How Important is it for you personally to carry a gap wedge.

I'm just curious how many player's like to carry an extra wedge, more specifically being the gap wedge. Since I have switched to forged irons a few months ago, my iron striking has become a little bit sharper and my distance has increased by a full club on each iron. So, since my iron's go longer I have kicked out the gap wedge. Only now I'm wondering if I would be better suited carrying a 54* and 58* to even out the space in the loft's a little.

Losing the gap wedge has encouraged me to improve my striking with a 3 wood and put a 3 wood back in the bag. I would only carry a 5 wood before.

For me, it's not. My initial configuration had an AW, and the lofts on my short clubs were 43-47-51-55-50. The odd 51-55 combo were the AW and SW that matched my irons. After a while, I realized that I never used the AW and that I wanted actual wedges with less bounce, so I ditched the AW, put the 3-iron in the bag, and picked up my current 54 and 60. I also had my PW bent to 48 so the gaps were more consistent. I don't miss the AW at all. If I find myself with 120 or so, I just choke down a little on my PW. The 3-iron comes in handy off the tee sometimes, and I use it a lot at the range during practice.

It depends on your game, honestly. How often are you at that distance? What's the PW loft? Do you like full shots at a given distance over a 3/4 shot? Do you generate enough spin on partial shots? Is there a long club that would be better for your score? How strongly lofted are your short irons?

I personally find myself at wedge distance a lot, especially on typical length courses. My PW is stupidly lofted at 46*, 3 stronger than my 9i and 5 weaker than my GW. I could get rid of it without much trouble, since 130-135 is a rare yardage for me and a 9i is easy to hit that far. I somewhat prefer full shots, but I generate plenty of spin. My long clubs are pretty decent since I can hit my driver a long way and shouldn't need many long second shots, and don't need another choice off the tee too often.

I want to try out 6* gapping from the 9 iron to the 62* wedge, and carry only 3 wedges, 50*, 56, and 62. Then I could add a long club, which would be somewhat helpful. I'm really trying to figure out my own wedge game, but I don't see 4* gaps in that part of the set beneficial unless you're a bomber, and even then you remove options in the long game, which should be your strength. IMO distance control is a really important skill for scoring in the 70s and better, so I don't mind forcing myself to learn it.

My preference with wedges is also to worry about lofts, but really focus on the role of each wedge. If you have every shot and every type of conditions covered, that's the goal. For example, I like a really low bounce LW, since I hate my SW for full shots lately. I need the SW for bunkers and shots that require bounce, and my AW is matching to my irons and has a lot more forgiveness on full shots and longer pitches. The PW is just another iron, and the lob wedge is my new go to club around the greens on good lies.

There's lots of talk on this forum about different types of clubs.

A FACT is that the fact that your clubs are "forged" has absolutely nothing whatseover to do with how you are hitting them or how they feel.

You will be hitting your clubs a full club longer because the lofts atre stonger or you are delofting at impact. Rant over.

I have a set that goes from 4 to GW, and I find the GW extremely useful. I like that it is closer in looks to the OPW than my differnetly branded SW.

My gap wedge is 50*, fits between my 45*PW and 56* SW. It's my 100 - 110 yard club, so it gets used a lot. To me, it's a must have club.

Forgive me for not being more specific.

I used to play with Mizuno Jpx 800's, I now play with Nike Vr Pro's which are weaker lofted throughout the set. It is the full bladed set and not the progressive set. With my old Mizuno set I would hit a 32* 7 iron 150 yards. To reach 150 yards now, I use the *39 8 iron from my nike set. Trajectory probably play's a roll in all the longer distance since I also changed to dynamic gold s300 stiff shaft's as well. I'm getting a bit off topic but I just wanted to explain myself a little better to back up my previous statements.

i prefer to have precise gaps all the way up to at least a 56 degree wedge. if that includes a gap wedge, then yes

Seems to me that youre using the word, "fact" to describe something thats really an opinion.  Anywho, it really depends upon the kinds of shots you usually face and what your average distance into the green is.  I carry a 50 degree wedge and its a nice club to have for a 120 yard shot.  Id rathar hit a smooth GW than to try to muscle a sand wedge or lob wedge.

I use my 52* for 110 yard shots and some bunker shots if i don't want as much bounce as my 56.  It covers the distance needed.

But don't just look at the lofts and think that even gaps will produce even yardage gaps.  As an example.  I hit my 48* pitching wedge (from my iron set) 130, 52* 110, and my 56* 100.  Note the 20 yard distance between the PW and the gap wedge and the 10 yard distance between my 52 and 56.  I found a 46* cleveland pitching wedge which was an individual wedge...not one from an iron set...and had it bent to 48*.  That club filled the 120 yard shot for me, but i ended up taking it out of the bag for another club and just choke up an inch on my PW for a 120 yd shot.

It is kind of the same thing as buying hybrids...you gotta hit them first or just hope you get lucky that you get the club for the shot you are looking for.

Chris S,

Your question deals with the very origin of the Gap wedge. I went through this decision in 2009 when I switched out irons bought in 1994.

The 1994 irons were Pro Tour component clubs (Ping Eye2 clones several years after the Eye2 first hit town). Shafts were TT Dynalite stiff. When I got the PT irons, it seemed that my PW was coming up short compared to my 9i. About 2000, I had a loft-lie check done on the PT irons, and here's what we found:

9i = 44*

PW = 50* (not as strong as I had assumed)

SW = 56*

LW = 60* (never used this much; only worked in fluffy turf lies down in Dallas)

So, from 9i to SW, I had 6* gaps between club lofts. In its modern ads, Cleveland recommends 6* gaps as a possible 3-wedge solution.

So, around 2008 I realize that I'm losing distance on all my clubs, and it's time to go from stiff to regular flex shafts. I initially go with Callaway X20 3i-PW, and get the following:

9i = 41* (x20)

PW = 45* (x20)

SW = 56* (XForged)

This is an 11* loft gap (vs. my old 6*) due in part to loft deflation - ever stronger lofts so the OEM marketing guys can say you'll hit a 7-iron 170 yards.

You need to keep the SW about 55* or so to allow escape from the sand, so you end up with a 2+ club loft gap. Hence, the gap wedge was designed to fill the gap between PW and SW.

I initially tried an X20 AW (never worked!) and soon dumped it for a 50.08 Cle CG14 (super club!). This + 56* works for the 2010 season, and then I dump the 56* and try for a PW + CG14 50-54-58. Four wedges led to hit-and-miss short game season, HDCP jumps from 19 to 23.

Now, four wedges is a lot for me to manage and practice, and I may go back to a PW-50-56.

The gap wedge is valuable for me because I use it a lot. But, there's different philosophies on wedge mix...

• Club designer Ralph Maltby recommends PW, SW, and LW. He suggests practicing extra with the PW to close the "gap" with partial wedge shots.
• When Short-Game Bible was published in 2002, short-game guru Dave Pelz believed in four wedges.... PW, SW, LW and XW (64* or so). In 2009, Pelz promoted a Bobby Jones wedge series with G, S, L, and X wedges, so he now allows for a GW. Pelz has a complex overall bag plan - check it out for extra credit!
• What's in the Bag: On a rainy day, call up Golf Digest's WITB archives. Each tour pro has his or her own wedge solution. Several players now go with PW, GW and 58* wedge (depending on bounce, the 58* can be a LW or a SW).

Again, it's a matter or what works...

'fraid not.

You don't hit the ball further BECAUSE your clubs are forged. That is a fact, not an opinion.

I am with Shorty on this one. Reminds of when people claim their new putter, usually some insert type, gets the ball rolling better.

To the OP's query, I always carry a gap wedge in lieu of a 5 wood, which is not needed since I have a 19* hybrid. Wedges are the scoring clubs and you can't have enough of them, IMO.

You could have 15 wedges, and that would be too many.

Whoa, I didn't realize the jpx's weren't forged. I guess it's just the pro's.

As for the gap wedge, it's probably my favorite club in the bag. Mine is 50 degrees and matches my set. Its my club for about 115 and in and I've been using it as my main chipping club unless I need a shot with a steep arch over a hazard. So, very important.