Wedge Basics?

[ShawnSum]

I'm currently on a journey of filling out my bag with the goal being that every single club has a purpose/use. I've got the new irons being made so I'm waiting on them, in the meantime I want to be educated on wedges because those are next up on the list! As someone who's never had "real" wedges and that has done all my sand, short, around the green game with a set PW this is going to be a new experience for me!

Right now it's looking like my bag is going to have space for 3 wedges excluding the set PW. Gap wedge, sand wedge and lob wedge is what I am thinking right now. The loft of the the set PW that I've got coming is 45 degrees. I live/play in Florida, have more of a shallow attack angle if that helps with anything...also I'm going to go and get fitted for the wedges but would like to have a conversation here about it as well! What do you guys suggest I be on the lookout for?

[klineka]

9 minutes ago, ShawnSum said:

What do you guys suggest I be on the lookout for?

More bounce is your friend

 

[JGus]

If you are going to carry 4 wedges, I think you need to gap them out equally.  My PW is 46, Gap is 50, AW is 54, and SW/LW is 58.  Having 4 wedges makes you rethink what you use them for.  Before I put 4 in the bag I always had a 56 SW, now I use the 58.

Once you identify the role/purpose of each wedge, then you need to think about what type of bounce you want on them to match the type of shots you expect to hit with each of them as @klineka pointed out.

[billchao]

2 hours ago, JGus said:

Once you identify the role/purpose of each wedge, then you need to think about what type of bounce you want on them to match the type of shots you expect to hit with each of them as @klineka pointed out.

I used to have different wedges with different grinds and each wedge had a role/purpose as you described. Now I have 50°, 55°, and 60° wedges all in the same head and grind. I find that's a lot more versatile because I can choose my club based on the trajectory I want instead of picking the club based on the lie and then trying to manipulate it to my desired trajectory. I also find my technique is more consistent because all three wedges feel and perform similarly.

[pganapathy]

8 hours ago, ShawnSum said:

What do you guys suggest I be on the lookout for?

My suggestion would be a 50* GW with medium bounce, a 55* SW with high bounce and a 60* LW with low bounce.  That covers all the options you need.

[ShawnSum]

5 hours ago, JGus said:

If you are going to carry 4 wedges, I think you need to gap them out equally.  My PW is 46, Gap is 50, AW is 54, and SW/LW is 58.  Having 4 wedges makes you rethink what you use them for.  Before I put 4 in the bag I always had a 56 SW, now I use the 58.

Once you identify the role/purpose of each wedge, then you need to think about what type of bounce you want on them to match the type of shots you expect to hit with each of them as @klineka pointed out.

Yessir that is what I want to do! I imagine I will start with adding an actual SW to my bag, probably a 56* with high bounce. Once I get comfortable with that one then I'll move onto the next.

[CharlieB]

Bob Vokey has several videos on the internet describing the effects of the different grinds and bounces. Living in Florida I would think that you would want a 58-14 in a K grind for sure. The other grinds will depend on the turf that you normally play on. He also recommends a separation of 4 degrees between each one. I myself use Vokey wedges in a 54-08 M grind and a 58-12 K grind. With these two wedges I can cover tight turf approach shots, out of the rough around the green shots, plus skinny and deep sand.

[JGus]

15 hours ago, billchao said:

I used to have different wedges with different grinds and each wedge had a role/purpose as you described. Now I have 50°, 55°, and 60° wedges all in the same head and grind. I find that's a lot more versatile because I can choose my club based on the trajectory I want instead of picking the club based on the lie and then trying to manipulate it to my desired trajectory. I also find my technique is more consistent because all three wedges feel and perform similarly.

I don't disagree with this thought process, I think wedges are a personal feel like a putter.   I use to just order the wedges that matched my iron set, but as I got a little better I had to make the decision on if I'm going to carry 4 wedges I better know how to use them and when to use them.  This part of my game has always been the worst so it took me a few months evaluating different options before I made a decision.

I don't think there is one right answer, I think the best answer is that they match your mindset of how you want to use them.

[BC-to-MI]

15 hours ago, billchao said:

I used to have different wedges with different grinds and each wedge had a role/purpose as you described. Now I have 50°, 55°, and 60° wedges all in the same head and grind. I find that's a lot more versatile because I can choose my club based on the trajectory I want instead of picking the club based on the lie and then trying to manipulate it to my desired trajectory. I also find my technique is more consistent because all three wedges feel and perform similarly.

This is the way I have trended now. The three wedges that I have are all the same grind with different lofts so that I get the same feel and turf interaction with one (optimistically assuming the same swing) as I do with the others. Then all I have to worry about it the type of ball flight and distance I am looking for, and use that to determine which wedge I am going to use. I also tend to hit pretty stock pitches/chips most of the time, so I am less concerned about having different setups for specific shots.

[JGus]

15 hours ago, pganapathy said:

My suggestion would be a 50* GW with medium bounce, a 55* SW with high bounce and a 60* LW with low bounce.  That covers all the options you need.

I don't disagree with this, but curious why most people lean towards a SW being 54-56*.  I am not good out of the sand, but determined that using a 58* with the right grind and bounce actually helped me a lot, and it doubles as a LW.  When you buy specialty wedges (vokey, ping, etc.) they are not stamped with the type of wedge, just the degree of them.

12 hours ago, ShawnSum said:

Yessir that is what I want to do! I imagine I will start with adding an actual SW to my bag, probably a 56* with high bounce. Once I get comfortable with that one then I'll move onto the next.

And as I said, I don't think there's a right answer here, but if your PW is 45* and you get a SW at 56*, then you lock yourself into getting a GW at 50-52*, and if you really want a 4th, your getting a LW at 60*.  Is this a realistic setup for how you want to use your wedges?  For standard chip shots, which club becomes your go to?  Is a 56* the best to help you get out of the sand?  I'm not trying to push in any specific direction, just making the point that you need to know and understand how you want to use each of them and that they should be gapped consistently.

[ShawnSum]

3 minutes ago, JGus said:

And as I said, I don't think there's a right answer here, but if your PW is 45* and you get a SW at 56*, then you lock yourself into getting a GW at 50-52*, and if you really want a 4th, your getting a LW at 60*.  Is this a realistic setup for how you want to use your wedges?  For standard chip shots, which club becomes your go to?  Is a 56* the best to help you get out of the sand?  I'm not trying to push in any specific direction, just making the point that you need to know and understand how you want to use each of them and that they should be gapped consistently.

Well right now my 45* set PW is my work horse for everything and I adjust depending on what the shot requires (or what I think it requires). I'm sure it will be a learning process on figuring out which wedge will become the most comfortable for me depending on what I'm doing shot wise. I'm looking forward to figuring it all out and spending a lot of time at the practice green/bunkers!