Wedge Bounce and Grinds (From the Spin Axis Ep. 71)

[gestate0560]

Listening to episode 71 on golf equipment and I have to admit I never fully got the importance of grinds and bounce and sole shape generally. Why would it matter if you’re hitting ball first?

[iacas]

4 hours ago, gestate0560 said:

Listening to episode 71 on golf equipment and I have to admit I never fully got the importance of grinds and bounce and sole shape generally. Why would it matter if you’re hitting ball first?

That's a bit of the reason why I played a bit of devil's advocate. (The grinds matter more than the bounce itself, IMO.)

[gestate0560]

1 minute ago, iacas said:

That's a bit of the reason why I played a bit of devil's advocate. (The grinds matter more than the bounce itself, IMO.)

Do they matter for feel or for actual measurable performance?

[iacas]

1 minute ago, gestate0560 said:

Do they matter for feel or for actual measurable performance?

Both.

[gestate0560]

1 minute ago, iacas said:

Both.

Interesting. In a perfect ball first contact, does the club interact with the ball and ground simultaneously at any point? My assumption was that the ball would be gone by the time the club starts to interact with the ground on a standard shot.

[iacas]

6 hours ago, gestate0560 said:

Interesting. In a perfect ball first contact, does the club interact with the ball and ground simultaneously at any point? My assumption was that the ball would be gone by the time the club starts to interact with the ground on a standard shot.

Yes. And there are plenty of shots where it starts to interact before you hit it (besides the obvious out of bunkers).

[Ty_Webb]

7 hours ago, gestate0560 said:

Interesting. In a perfect ball first contact, does the club interact with the ball and ground simultaneously at any point? My assumption was that the ball would be gone by the time the club starts to interact with the ground on a standard shot.

Think about hitting a high shot off hardpan. If the clubface is open and you have lots of bounce in the heel, the leading edge is well off the ground. If you have a grind that has heel relief, then that leading edge sits much more snug to the ground. That gives you more margin for error. 

The other thing is that while you might plan not to interact with the ground before the ball (you might also plan to do this), none of us is perfect in our execution and so a little bit of help here and there will make you better. I'm sure Rory didn't mean to blow his pitch across the 17th green yesterday, but he did. If someone as good as him can hit less than perfect shots, then everyone here needs whatever help they can get.

[saevel25]

48 minutes ago, Ty_Webb said:

The other thing is that while you might plan not to interact with the ground before the ball (you might also plan to do this), none of us is perfect in our execution and so a little bit of help here and there will make you better. I'm sure Rory didn't mean to blow his pitch across the 17th green yesterday, but he did. If someone as good as him can hit less than perfect shots, then everyone here needs whatever help they can get.

Yep, and this is why the game improvement irons have very wide soles with bounce. It helps when you hit the ball a bit fat. You can get away with it as the club won’t immediately dig into the ground. It glides more. 

[iacas]

1 hour ago, saevel25 said:

Yep, and this is why the game improvement irons have very wide soles with bounce. It helps when you hit the ball a bit fat. You can get away with it as the club won’t immediately dig into the ground. It glides more. 

I think that's mostly about lowering the CG. 🙂