Bounce?

[SasQuatch<3]

What do the different types of Bounces offered in a typical setup for wedges, what do they mean and how would they affect the different types of shots. Would i want a low bounce for a high shot from greenside close to the pin or a high bounce? How does the bounce affect the spin of the ball, less backspin or more roll? Sorry to throw all of the questions at ya!

[TyCobb]

Not sure if I'm correct, but I think bounce has more to do with your angle of attack. If you are a sweeper of the ball, you want low bounce, and if you are a digger you want higher bounce.

[PiKapp23]

We could get into pages and pages about bounce, but basically bounce has to do with the angle of difference between the leading edge of club and the trailing edge. What this means is that if you setup the wedge down on a hard surface with shaft upright the 'flange' on the back on wedge should be lower than the front edge of the wedge so the front will be off the ground slightly.

Bounce is there to help the club from digging into the turf or sand on your shots. When you hit the sand/turf the bounce will hit first and help redirect the club up so it doesn't dig or bury in to the surface. This is especially important if you play on soft or wet turf or soft and deep sand in bunkers.

There are usually 2 completely different types of swing paths - steep or shallow. In a steep swing your club comes down on a steeper angle toward the ball (and obviously the shallow is not coming in as steep). If your swing path is steep, then typically you are going to want a little more bounce on your clubs to help you keep from digging into turf/sand too much (and thus not getting follow-through). A shallow angle will usually require less bounce because you're not digging in as much as too much bounce will cause the club to skip into the ball on some occassions as the club 'bounces' off the turf.

With all that said, for most golfers in normal conditions, most wedges will have low to moderate bounce (6*-10*) except the sand wedge, which will usually have 10*-16* of bounce. If you do not typically play in wet or soft turf conditions or do not have a particular steep angle of attack then your PW , AW/GW (49-52* of loft) will have bounce that somewhere around 8* and SW (54-58* of loft) will have about 14*. If you also have a lob wedge (LW - 58-60* of loft or more), then it may have very low bounce (4*-6*), which makes it easier to slide the club under the ball for those high soft shots.

As for the questions about what bounce for particular shots, it depends on what conditions you're hitting off of. If the lie is 'tight' (little grass or very firm turf), then less bounce will help you get the ball up. However, if the ball is sitting up a bit or lie is soft or wet, then you'll be able to hit the same lofted club just as high with higher bounce. The bounce in those conditions just affects how much of the club will slide under the ball at contact. As for spin, it's not directly affected by bounce, but again about where on the clubface you're able to make contact (although some people feel more bounce is good for spin because it allows them to swing more agressive without digging into turf).

As stated before, when you are looking to get wedges, do not be thinking about spin and shot height in reference to bounce. Rather think about your swing angle of attack and the conditions or turf and sand on the course/s that you typically play. More bounce makes it easier to hit shots off soft turf and sand; less bounce makes it easier to hit off firm turf, thin lies and firm sand.

I hope I've not confused you more than you already were. Wedges are sometimes the most confusing clubs to buy because of all the options around lofts and bounce.

[SasQuatch<3]

yes thank you very much, im more of a shallow attack angle, so im gunna look at maybe an average to a more low bounce, but like you said conditions change constantly, therefor one wedge will most likely not work for all conditions! Thanks for the help!

[Elvisliveson]

yes thank you very much, im more of a shallow attack angle, so im gunna look at maybe an average to a more low bounce, but like you said conditions change constantly, therefor one wedge will most likely not work for all conditions! Thanks for the help!

That's why you'd never want GW/SW/LW with all the same bounce. Typically, you want more from your SW, say 10 or 12 and less from your GW or LW - like 6-8.

[glebert]

I really should think more about bounce and how to utilize it. It doesn't help that I have no idea what the bounces of my current setup are. I'm building a new set of irons, and at least I will know what the specs are for them.

[mikelaw]

Lower bounce is always better for me. If you can control how much you dig into the ground/sand then lower is always better.

I wish I could take ALL the bounce off of my clubs. Most of my clubs only have 1-5 degrees of bounce anyway...

[Amoretti]

Great information, now I know to look for more bounce when purchasing my next wedge.

[SALUKI LEFTY]

I think PiKapp covered it all. Nice post.

Picking out a wedge is almost more complicated than a driver sometimes.

[jcrob902]

Nice post pikapp23 very informative I have 2 of each wedge because in Michigan you get a ton of soft course conditions sometimes fairways are like hitting off a sponge and some courses are always hard and dry or even when wet pretty firm, it pays to have more extra wedges then drivers.