How Many Wedges Do You Carry?

[tricky]

I know for me personally, my short game started improving when I changed from trying to use a bunch of different clubs to just one or two. I believe that with limited practice time, I gain more benefit from focusing on the use of one or two wedges from a variety of lies, distances, and conditions. Just my opinion for what its worth.

If I was Lee Trevino, I'd probably agree with you. Id also probably only carry a seven iron. Unfortunately I lack anything like that sort of ability, and my touch is terrible (did I mention I have the touch of an elephant?). For me, I have come to believe, what works best is to keep my swing action the same (for each type of shot) and vary distance through use of differently lofted clubs - which the manufacturers cunningly provide for just such a purpose.

[cnixon83]

i carry 3 wedges... PW, 58*, and 64*. this combo works great for me.:)

[mruseless]

If I was Lee Trevino, I'd probably agree with you. Id also probably only carry a seven iron. Unfortunately I lack anything like that sort of ability, and my touch is terrible (did I mention I have the touch of an elephant?). For me, I have come to believe, what works best is to keep my swing action the same (for each type of shot) and vary distance through use of differently lofted clubs - which the manufacturers cunningly provide for just such a purpose.

Yup, I freely admit that one approach won't work for everyone. And you certainly do need some touch to make the "one club" (or in my case "two club") approach work well.

The main reason I depend on feel is because I found that trying to make my swing the same every day was difficult. It added a bunch more variables like how I felt that day, if I was angry or not, how much caffeine or beer I had in me, etc, etc. I found that I spent a lot of time trying to "feel" that my swing was the same as on other days. So I figured if I'm working on feel in that sense, I might as well try to feel how far the ball is going to travel too. It was an interesting journey for me.

[Zeph]

Tried that for fifteen years. Never really worked for me. I like to hit a high flop, laying back a 'general purpose' wedge always left me inconsistent on height and tended to throw the ball sideways also with additional sidespin. This made for extra things that I needed to take into account and massively upped the variability of the shot. I wasn't very good at that. I'm not doubting that it can be done with one club, and indeed for many people my approach (I recognise) might be entirely stupid. Nevertheless, I can afford the bag space, and feel with my particular bunch of weaknesses it massively helps me to use loft to adjust distance (both with full, and chip shots), rather than by feel (my feel sucks, really it does). Since taking this approach and buying a decent putter I'm about eight shots better in practice than I was before. That's massive for me. Instead of struggling to play to my handicap I'm looking at sixteen or better being a realistic goal before the Autumn.

I see your point, I don't like to open the face either. I have however found a new technique where I aim directly at the flag and feet parallell. The height of the shot is tetermined by the hand position relative to the ball. The more ahead of the ball, the lower it will go. With the hands even a bit behind, I add loft and it will go higher.

I use a 56 or 58 for this shot which I also use for greenside chipping. What I don't understand is why you need so many wedges on 50, 52, 54 degrees. To have one at 52 and two at 58/60 with different bounce is OK if you don't want to pitch with a high bounce wedge. I play a lot at a course with small greens, heavy undulated and many height variations. A pitch/flop shot is necessary to get around the course. I chip as often as I can, hitting directly at the ball and not using the bounce. Feel determine distance and hand position determine loft. I don't need height for my chips, so it doesn't matter if I use a 52 or 58 degree club as long as I'm comfortable with it and got the feel for distances. Everyone got feel, it's just a matter of being comfortable with what you do and do it right. If you can stand outside the green and throw the ball within a few feet with your hand, you can do it with a club.

[timtim]

For me, I have come to believe, what works best is to keep my swing action the same (for each type of shot) and vary distance through use of differently lofted clubs - which the manufacturers cunningly provide for just such a purpose.

Dave Peltz wrote that book Short Game Bible, where he recommended three swings, and recommended figuring out distances with each wedge with each swing, and gave a typical chart to start with. That system is money. No doubt about it.

[tricky]

I see your point, I don't like to open the face either. I have however found a new technique where I aim directly at the flag and feet parallell. The height of the shot is tetermined by the hand position relative to the ball. The more ahead of the ball, the lower it will go. With the hands even a bit behind, I add loft and it will go higher........

I don't doubt that it's an approach that you can take. I tried variations on this, and everything else based around a pitching and sand wedge only, around the greens for years. It made me hugely more likely to fluff shots, or thin them, or concentrate on contact and mess up weight....and a range of other bad things. I have found with experience (and I've only recently changed to carrying multiple wedges - the shots seem to be falling off) that the multiple-wedge approach works much better for me.

You might find it interesting to read this , this quote addresses your point specifically:

Four wedges also are recommended, so players don't have to improvise their swings to vary the distances of pitch shots.

(If you vehemently dislike what I'm doing with my wedge options, I'm not going to tell you what my current thinking with my fairway woods is....)

It's not just a question of putting together a bag, and keeping the setup the same for every course and set of conditions either. You put together the bag on the basis of what you're most likely to need that day . In the same way that you might play a different club, and different type of shot, from the same position under different conditions.

........most tour players have a minimum of three wedges. They have a pitching wedge, a gap wedge of 54 degrees and a sand wedge with a minimum of 56 degrees up to 60 degrees. Very few players use wedges with more than 60 degrees. So how many and what type of wedges should the average player carry in his bag? First of all, your wedges should match up to the golf courses that you predominately play.....

I believe that, for me, conditions make a big difference. If it's windy and wet underfoot, there's little point me carrying a 60 loft 8 bounce flop wedge. It puts the ball high and the wind moves it, plus the low bounce is likely to cut into the ground and make contact variable (this is what happens for me, your mileage may vary). On the other hand, with no wind and tight hard lies the 60/8 will make it a lot easier for me to get the ball airborne and stop it.

I'm not going to rationalise each club. I would just say that when it's hard underfoot and hot, the ball flies well and stops less easily. An extra wedge may help to get a better spread of distance and height combined with stopping power. When it's wet I see your point better. I certainly am less likely to carry a 60 loft (because of the bounce) , but what I may do is carry wedges with closer gaps and more bounce. I want those options. I (will when I get the 60/8) have six wedges besides pitching wedge. I will probably carry three of those on average, but from day to day they will be a different three . So far it seems to be making a big difference to my scoring. I definitely use relatively low numbers of clubs to get me into range, and then prefer as many options as possible from 150/160 yards in. More scoring options for approach shots , is how I've come to think of it.

[Jax]

I carry 3 with me

Pitch,Sand and 60

Tommy Armour 845 Silver Scot for Pitch and Sand

and Ping 60

[87vert]

I carry 4 wedges!

Same here, just added the Gap Wedge and replaced my SW with the Callaway X-Tour (was matched to my set)

Thinking about replacing the PW with an Callaway or Vokey wedge. I love wedges, I might even add a 64* to my collection for shorter courses where I leave the driver in the trunk.

[tricky]

Dave Peltz wrote that book Short Game Bible, where he recommended three swings, and recommended figuring out distances with each wedge with each swing, and gave a typical chart to start with. That system is money. No doubt about it.

I don't know if it's the same, but what I find works best for me is setting myself up almost identically for each shot, but using turn, backswing, and choking down on the club to control weight, and the loft of the club the trajectory of the ball. When I start moving my hands forward and backwards, and laying the club back, bad things start to happen.

[hawkeye]

4 wedges

PW Taylormade Tour Preferred - 47 degrees
GW Cleveland RTG DSG - 51 degrees
SW Ping Tour-W - 55 degrees
LW Ping Tour-W - 59 degrees.

The 2 Pings will be replaced by Clevelands in the near future. A much better club.

[91wood]

I voted three...
PW
SW
LW

Now if you don't consider the pitching wedge in that group... I am soon to buy a gap wedge

[AzGolfGeek]

I voted 4. Ping eye 2+ PW-48, Vokey GW-52, Vokey SW-56, Vokey LW-60. Sometime I will carry only 3, replacing the 52 & 56 with a 55. This depends on the couse and the club history I have had playing that course. This also means that either the 3 iron or 5 wood comes out, and sometimes a 4 wood goes in. It all depends on the course I'm playing.

BrianB

[squaddie]

I carry four wedges if you include the PW as a wedge.

As my short-game skill improves I want to see if I can reduce the count to three wedges in the future, removing the GW. I may also switch out the 54* SW for a 56* since my bunker shot still needs work, though I do like hitting the 54* off the turf.

Freeing up a club would allow me another long iron, hybrid or wood.

[hokiebound]

I use 3. LW, SW, PW. I use the SW mainly for chipping.

[caddy45]

i use a pw gw and sw

[Sherlockian]

I carry 4, basically because modern lofts are stronger than they used to be. My 4 iron used to be a 3 iron; PW used to be a 9 iron; my GW used to be a PW. It took me awhile to figure that out. Before I got more modern clubs(stronger lofts), I thought my playing partners were so much longer than I was . I was hitting 7 irons to their 8s, sometimes 9s.

[Cowhunter7]

Whatever works I guess, but you don't need that big variety of clubs. One can easily do most of the shots.

Dave Pelz's Chipping Bible says it's a must to carry a low bounce wedge for hard pan lies or for opening up the club face (which increases bounce). That's were I got the idea to vary the bounce for the wedges in my bag. I'm not a good enough player to recommend that approach but it seems to be working for me.

[Zeph]

That depends on what type of shot you need. If you need a high pitch from hard pan, low bounce can be easier, but not necessary. You may well hit a high bounce wedge off hard pan lie. For chipping, bounce is out of the equation, so it's only for those high shots you need to be able to hit the shot.

Depends on your local courses of course. If they have hard fairway, lower bounce may be good. For normal to soft grass, you will do well with high bounce.