Club Gapping

[IcemanYVR]

If you are replacing all your clubs, including your irons, you will have to see what the loft of your new PW will be... many modern PW are 45 or 46˚ where as older PW were between 48 and 50˚. This will affect the gaps in your wedges. You don't want a have a 45/46˚ PW then your next club be 56˚.

From what you've described a 45/46 PW, 52/58 combo might work well in your situation. Just some food for thought.

I prefer my irons with a more traditional loft, so I have a 48˚ PW. I only carry two other wedges, a 54, and a 60. The 6˚ gap between my wedges is fine with me as I don't have much problem feeling my yardages.

It's not that I think Pelz is full of it, I just don't want to have to think that much on the golf course

[youngskip40]

If you are replacing all your clubs, including your irons, you will have to see what the loft of your new PW will be... many modern PW are 45 or 46˚ where as older PW were between 48 and 50˚. This will affect the gaps in your wedges. You don't want a have a 45/46˚ PW then your next club be 56˚.

All of the irons I'm considering have relatively traditional lofts, PW is 47*, which is apparently conservative as far as PW lofts nowadays. I can't believe there are PW out there with 45 degree lofts. My 9-iron is 44.5*! I've been thinking about solving this problem with a 54* and 60* wedge combo actually. The 54* will at least get me to a halfway point between my PW and 60*. Thanks for the feedback, I'm off to a fitting!

[IcemanYVR]

All of the irons I'm considering have relatively traditional lofts, PW is 47*, which is apparently conservative as far as PW lofts nowadays. I can't believe there are PW out there with 45 degree lofts. My 9-iron is 44.5*!

That's how club manufacturers can claim to increase your distance... and sell more clubs. No one needed a GW 10-15 years ago.

[youngskip40]

That's how club manufacturers can claim to increase your distance... and sell more clubs. No one needed a GW 10-15 years ago.

I'm almost afraid to get a new set of irons, I'm going to need to re-guage all my distances. Oh well.

[Big Padrigo]

I used an old set of irons for a week, my old ping zings, while I was waiting for my new clubs to arrive. The pw on my old set is a 48 I think. I remembered why I liked that club so much, great for chipping and pitching, so much more versatile than my new 46 degree pw.

[patrick]

Yah, I rotate a lot of stuff between my Driver and 5i:  Callaway X 3w, Cleveland 4w, Titleist 21 909H, Nickent 3i Ironwood hybrid, this funky early metal 5w with a steel shaft.

Totally whimsical, 3w about 220, I hit all about the rest about the same distance (about 175-195).

That said, when I finally got my wedge gaps down, game became a lot more steady:

Mizuno JPX 50  Supposed to be more forgiving, which implies less of a shot maker.  Cast, not forged.  Best wedge I’ve ever had.  I do everything with it.

Vokey 56 sand wedge with 14 degrees bounce, yah, launch that whole damn bunker in the air.

60, for the lob and tight troubles.

Full swing:  50 goes 75, 56 goes 60, 60degrees goes 40-45.  All adjustable by angle of attack and swing speed.

[WUTiger]

Club designer Ralph Maltby has an interesting view: he suggests carrying a PW, SW (56* or so) and a LW (60*).

He claims a GW is not really needed it you practice on partial PW shots a little more.

Another view comes a local guy who has been playing on the mini-tours. Among the pros, he sees 4-wedge bags mainly with the long hitters who want more variety in close. The medium hitters often go with just 3 wedges, to get an extra club for the 200-yd. zone. Just depends on what you want, and need.

For about 18 months I carried a 46* PW, and CG14s in 50, 54, 58. I finally dumped the 54/58 in favor of a 56*. The 54* didn't quite get the ball out of the sand, and I had trouble with distance control on the 58*. You need to realize, however, that I'm 61 years old... so, I was hitting greenside cut shots with a SW for 20 years before the LW was invented.

Also, three wedges is a lot less hassle to practice than four wedges.

[saevel25]

All depends on what your comfortable with.

For me, i am not a fan of the lob wedge, i have issues hitting it full with out skying the wedge in the air, i can never get that thing down. So i tend to play up to a sandwedge only. Lob wedges are great for people who have issues with bunkers, but are no needed. You can also mess around with shaft lengths and club lofts to get fitted as well. I usually a 80% one wedge around the green guy, so i am more concerned with full wedge shots than multitude of sole grinds for chipping or pitching. Honestly i almost thought of just ditching the lob wedge, go to two sandwedges, with two grind profiles. I just love chipping with a sandwedge, always have.

[SweDeuS]

Originally Posted by youngskip40

Roughly, my distances for these "gap areas" are:

60* - 95

56* - 110

PW - 145

3i - 225

2i - 240 or 5w - 255

3w - 275

So, if I take the 2 iron/5-wood out of bag and don't replace it at all, I have about a 50 yard gap to contend with there. And while muscling a 3 iron is a little easier than wimping a 3-wood, neither of them are an extremely comfortable shot, nor will they produce reliable results.

I'm already fighting a 35 yard gap in my wedges, and my current PW is actually a 49 bent to 48, so assuming that when I buy a new set of irons in the next month, the loft will be 47*, that gap will lengthen. (I know that's not a huge difference, but it most certainly won't shorten the gap.)

That said... the standard loft of my DCI 990's are at least 1 degree weaker than what the standard now seems to be, so maybe that combined with a little better technology in newer clubs will increase my distance on my 3-iron to 230-235 ish and make that gap a little more manageable?

Any thoughts on that from anyone who upgraded their irons from a set that is say 7-10 years old?

I see your problem with the gap created if you ditch either the 2i or the 5w. Although I personally would like to have nice gaps between my short irons/wedges. You hit the ball far enough to alter your wood options. How about replacing your 5w and 3w with a 4 wood? That way the gap between long irons and woods won't be that severe, plus you'll have an extra club to eliminate that 35-yards wedge gap...