Which iron/wedge set-up do you think is better?

[laxbballgolf]

A) Standard 3-PW with 54 and 60 degree wedges.

B) Ditch the 5 iron, add a gap wedge, and bend two irons and two wedges 1° each to fine-tune the gaps. (Ditch the 5 iron, bend the #4 and #6 one degree each to narrow the gap, bend a 50° gap wedge 1° weak, bend a 56° sand wedge 1° strong.)

Working with Bridgestone J38 Cavity Backs and Mizuno MP T-10 wedges, the specs for each option (loft / length / bounce) would be:

Option A:

#3 = 21° / 39.25” / 2
#4 = 24° / 38.75” / 2
#5 = 27° / 38.25” / 2.5
#6 = 31° / 37.75” / 3
#7 = 35° / 37.25” / 3.5
#8 = 39° / 36.75” / 4
#9 = 43° / 36.25” / 5
Pitching Wedge = 47° / 35.75” / 7
Middle Wedge = 54° / 35.5” / 9
Lob Wedge = 60° / 35.25” / 5

or Option B

#3 = 21° / 39.25” / 2
#4 = 25° / 38.50” / 3
#6 = 30° / 37.75” / 2
#7 = 35° / 37.25” / 3.5
#8 = 39° / 36.75” / 4
#9 = 43° / 36.25” / 5
Pitching Wedge = 47° / 36.00” / 7
Gap Wedge = 51° / 35.75” / 7
Sand Wedge = 55° / 35.5” / 12
Lob Wedge = 60° / 35.25” / 5

Yes, I am a dork/have OCD for typing this up. Especially because I probably won't be buying new clubs for another year. Nonetheless, I'm really interested to see what people think. Thanks!

[James_Black]

There isn't much of a difference, you'd have to hit them to find the difference.

I just think there'll be larger gaps in distance with option B

[Zeph]

A, but with 58º instead of 60º.

[Leftygolfer]

I voted b but I don't know about bending the irons. I'd just drop an iron. I've always carried four or five wedges and like having options in bounce and lofts around the greens.

[sean_miller]

Without knowing anything about your game, it's hard to say. Dropping the 5-iron just seem odd to me - why not drop the 4?

I voted for A as far as the clubs go, but with the following changes (if for some reason these clubs are your only choice):

- 8 iron bent to 40*
- 9 iron bent to 44.5*
- PW bent to 49*

A loft progression of 35*, 40*, 44.5*, 49*, 54*, and 60* would work (for me at least).

[DavidFehertysBike]

If you can hit that 54/9 100 yds with a normal swing, go with option A. It can be your gap and the club will be still versatile enough that you can do other things with it. Use the 60 for delicate work only. I would like to use a 54, but i can only hit that loft 95 yards or so, not factoring in backspin.

[laxbballgolf]

Thanks for responding, guys.

Option B is pretty messy, and I'm hesitant to bend clubs because it will mess with the bounce and the progression between clubs, but I am just bothered by the big gap between PW and 54º wedge in option A. My gap now between my 48º and 54º is alright but I don't want it to be any bigger! (Honestly, I'm not really sure what my distances are right now with some swing changes and general lack of playing enough golf, but I think it's about 125 for the PW and 100 for the 54º. It's my biggest gap, already.)

A 47-52-58 set-up seems pretty good, too, but I really don't want to lose the 60º lob wedge. I love that club. I also really like having a 3 iron. All I'm looking for is 8 clubs with evenly spaced gaps between those and a couple of different bounce options around the green!

I can't believe how much time I am spending thinking about this, haha. I think what I'm going to decide on is going with option A, and then leaving open the option to bend the wedges to 53º and 59º if the yardage gaps are too big with the standard wedges.

[dbuck]

You can read my sig and see I shouldn't be commenting on this subject, but I have had a few clubs bent and most techs have told me that you can't reliably bend just one degree and have it stay-don't know exactly why, but you might adjust your strategy a bit if you find that to be true.

[WUTiger]

A) Standard 3-PW with 54 and 60 degree wedges.

How about C, none of the above?

A and B are way too complicated. In lots of iron sets these days, the gap between 3, 4, and 5 irons is only 3°. A scratch amateur I know ditched the 4 iron, and bent 5i 1° strong, then there's only 5 degrees gap between the strong 5i and the 3i. With a 47° PW, you might be best to go with 52°, 56°, and 60°. That way you would get a fairly even progression of natural distance gap between wedges, and not have to bend everything. Conventional wisdom says that in case of a tie, go with extra wedge rather than another long club.

[sean_miller]

How about C, none of the above?

No offense, but in what way is A even remotely complicated? 3-P, 54, 60 Am I missing something

[ET-Taylor]

A is not complicated at all

[iacas]

How about C, none of the above?

Disagree. I play a 48/54/60 setup. And I almost never use the 60.

I have four swings for each, from 1/4 to full, and if I want to change distances from there I grip down or swing to 3/8 or some combination based on feel, where the pin is, etc.

[jamo]

I chose A, mostly because that is my setup. I rarely use the 54 though, it is strictly for 100 yard shots. I use the 60 for every short game shot. Sad shots, pitch shots, chips, flops.

[sean_miller]

I chose A, mostly because that is my setup. I rarely use the 54 though, it is strictly for 100 yard shots. I use the 60 for every short game shot.

I hit a lot of those.

[jamo]

I hit a lot of those.

Whoops, haha, my bad. Forgot the "n"

[laxbballgolf]

I really appreciate the responses, guys, thank you.

I'm going with A. I'm going to learn to love the partial pitching wedge shot. It's much better than starting to mess around with bending clubs.

My thoughts in detail (if anyone cares, haha):

I love the PW-54-60 set-up for the short game. It gives me all the bounce options I need, and it keeps my options to a level of simplicity that I like. Bump and run? PW. Normal medium trajectory pitch or chip? 54. Short-sided? 60. My concern was for full approach shots, namely that I was concerned whether a 90 yard 47° pitching wedge would have enough bite to stick where it lands. Like Iacas and others (such as Dave Pelz Short Game Bible), I use a system of partial swings for my wedge distances, and I enjoy hitting those shots. So really my concern boiled down to whether I would be forced to stretch the pitching wedge's clock system past the point where it would land and bite, but I think it will be fine.

Getting really picky, I am thinking that the one time I might want a gap wedge would be if I was stuck buried under some pretty thick rough from right around 105-110 yards. In that case, I would really like to be able to take a full swing at the ball to make sure I cut through the rough, but a full swing with a pitching wedge would fly too far, and a full swing with a 54° would come up short. And if I did the 3/4 pitching wedge (my normal 105-110 yard swing) from the buried rough, the swing speed would probably be too slow to effectively cut through the rough with consistent results. But that's really nit-picking...

So, to people who use a PW-54-60 set-up, should I be concerned at all that a 90 yard PW won't bite enough? And do you think I'm crazy for my concern about the thick rough from 105-110 yards scenario?

[Alex B]

Voted B without thinking -- in retrospect, A is definitely the right call.

[Gilly]

Good call going with "A". I think my 54 is probably one of, if not THE favorite club in my bag this past year.