Bending wedges to help with gapping, a good idea?

[Lugowskins]

I currently carry 52, 56 and 60 degree wedges but my PW is 46 degrees so I've got a pretty big gap. I have about a 25+ yard difference between my 46 degree PW and my 52 degree and those 25 yards in between tend to leave me feeling less than confident when those yardages pop up. Wondering if I should bother going in and bending down my 52 to a 50 and my 56 to a 54 (love my 60 for short game) to help close that gap or if I should just focus on controlling my PW more and find a swing for each of those troubling yardages? 

[ncates00]

16 minutes ago, Lugowskins said:

I currently carry 52, 56 and 60 degree wedges but my PW is 46 degrees so I've got a pretty big gap. I have about a 25+ yard difference between my 46 degree PW and my 52 degree and those 25 yards in between tend to leave me feeling less than confident when those yardages pop up. Wondering if I should bother going in and bending down my 52 to a 50 and my 56 to a 54 (love my 60 for short game) to help close that gap or if I should just focus on controlling my PW more and find a swing for each of those troubling yardages? 

Maybe.  Or roll your PW back a little and play fewer wedges.

To your latter question, it depends on whether you want an extra club somewhere else.  For instance, if you can hit little controlled shots with your PW, then you could get an extra club club at the top end of your bag, like a driving iron or hybrid or fairway wood.  At your speed, having an extra "big" club like a driving iron/hybrid or something might be good for you.  It really depends on what kind of shots you're more likely to face and whether you'll use the clubs.  

Some guys don't even carry but 3 wedges: 48, 54, 60, for example.  That 6 degrees of separation helps cover a wide variety of wedge distances while freeing up room at the top for other things.  

[klineka]

40 minutes ago, Lugowskins said:

Wondering if I should bother going in and bending down my 52 to a 50 and my 56 to a 54 (love my 60 for short game) to help close that gap or if I should just focus on controlling my PW more and find a swing for each of those troubling yardages? 

My PW is 46 degrees too and I play a 50,54,60 and love it. I have gotten really good with knocking down my 54 degree and have feels of swing length and where I grip on the club that give me 5 yd increments dialed in from 85-115 yards.

I have roughly a 7-10 yard gap between full swings on PW and 50, but I rarely hit those full, usually knocking them down a bit too.

Long winded answer to say that either way you will still have a 6 degree gap, but it's up to you if you want it to be between your PW and GW, or SW and LW.

Edited February 21, 2020 by klineka

[Bonvivant]

The only downside to bending is that if you are bending to a strong loft, you will lose bounce (bending weaker increases bounce). You may find that the bounce that you had was what you needed and you have a less than optimal club once you bend stronger.

That's the only risk you take when bending heads (unless you are bending cast irons far). Good luck and keep us posted!

[Lugowskins]

1 hour ago, ncates00 said:

Maybe.  Or roll your PW back a little and play fewer wedges.

To your latter question, it depends on whether you want an extra club somewhere else.  For instance, if you can hit little controlled shots with your PW, then you could get an extra club club at the top end of your bag, like a driving iron or hybrid or fairway wood.  At your speed, having an extra "big" club like a driving iron/hybrid or something might be good for you.  It really depends on what kind of shots you're more likely to face and whether you'll use the clubs.  

Some guys don't even carry but 3 wedges: 48, 54, 60, for example.  That 6 degrees of separation helps cover a wide variety of wedge distances while freeing up room at the top for other things.  

I get what you're saying my thinking is being a longer hitter that doesn't play many long courses I don't have much need for another long club but having my shorter yardages gapped out for ease of use could be beneficial. If I could bend those down and get it so I have essentially a 15 yard gap between each club from my (what would be) 54 degree through 4 iron it would make things simpler because right now 125-150 is a range that isn't uncommon to be at and that is currently where I'm between clubs. My 52 with a normal swing carries 125 I can juice it up and get close to 135 but that's a very inconsistent everything I've got overswing, admittedly I haven't worked much on manipulating yardages with my PW but trying to get that down to 130-135 is tough for me I'm much more comfortable right now taking full swings. I have my 3 wedges, 4-pw AP2s, have a Titleist H1 21 degree hybrid that's my most consistent long club, a Taylormade Rocketbalz 3wood which I never hit probably going to replace it with a 19 degree Titleist H1 hybrid and turn it down to 18 degrees is my plan, and my G400 driver. I feel fairly confident in the longer yardage clubs that honestly I rarely have to play, if I'm not hitting driver off the tee it's generally a 6 - 7 iron or my hybrid and outside of a few par 5s in the area unless I'm atrocious off the tee I don't have a need for anything that goes over what I hit my hybrid which is just how my game is going to be when I'm really only playing 5800-6300 yard courses because that's really all there is in the area. 

56 minutes ago, Bonvivant said:

The only downside to bending is that if you are bending to a strong loft, you will lose bounce (bending weaker increases bounce). You may find that the bounce that you had was what you needed and you have a less than optimal club once you bend stronger.

That's the only risk you take when bending heads (unless you are bending cast irons far). Good luck and keep us posted!

I hadn't really thought about it affecting the bounce perhaps I should look at just buying new ones. Thanks for giving me an excuse to indulge in my favorite pastime, spending money on golf equipment lol 

1 hour ago, klineka said:

My PW is 46 degrees too and I play a 50,54,60 and love it. I have gotten really good with knocking down my 54 degree and have feels of swing length and where I grip on the club that give me 5 yd increments dialed in from 85-115 yards.

I have roughly a 7-10 yard gap between full swings on PW and 50, but I rarely hit those full, usually knocking them down a bit too.

Long winded answer to say that either way you will still have a 6 degree gap, but it's up to you if you want it to be between your PW and GW, or SW and LW.

See I think that set up is ideal as well. I would think with the shorter yardages if I'm trying to say knock a 54 down 20 yards would be easier to do than manipulate a PW down 20 yards simply less room for error and you're going to be more comfortable being closer to the pin. Where my head is at right now at least. 

Edited February 21, 2020 by Lugowskins

[Club Rat]

Rather than change lofts on the wedges, learning to play a change with ball position, opening the club open a tad and or
learning to flight your shots are possibilities. 
A different wedge might also be a consideration.

[Lugowskins]

I guess what it boils down to is where should I want my 6 degree gap to be either between my PW and 52 or a 54 and my 60. Also, if bending them is ok or if I should just pony up and just buy new. 

Edited February 21, 2020 by Lugowskins

[gbogey]

My PW (iron set) is 45 degrees.  I was playing wedges that were 50, 54, 58 but recently have gone to 48, 54, 58.  For whatever reason, I had a distance gap with a 50 that was hard to club down to, but with the 48 that has gone away - must be the transition from the iron set to non-set wedge.  I've never felt that I needed to go beyond 58.

[Lugowskins]

3 hours ago, gbogey said:

My PW (iron set) is 45 degrees.  I was playing wedges that were 50, 54, 58 but recently have gone to 48, 54, 58.  For whatever reason, I had a distance gap with a 50 that was hard to club down to, but with the 48 that has gone away - must be the transition from the iron set to non-set wedge.  I've never felt that I needed to go beyond 58.

Yeah I didn't really know any better when I bought my wedges I was new to the game but I've been using my 60 degree for so long now on basically every shot inside 100 yards I cant imagine playing a round without it lol I love it so much I bet a buddy last year (who is about the same skill level as me) that I could beat him over 9 with just my 60 degree and a putter I shot a 52 which I think is respectable! Never mind the fact that the 9 was about the shortest you'll see at just over 2800 yards and he beat me by 10 strokes but you get the idea ha.

[Bonvivant]

Just now, Lugowskins said:

I hadn't really thought about it affecting the bounce perhaps I should look at just buying new ones. Thanks for giving me an excuse to indulge in my favorite pastime, spending money on golf equipment lol 

Keep in mind that this is a 2 way street, and you might find that you like less bounce than you have been playing with if you do end up bending them. I can totally relate to the spending money thing. One of my 2020 goals was to not spend any money on clubs. 47 days in and I am doing just fine on that front, but its a long haul, lol.

[Lugowskins]

1 minute ago, Bonvivant said:

Keep in mind that this is a 2 way street, and you might find that you like less bounce than you have been playing with if you do end up bending them. I can totally relate to the spending money thing. One of my 2020 goals was to not spend any money on clubs. 47 days in and I am doing just fine on that front, but its a long haul, lol.

Fittings aren't crazy expensive at least at the place I want to go I know it would be worth it but the problem is that I live in the middle of nowhere and they're a 2+ hour drive away lol I've accepted that i'm going to be spending an exceptional amount of money on golf so I've actually worked it into my budget, thankfully I've found a way to get a good amount of extra income in my pocket so the plan is to play a ton this year save up for a full fitting next off season and really give it a go see how good I can get. Despite the thread I don't hate my set up but when you think you're a tweak or two away from being better it's hard not to pull the trigger!