Please help me choose a lob wedge :)

I've been playing a 64 degree LW for the last year. Unlike many others who try one, I completely fell in love with it and practiced with it daily and really honed in on it. I could get the ball close on anything within 50 yards.

BUT, over the past 6 months I've completely switched up my practicing to focus more on my full swing. My golf scores are much better, short game though is much worse. I don't put in nearly enough practice time to keep the 64 degree consistent and I believe now there's just too big a percentage for error.

I'm not necessarily looking for a short-cut, I mean I still practice my wedge play, but I think since cutting down the practice time on my chips/pitches...it benefits me to go down to somewhere around a 58 to 60 degree.

What do you guys recommend? What kind of bounce should I be looking at? Brand? The sky is kind of the limit. It's going to be my christmas present :)

What other wedges do you carry and what is the loft of your PW?

Damn, I knew this question was coming up and should have found out earlier.

I have a SW and PW and I do not know the loft on them. If I took them into like a golf galaxy...would they be able to tell?

If it helps at all, these are roughly my full swing distances.

SW - 100

PW - 115

9 iron - 125

8 iron - 135

7 iron - 145

What irons do you use, it's usually pretty easy to find the club specs from the manufacturers website.

How many wedges you carry and their lofts depends on how you want to set up your bag.  I've seen bags that have 3 - 5 wedges in them.  I carry a PW, GW, 55* and 60* at my home course.  If I'm playing a course with tight fairways I'll bring an extra wood (3 Deep) and swap out the 55* and 60* for a 58*.

If you can't find your clubs on the manufacturers website, sites like global golf, amazon and others might help with specs but they probably won't have the bounce listed. Bounce is very important. there is a thread on club bounce here somewhere, you can do a quick search.

Um, Mike, isn't there some contradiction in high bounce and low to the ground face edge?  Won't high bounce bring leading edge more off the ground, compared to low bounce? Surely this bounce thing cannot be like shaft flex: every maker different so no good comparisons possible.

Let's imagine giant bounce, what 25*. How could the leading edge be close to the ground? I'm not saying you advocate such as this but to say, as much as possible yet keep edge close, seems open ended.

There are other ways to keep the leading edge close to the ground - heel and toe relief, grind, and sole width are all variables that factor in.

Phil M played a shot off a cart path by playing the ball back in his stance. Think forward shaft lean or closed face. Of course this trades bounce for loft and vice versa.

here is the SW and irons that I use (not my pics)

I cannot seem to find the specs on it.

I would guess a 46. So whats wrong with finding a proshop to get them measured? They can help show you the 60 standard lob also.

Whoops I meant 56 degree.

Couple more questions...if I have a 52 SW, should i go with a 58 LW? and if I have a 56 SW...then 60 LW?

What golf stores do you guys like for getting fitted? I'm in the Minneapolis area...we have things like GolfSmith..Golf Galaxy...etc.

Would it be better to get the wedge before or after Christmas? price-wise.

I've been reading about bounce quite a bit, but it looks like I should be fitted for my bounce, but most big name stores don't do that. What should I do about bounce?

thanks all

Well doing it by function works. What I mean is why not consider what you want to do with the shot? I understand thats not such a known quantity sometimes, in which case I would start in the middle of everything and go play it a season and just see. Golf has a history of very specialized clubs, I understand, like the spoon which was used I believe to reach down for a ball into wagon tracks. But you are playing a rough old course are you? Is it manicured with rolling surfaces? Taking the toe and heel off a wedge is just going to make it easier to go down and get under a ball, or steep sidehill lie play is somewhat easier, or you can open the club like crazy, but those are all kinda hard shots, and also kinda infrequent. A standard bounce with a standard sole really helps with things like alignment, increasing the bounce when open and things that make for easier shots.

Thanks trickyputt,

I asked around and found a really really good club fitter in the area. He should be able to narrow down what sort of bounce and grind I'm looking for. I'm pretty sure I have a steep wedge swing which turns into big divots. I think a lot more bounce will do me a lot of good. I'm not sure how much bounce my 64 has, but I don't think it's much.

I may also post a video of me pitching/chipping with my 64 just to confirm my steep swing. I don't like hitting flop shots (unless I'm in a bunker of course) and I don't like using my 64 in the bunker. I think it's because of the lack of bounce...I usually just slide right underneath the ball without much *oomph*.