 iron was standard gear in almost 100% of bags. I think I would be better off with 4-AW and the lob wedge since I hardly ever use my 3 iron anyway...

Although the sets with 3-PW seem to come with a 3 and 4 hybrid which I like.
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I use a 60* out of the sand. But that is a bit different. I don't see any really good players doing that so I would say it isn't recommended.

R7 CGB Max Driver 10.5*
Big Bertha Diablo FW 18*
Burner Plus Irons 4-PW, SW
X Tour Forged 50*
60* VP109 Putter

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Well that is kind of good to know. I knew a lob wedge was just to help but I thought a 3 iron was standard gear in almost 100% of bags. I think I would be better off with 4-AW and the lob wedge since I hardly ever use my 3 iron anyway...

I haven't carried a 3I for years... also don't have a 4I. I do have 2 hybrids that repalce my 3I and 4I. My best judgment is that you shouldn't try to skip the SW. For one thing, it's good for a lot more than just bunker shots. A good medium bounce 56° SW is a versatile club for all sorts of shots around the green. You can see from my sig that I don't carry anything higher than my SW. Unless you are a real short game wizard, the clubs 60° and up are mostly a detriment to good scoring. I've owned wedges all the way up to 64° and I just find them to be of limited usefulness. I'd rather have a club like my 56° SW which can be used for so many shots... that way I only have to practice the one wedge, and maybe one lower lofted PW or 8I for chip and roll shots. I only carry 13 clubs, but I have everything covered that I need for 99% of the shots I'm faced with.

Rick

"He who has the fastest cart will never have a bad lie."

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I hardly see people with 3 irons anymore. I am an irons player and one of the few that even carry a 2 iron.

As for the wedge I agree with most of the responses here. The only time you should need a 60° is if your hitting onto an elevated green or short sided and can't get spin from your lie. A 60° will add strokes to most golfers game simply because unless your full swing every shot it is a very difficult club to control.
taylormade.gif - R9 SuperTri TP 8.5˚ Driver
taylormade.gif - R9 TP 15˚ 19˚ Fairway Woods
nike.gif - VR Split Cavity 2-PW Irons
nike.gif - VR Black 52° 56° Wedges
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I may be odd but i love my 60. i use it from 80 yds and in out of the rough and sand about 90 percent of the time. I also started using a 58 with little bounce for tight lies of roughly the same length. The combo is working well for me.

Driver- Callaway Razor somthing or other
3W- Taylor Made R11S
3H Rocketballz
4I-PW- MP-59
Gap- Vokey 54

Lob- Cleveland 60

Putter- Rife

Skycaddie SG5  

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I carry a 64* wedge, and the only negative effect it has on my game is what I can find in any other club that I carry.

Personally, I don't think you will be making things more complicated for yourself if you decide to use a 64* wedge. Like anything, practice is recommended.
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64 degree wedges are pretty ridiculous to me. They're just very limited (and do you really want to take a full swing from 40 yards out?) and you can recreate the same shots by learning how to open the club face of a lower loft.

I know the clubs have their uses but if you find that you need it enough to put one in your bag, it might be better to spend time at the range so you can stop short siding yourself! Or play a course that mows around the greens once in a while...but I kid.

Seriously, you're better off with a 56 or 58, maybe a 60 if you really need a club for playing in tight (although the gap between your 52 and 60 would be huge!).
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I like my 60 for short chips/pitches that don't have room for roll. Can't seem to consistantly hit a full shot with it though. As for sand, one good use for a 60/lob wedge is in firm/wet/thin sand. I personally feel as if my sand wedge, with it's extra bounce, has a much greater tendency to skip off the firm sand, and blade the ball. I will use my 60 lob, because the reduced bounce seems to allow me to dig in with more consistency. For nice fluffy sand, I will use my sand wedge, as it seems to offer me a little more protection against digging too deeply.

I don't know if I would ever use a 64 lob for anything, but that's just me. :D

Gary

Nakashima HTEC 460 9.5, 65g Fujikura Motore F1 (s)
Speedline 3W, 70-gram Grafalloy Prolaunch Axis
SQ 2 18 Deg. Hybrid, stock stiff graphite
R7 irons, 4-LW, stock stiff steel
White Steel 2-Ball SRT PutterSunMountain MPB bagIGolf Neo

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The thing is there is nothing a 64 cant do that a 60 can. Your 64 will go shorter than the 60, but that could go the same distance in someone elses swing. When talking about chips and sand the same concept applies. Also, I do not understand why people think a 60 is harder than a 56 for beginners. Makes no sense. It is all about distance. If you are in the sand with little room a 64 can do the trick, if there is a good distance away you might need to use a 52.

OHIO

In my Revolver Bag
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Make sure you pay attention to the bounce of the wedge your considering. You want a good amount of bounce in a wedge used in the sand, and many lob wedges don't have much.
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The thing is there is nothing a 64 cant do that a 60 can. Your 64 will go shorter than the 60, but that could go the same distance in someone elses swing. When talking about chips and sand the same concept applies. Also, I do not understand why people think a 60 is harder than a 56 for beginners. Makes no sense. It is all about distance. If you are in the sand with little room a 64 can do the trick, if there is a good distance away you might need to use a 52.

It's not that a 64 (or a 60) is necessarily harder to hit, I think that the issue with beginners using 60 degree wedges is really in the application of the club. Since many beginners believe that a lob wedge will hit it high and soft, they will try shots that require PGA level skill to pull off when they really should just be thinking about hitting the center of the green (e.g., flop shots from a tight lie over a bunker to an impossible pin). And when those shots go wrong - they really go wrong.

Don't get me wrong, you can definitely learn to use a 60 degree wedge but all else equal, it can be a relatively limited-use club.
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The thing is there is nothing a 64 cant do that a 60 can. Your 64 will go shorter than the 60, but that could go the same distance in someone elses swing. When talking about chips and sand the same concept applies.

It IS harder to hit because the flatter face makes for an effectively smaller sweet spot, and for a larger error on the same degree of miss hit. Compare the difference between a 45° PW and a 56° SW. A miss hit with the PW is less like to be as penal as a miss hit with the SW. The higher you go with loft, the more pronounced that fact becomes. It is exacerbated by the fact that you are also swinging harder to make the ball go the same distance, thus a thin shot will go

much farther than the intended shot, and because of the extra loft a chunk will usually be even shorter. It's a matter of degree. Whatever club you use you will not get the hoped for result, but with the higher lofted club the error will happen more frequently, and it will be greater when it does happen. Beginners miss hit too many shots anyway, particularly around the green. Why recommend a club to someone which will just compound his mistakes?
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Rick

"He who has the fastest cart will never have a bad lie."

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  • 2 years later...

I carry 5-PW as far as irons. I have a 4 hybrid. I don't carry a 3 iron. But I do have a 64* Lob Wedge which I love. around difficult hole placements. I hit mine about 70 yards on a full swing. Just depends if you open or close the club face. Usually I use it as a rescue club to get close to the pin. around the greens. It takes some practice. When I first got it I was hitting the ball about 10 yards 80 yards in the air. Once you get used to it it's a great club. But I carry 3 wedges in my bag. It's really a situational club. I love mine.But I love all my wedges. I spend about 2 hours a day working on short game and putting. Like the great Gary Player said "Drive for show Putt for dough."

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Couple things: First of all, as everyone is saying don't buy a 64 wedge... Second, if you buy a new set of irons, and you order the 4-AW, you can order the 3, SW, etc. as well, they just add to the overall cost of the set. I bought RBZ irons last year and it was an additional $90 per club if I wanted to add. Decided to go 3 hybrid instead and different brand of wedges.
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I bought a 64-degree wedge and it's now relegated to the spare club pile in the garage.  With a full swing I could hit it 45-50 yards - If I hit it on the sweet spot, which was a rare occurrence.  Far more likely was that I either skulled it and ended up with a 90-yard line drive, or fatted it and ended up with a 3-yard blooper.  Pretty much the same deal for pitching/chipping - you have to put a fairly hard swing behind it to get it to go anywhere, and the results were often a smaller version of the full swing.  I'm now using a 54-degree sand wedge and 58-degree lob wedge, and I have much more confidence (and success) with them.  It got to the point that the 64* scared me so much that I rarely used it.

Mac

WITB:
Driver: Ping G30 (12*)
FW:  Ping K15 (3W, 5W)
Hybrids: Ping K15 (3H, 5H)
Irons: Ping K15 (6-UW)

Wedges: Cleveland 588 RTX CB (54*, 58*)

Putter: Ping Scottsdale w/ SS Slim 3.0

Ball: Bridgestone e6

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Note: This thread is 3765 days old. We appreciate that you found this thread instead of starting a new one, but if you plan to post here please make sure it's still relevant. If not, please start a new topic. Thank you!

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