wedge setup configuration

to me as long as all your wedges are the same brand and model, that's what matters the most, because its a consistant feel. I personally think cleveland and titleist are way beyond all other wedges, especially with options. Its crazy how technical wedges can get. I would go to Titleist website and look through there information on wedges, they got some good guidelines for setting up different wedge configurations.

Basically standard club changes are 0.5" on club length and 4 degrees of loft. 

So if your PW is a 48, with a 35" shaft, your next wedge would be 52 with a 34.4" Now you can do the same bump, but usually you can keep the same shaft length and just go another 4 degrees of loft. but basically unless your messing around with clublength, 4-5 degrees will give a good gap.

I agree with what Saevel25 says and what like to add.... If you were fitted for your 9i-4i then you also want the lie angle to match your irons. Saevel has already covered having the same shaft, bounce, length gapping, and degree interval,  in your wedges based off of your pitching wedge, which is why he recommends the same wedges but different lofts. Good Luck.

4-5* between your wedges is a pretty big gap.  3* is more a more universally-accepted gapping.  If your set came with a 45* PW, I personally wouldnt go any weaker than 47* if you go with a blade-style wedges because its going to give you a huge gap between your 9-iron and PW.

4-5° isn't bad depending on the manufacturer. 2-3° is good for higher lofted irons, but majority of irons are 4° difference with half a inch change in shaft length. For wedges you can run into the problem of having same shaft lengths, so 4° will give you a slight smaller gap, but its tough to gap 5° with traditional 4° being the standard for so long,

http://www.vokey.com/vokes-notebook/pages/wedge-fitting.aspx

Here is a good site for fitting wedges, and how Vokey goes about it. 

Lets look at some common iron configurations

Mizuno's MP-64's

9-iron 42°

PW 46°

Mizuno JPX 825 Pro's

9-iron 41°

PW 45°

Callaway Razr XF

9-iron 40°

PW 44°

AW 49°

As you can see, they vary, manufacturers mess around with shaft lengths and clubhead design to allow them to get a range of lofts for the same iron labeling. This can get you if you compare similar irons, sometimes a 7 iron from one company might be half a club length more than anothers

But if we were to look at wedge profiles for these three, at least how i would go about it

Mizuno MP-64 - 50°, 54°, 58/60°

Mizuno JPX - 50°, 54°, 58/60° (this one is tougher because of the 5° gap, but you can always have these bent 1° stronger)

Callaway - 52°, 56°, 60°

Before the last decade majority of irons would have there PW be at 48°, that's why the common wedges would be Gap wedge at 52°, Sandwedge at 56°, and Lob wedge at 60°

But today you really got to look up your specs and match what you want to do. This is also personal preference on chipping style. If you are a shorter hitter, you might go for less wedges because you might need a few hybrids to extend your range. Or you might be a person who uses the hole bag to chip, like using a 5 iron for a chip and run, so you might go with less wedges, or you might be a one wedge chipper and forgo a lob wedge. Or you might like to have 4 wedges. 

Basically it comes down to how your irons above your wedges are set up, and how what your style of game is. Figure those two out, and you can set up a solid wedge set. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by saevel25 

 

Basically standard club changes are 0.5" on club length and 4 degrees of loft. 

 

So if your PW is a 48, with a 35" shaft, your next wedge would be 52 with a 34.5"...

A couple of things to consider. The half-inch/4* is standard for your numbered irons, and delivers 10-12 yards difference between clubs for the average golfer. When you get into wedges, things change.

Make sure you look at the spec sheets for the irons, and specialty wedge model you're trying to patch in.

For wedges which match iron sets, you might end up with 1/4" difference between shaft lengths. Sometimes, the SW and LW will have the same shaft length.

For specialty wedges, you often drop to 1/4" length differences between wedge categories, or 1/8" in some recent Cleveland wedges. Less difference in shaft length means the distance between wedges will be less.

Club designer Ralplh Maltby discusses wedge fitting on his website: http://ralphmaltby.com/17

Most people go with a PW matching their iron set, and add in specialty wedges of a different brand and model, or different model.

Also, the iron may play hotter or softer than the specialty wedge. I carry a 46* X20 Tour PW.  This PW flies about 12 yards farther than my Cle CG14 50* GW, even though they have the same shafl length. The PW is a little hotter than the CG wedges.

Some people pick up a 6* loft gap at their PW, and may have a 42* 9i, and go specialty wedges in 48*, 54*, 60* so they can get by with three wedges. In this case, the 48* PW would match the SW and LW. (For example, all three Vokey or all three Cle CG).

Once you get the wedges, you can test them out to get a "yardstick" for how far each wedge flies on quarter, half and 3/4 swings.

My MP57 PW is 47*, and I carry an additional 50, 54 and 58.  To be honest, I rarely use my 50* wedge and could easily drop it from the bag without effecting my game much if at all.  Most people keep the matching Pitching Wedge to their irons because typically they are played like a 10 iron and used for just full shots, and you go to the specialty wedges for anything else.

My Scratch 8620 D/D 58* is my favorite wedge I've ever owned, and I've got an entire bag of wedges here at the house from Cleveland, Mizuno, Vokeys and Snake Eyes.  Anything within 80 yards, it's my first choice unless I'm just off the fringe, where I'll use a 9 iron.  I like it so much that I am going to order a 50* and 53* to match and put my current Mizunos in the bag with the rest of them.