Wedge Replacement

[muskegman]

it takes a pretty darn hard swing to play that loft opened up and make the ball go very far forward. But darn will it stop.

You got that right... I only needed about 15 feet to an elevated green and I took a lazy swing withe 60 opened up. It didn't go but 8 feet. I'll take a cut at it next time.

Had them out on the course tonight. I like the versatility of two wedges. I still favor the pitching wedge for bump and run when I can, but two wedges is going to be heaven. Just got to settle into a new rythm with them.

[NCGolfer]

I just picked up a 58 Spin Milled at 2nd Swing Golf last night for $70...barely used. A friend of mine has a 52 Vokey that I'm going to put in my bag with the 58 after the club championship this weekend. I don't want to make the change yet.

I've hit the 52 and 58 and really liked them. I'll use them for a bit and see if I want a 54 instead of the 52...that's the only change I might make going forward.

[Donald MacKenzie]

Jeff: I know you have already put some new wedges in the bag, but let me give you one more potential set-up to think about. I use four wedges: PW/46, Gap/51, SW/54 and LW/58. The PW and Gap wedges are part of my iron set (Fusions) and the SW and LW are more traditional blades (in my signature).

I use the PW only for full shots, 115-130 yards. My 51-degree wedge (an "approach wedge" in Callaway terms) I use for full and 3/4 shots, 115 yards and in. It has a pretty wide sole, and it is great for hitting chips and other short shots off tight lies around the green and off the fringe. The SW is good for 80-100 yard shots from the fairway, and is great for little punch shots too. It has enough bounce (10 degrees) to hit bunker shots, but a thin enough sole that it is also great at hitting delicate chips from the rough. And the LW has enough loft for flop shots, and enough bounce for short bunker shots. I can hit it from the fairway about 80 yards if I need to bring a shot in very high, but generally I only use this club around the green.

I bring this all up just because that 51-degree gap wedge is my MVP. It gives me more confidence to hit certain shots with a perimeter-weighted wedge rather than a blade. I know there's a gap wedge available for your iron set, so if your new set-up doesn't work, perhaps you'd want to take a look at adding the gapper.

I dropped my 3-iron because I never used it (thank you, Sonartec Md!), so I had room for the extra wedge. Otherwise, I'd probably go 46-51-58 with my wedges. As much as I love the 54-degree wedge I have in my bag now, I could get by without it. And there are some shots you simply need a lob wedge for in this day and age.

Hope this doesn't confuse the issue. Just one more voice telling you to try something else!

D

[muskegman]

Thanks for the idea... I put my 804.OS gap wedge in the closed after the 54 and 60 degree wedges arrived. I rarely use the 3-iron. I did get some good use out of it on a couple of par-fives the other day. Man did I smoke those shots so I'm a little reluctant to pull them out right now.

During the dry summer months my pitching wedge seems to send them 120-135 so the gapper filled the gap (surprise!) nicely. I'm doing a bit of experimenting and getting used to the new clubs now... I'll keep that suggestion in mind as I explore the right clubs for this bag. Thanks.

[muskegman]

The conversation we had about wedge set-ups was very helpful to me. You can see in my signature what I'm using now. The PW and 2 SW set up feels right to me. I love those oil cans! I picked up another one after the Newport Cup, a 58° to replace the 60° I had been using. For some reason I just feel more confident with these. Wedges are my friends.

Off Topic:
I'm considering losing the 3-iron in favor of a hybrid now. Could look something like this: Driver, 3W, 5W or hybrid 19°, Hybrid 23° (?), and 4-PW. I played with a Nickent 17° and it is stupid easy to hit. I have to get one or three.

[muda]

Do you like the nickent? I want a 18 or 19 degree wood like hybrid, i think. I already have a 22 degree titleist 503.h that i call my butter knife, and i love it. i've thought about one of tour edges hybrids as well.

[muskegman]

Josh, that Nickent hybrid was the easiest club I've ever hit. Now, thats not saying a whole lot as I haven't had experience with any other hybrids. From what I understand TaylorMade and Sonortec do a good job. As far as looks go, I like the Sonortecs about as much as any hybrid. The Nickents are half the price of the Sonortec hybrid.

Long story short, I don't have any reason to look further for a hybrid than the Nickent metalwoods. They set up great for me and are stupid, I mean stupid easy to hit. I hit one on an approach shot on a par five, hit it a little thick and it went 200 yards. That is my idea of a good time. Contact feels great... I hope to have a couple by the time spring rolls around again.

They have lofts in the the range you're looking for. I think the lofts are 17, 18.5, and 20 degrees.

[Grip]

I know that many of you have probably read, or are familiar with, Dave Pelz's Short Game Bible . If not though, he advocates (among other things) knowing what your partial wedge distances are. I found it very helpful. I have even gone ahead and labeled each wedge with "full-half-third" distances on the shaft (he calls it "10:30-9:00-7:30"). It gives me great confidence when I pull a wedge out and know what to expect from that club/%swing. I might even say it almost makes one club into three.

Anyway, this is just a roundabout way to say that you may have several layers of overlap amongst your wedges. Loft and bounce are primary considerations but also maybe consider partial shot overlaps.

FWIW: In my own experience sand wedges with high bounce angles are good for soft sand but tend to be heavyish and not very versatile.

[iacas]

I know that many of you have probably read, or are familiar with, Dave Pelz's

I've read it and I subscribe to it, but I think you may have gotten one thing just a little wrong (or simply miscommunicated it here):

7:30 - 1/4 9:00 - 1/2 10:30 - 3/4 Full swing I suppose would be 12:00 or so, but he only ever talks about 10:30 as the first partial swing. Thus, every wedge has four real "stops" - full and then ever 1/4 under that. My PW, for example, 115, 100, 80, 60.

[Grip]

I apologize for the misinformation -- you're right. I had forgotten this, but I remember now.

Way back when, when I read his book, I adapted his program and eliminated the 3/4 shot for my own game. I found it to be the least repeatable "clock position." Also, I found the distance of the 3/4 swing tended to be the same distance as the full swing of the next wedge in my bag.

Thanks for straigtening this out.