54° vs 56°

[Sliinkeejr]

This is my first post here and excited to get some feedback. 
 

I recently upgraded my irons to the Taylormade P790s. The set included a Pitching wedge (45°) and a Gap wedge (50°) I had already own a loft wedge at 60°  I’m looking to fill in the gap with a sand wedge but don’t know if I should get a 54° or 56°  Either way I am leaving a six degree gap up or down. Ideally something with more versatility around the greens would be great. 
 

Any suggestions would be helpful. 

[boogielicious]

3 hours ago, Sliinkeejr said:

This is my first post here and excited to get some feedback. 
 

I recently upgraded my irons to the Taylormade P790s. The set included a Pitching wedge (45°) and a Gap wedge (50°) I had already own a loft wedge at 60°  I’m looking to fill in the gap with a sand wedge but don’t know if I should get a 54° or 56°  Either way I am leaving a six degree gap up or down. Ideally something with more versatility around the greens would be great. 
 

Any suggestions would be helpful. 

How about 55? You could have a 54 adjusted. But, it’s more important to find out the distance gap between the 50 and 60. Pick the wedge that is in the middle distance-wise.

[Denny Bang Bang]

Welcome!
I’d look at your distance gap (in yards or meters) between your 45 and 50.  Then hit the 54 and 56 to see which would be consistent with that yardage gap.  As noted above, could adjust the loft if necessary.

Personally, I wouldn’t really consider the gapping between the SW and LW.  But I also don’t really use a LW on approach shots.  Those who do would certainly want to consider that gapping as well.

[billchao]

3 hours ago, Sliinkeejr said:

This is my first post here and excited to get some feedback. 
 

I recently upgraded my irons to the Taylormade P790s. The set included a Pitching wedge (45°) and a Gap wedge (50°) I had already own a loft wedge at 60°  I’m looking to fill in the gap with a sand wedge but don’t know if I should get a 54° or 56°  Either way I am leaving a six degree gap up or down. Ideally something with more versatility around the greens would be great. 
 

Any suggestions would be helpful. 

50°, 55°, and 60° is my wedge set.

[saevel25]

At the wedges it is more common to see 4, 5 or even 6 degrees of loft separation. 

A 54 might be a tad better for hitting full iron shots versus around the green. A 56 would probably be better around the green than hitting a full iron shot. For me, I never hit my 56 degree like a full iron. I just hit my 52 degree wedge as a partial wedge shot. 

 

[Piz]

It is better to like your clubs.  The specific lofts are not important.  Wedges are for close in work.  

[pganapathy]

5 hours ago, Sliinkeejr said:

This is my first post here and excited to get some feedback. 
 

I recently upgraded my irons to the Taylormade P790s. The set included a Pitching wedge (45°) and a Gap wedge (50°) I had already own a loft wedge at 60°  I’m looking to fill in the gap with a sand wedge but don’t know if I should get a 54° or 56°  Either way I am leaving a six degree gap up or down. Ideally something with more versatility around the greens would be great. 
 

Any suggestions would be helpful. 

Considering my wedge set consists of a 45* PW, 55* high bounce SW and 60* low bounce LW, and that I use the SW and LW only for specialty shots (flop and bunker depending on lie), I would have to say the only reason to get a SW is if you need a different bounce to your LW.  I personally use the PW for almost all shots from 100 yards in

[ChetlovesMer]

11 hours ago, Sliinkeejr said:

This is my first post here and excited to get some feedback. 
 

I recently upgraded my irons to the Taylormade P790s. The set included a Pitching wedge (45°) and a Gap wedge (50°) I had already own a loft wedge at 60°  I’m looking to fill in the gap with a sand wedge but don’t know if I should get a 54° or 56°  Either way I am leaving a six degree gap up or down. Ideally something with more versatility around the greens would be great. 
 

Any suggestions would be helpful. 

Welcome to the forum. 

Firstly, as many others have said the difference in loft between your 60° and your SW isn't that important. If you go with 54°, 55°, or 56°, it's only of minor importance. What's more important is what you plan to do with them.

For example, I carry a 50° Gap Wedge, a 54° Sand Wedge and a 60° Lob Wedge. The 50° Gap Wedge might as well be an 11 iron or something like that. I am happy to hit full shots with it and even its design is one that it looks exactly like the rest of my irons. The same is true of my pitching wedge. Everyone does it differently, but I think of my Pitching wedge and my Gap wedge as 10 and 11 irons. 

My only "specialty" wedges are my 54° sand wedge and my 60° lob wedge. These almost never get used for full shots. So, I never give even a moments thought to trying to get correct gapping between them and the rest of my irons. Instead I wanted a sand wedge to get me out of the sand. And a lob wedge that can get me out of trouble. 

My suggestion for you would be to find a sand wedge that gets you out of the sand. If that means 54° so be it. If you find it easier to get out of the sand with a 56° that's fine too. But remember, the bounce on your sand wedge is likely to have much more impact on how easy or difficult it is to get out of the sand. 

Lastly, wedge fittings can be really beneficial. I might argue more beneficial than iron fittings. Especially if you are unsure of what you are looking for. A good fitter (note: I said "GOOD" fitter) will help you figure out things like when and how you plan to use your wedges. Then walk you though the options of bounce, loft, grind, etc... It can be overwhelming to tackle alone. 

Last, Lastly, @iacas does Edel Wedge Fittings. See more about that here: 

 

I've personally never done an Edel Wedge Fitting. But I've only heard great things about them. The next time I replace my wedges I will be doing this. 

Good luck, and let us know what you decide. 

[TourSpoon]

Welcome!

I went 48-54-60 for over 20 years and then for the last few have been 50-54-58. The 54 is the workhorse of the group being reliable from the fairway and around the greens. The 58 is my specialty lob, getting most bunker play and some specialty shots. 

For me, the gapping from 50 to 54 is a lot more important that 54 to Lob. 

[WillieT]

As others have already said, welcome to the forum. 

I have recently bounced between two wedge setups - using Cleveland CBX / CBX2 wedges coming off a SLDR 46deg PW.  The first is the bread and butter set: 50 - 54 - 58 with the 54 being the workhorse around the greens.  The 58 gets the up and down short side work and the bunkers requiring getting up and out fast.  The 50 is for those shorter approaches.   The other setup is a 52 - 58.  The 52 does the work of the 50 and 54, whilst the 58 becomes the primary sand/short side wedge.  

[Sliinkeejr]

On 3/22/2022 at 1:36 AM, ChetlovesMer said:

Welcome to the forum. 

Firstly, as many others have said the difference in loft between your 60° and your SW isn't that important. If you go with 54°, 55°, or 56°, it's only of minor importance. What's more important is what you plan to do with them.

For example, I carry a 50° Gap Wedge, a 54° Sand Wedge and a 60° Lob Wedge. The 50° Gap Wedge might as well be an 11 iron or something like that. I am happy to hit full shots with it and even its design is one that it looks exactly like the rest of my irons. The same is true of my pitching wedge. Everyone does it differently, but I think of my Pitching wedge and my Gap wedge as 10 and 11 irons. 

My only "specialty" wedges are my 54° sand wedge and my 60° lob wedge. These almost never get used for full shots. So, I never give even a moments thought to trying to get correct gapping between them and the rest of my irons. Instead I wanted a sand wedge to get me out of the sand. And a lob wedge that can get me out of trouble. 

My suggestion for you would be to find a sand wedge that gets you out of the sand. If that means 54° so be it. If you find it easier to get out of the sand with a 56° that's fine too. But remember, the bounce on your sand wedge is likely to have much more impact on how easy or difficult it is to get out of the sand. 

Lastly, wedge fittings can be really beneficial. I might argue more beneficial than iron fittings. Especially if you are unsure of what you are looking for. A good fitter (note: I said "GOOD" fitter) will help you figure out things like when and how you plan to use your wedges. Then walk you though the options of bounce, loft, grind, etc... It can be overwhelming to tackle alone. 

Last, Lastly, @iacas does Edel Wedge Fittings. See more about that here: 

 

I've personally never done an Edel Wedge Fitting. But I've only heard great things about them. The next time I replace my wedges I will be doing this. 

Good luck, and let us know what you decide. 

Thanks for the feedback. It's very appreciated.

I honestly wasn't thinking of it like this. I don't think I've ever hit a full shot with my lob wedge either and would also consider my pitching wedge and gap wedge more of irons. This is a great perspective.

[wakefield724]

60, 55, 50 is my wedge set. I had the same issue. I just had my 54 bent to 55 and now boom, good to go  

a cool idea that I did was getting 3 different colored clubs. I use SM8’s. They are chrome, grey, and black. It’s handy when you reach for a club you club look for the color. There’s no need to read small print on a dirt covered wedge. 

Edited March 23, 2022 by wakefield724

[Groundhog34]

As the manufactures have made lofts stronger, so your 7 iron goes 10 yards further, I am not sure how many "wedges" I carry. I have a  PW that is 43, a 46, 50, 54 and 58. Do I play 5 wedges?

[Vinsk]

1 hour ago, Groundhog34 said:

As the manufactures have made lofts stronger, so your 7 iron goes 10 yards further, I am not sure how many "wedges" I carry. I have a  PW that is 43, a 46, 50, 54 and 58. Do I play 5 wedges?

Do you need to? If you only take full swings I guess you may. But it seems you could have a larger range of distances/shots to where you don’t need five wedges.

[imsys0042]

1 hour ago, Groundhog34 said:

As the manufactures have made lofts stronger, so your 7 iron goes 10 yards further, I am not sure how many "wedges" I carry. I have a  PW that is 43, a 46, 50, 54 and 58. Do I play 5 wedges?

I don’t consider my 44 degree PW a wedge, it’s more of a 10 iron.  It doesn’t really matter since I consider the gap between clubs.  I have a 44 degree PW and then Vokey 50, 56 and 60.  I find I can’t finesse, or take distance off, as easily with the 44 degree wedge so i can’t easily work it like my higher lofted wedges.  

[TourSpoon]

14 hours ago, Groundhog34 said:

As the manufactures have made lofts stronger, so your 7 iron goes 10 yards further, I am not sure how many "wedges" I carry. I have a  PW that is 43, a 46, 50, 54 and 58. Do I play 5 wedges?

In 20 years when wedges start at 36 degrees, you could say that you go from your wedges right into your hybrids. 🤣

Point well made here, I technically carry 4 wedges (46, 50, 54, 58), but if this were 1975 it would most likely be 2 (50, 56).  Today my 46 is really a 10 iron in function so I guess I am a 3 wedge player.