How Important is it for you personally to carry a gap wedge.

[dmnoland]

Most courses I carry 4 wedges, 5 on an executive or par 3 course instead of the driver. But I don't think of them all as wedges, just another iron. I do all my pitching/chipping/bunker play with the 54 and 60 so the PW and GW are just shorter irons. I like to keep equal gaps throughout my bag from 4 wood through SW.

[GregZ]

This is true for me as well.  My 50* wedge is my preferred 105 yard club.  I use it alot as i play the same par 3 course weekly.

Originally Posted by Jmdmbike

My gap wedge is 50*, fits between my 45*PW and 56* SW. It's my 100 - 110 yard club, so it gets used a lot. To me, it's a must have club.

[Brian Fergusson]

Currently carrying 46, 52, 56 & 60 deg. wedges - like the combo a lot. I probably use the gap wedge (6 deg. bounce) more than any of the others - both on full swing approach shots as well as chipping.

[gwlee7]

Since I went "retro" last year and stated gaming my old 2001 Titleist 762s, I switched back to only carrying the PW from that set (46*) and then a 52* and a 58*.  I have played sets where I'll use 4 wedges and then use a 4 wood instead of a 3 and a 5 or 3 and a #2 hybrid.

[sean_miller]

Personally, not very. PW, S, L in all my setups.

[twittek]

guess it depends on how far you hit the ball and the tees you play from. me personally, my average drive is 260 and i always play from the back tees. i set my bag up to hit every par 4 in two, so i carry two fairway metals and 4 hybrids on the top end and on the bottom end i have a pw and 57 degree "utility" wedge. i think most people carry too many wedges. i use my pw from 110 to 125. i use the 57 from 90 and in. and i just avoid the 90 to 110 yard shot on par 5s. when laying up, i either smash driver off the deck to within 90 yards of the green or hit to my 9/pw distance. just play to your strengths. if you're a power player, carry more wedges. if you are short like me, practice more with your hybrids and master your wedge around the greens.

[play18now]

I'm actually dropping my GW out of the bag when I get new wedges.  I think I'll end up with 48, 54, 60 in stead of PW, 52, 56, 60.  For me its just a more efficient set up an allows me to use the club elsewhere.

[lumpuckeroo]

I would not consider dropping the GW, it's my go to wedge.  I use it from 100 yards and in, I would give up the SW, 3 iron, 5 wood, just about any other club except driver and putter, than give up my GW.

[Zeph]

I'm actually dropping my GW out of the bag when I get new wedges.  I think I'll end up with 48, 54, 60 in stead of PW, 52, 56, 60.  For me its just a more efficient set up an allows me to use the club elsewhere.

Is not 54 a gap wedge? Doesn't matter if you call it GW and SW or SW and LW. It's two or three wedges.

[Mr. Desmond]

With a 45 Cavity Back "PW", I am happily carrying a 49 ... along with a 55 SW and 60 LW.

The label on a club doesn't matter, it's where you are comfy with filling your yardage spread between clubs.

[Fozcycle]

I use my Gap Wedge, especially for 30 - 50 yard shots, unless I need a highballer over a bunker to a tight pin. I also use it on 75 - 90 yd approach shots.

PW...46*......Mizuno MP-53

GW...50*......Mizuno MT series

SW...56*......Callaway X Tour Forged

[mdl]

Originally Posted by Shorty

There's lots of talk on this forum about different types of clubs.

A FACT is that the fact that your clubs are "forged" has absolutely nothing whatseover to do with how you are hitting them or how they feel.

You will be hitting your clubs a full club longer because the lofts atre stonger or you are delofting at impact. Rant over.

I have a set that goes from 4 to GW, and I find the GW extremely useful. I like that it is closer in looks to the OPW than my differnetly branded SW.

Fully with you on the forged thing not being responsible, and likely fancier, newer clubs have stronger lofts.  But I got my 695 CBs maybe 6 months ago, and they're very strongly lofted (3i is 20˚, PW is 46˚), but my old 9i was 44˚ and I hit it the same distance as my 695 CB PW.  So it's possible the club tech is also giving him distance, not just strong lofts.  And I would assert that for myself at least my swing didn't change dramatically right after purchase where I suddenly started de-lofting the club.

Also, it's possible that the new clubs are part of a general practice/lessons/increasing golf obsession movement of more seriously trying to improve.  I just recently took my first full lesson in ~4 years.  I got a few pointers that really helped and I've been super pumped and practicing a ton and really trying to get the feel for the new stuff and being athletic in those positions.  I've added 5-10 yards on my irons just in the past 3 weeks cause the new stuff I'm working on is finally putting me in a position to use my very strong forearms (ex-college baseball player, current amateur hand balancer) to really explode through the ball.

I double bogeyed two holes in my last round because I big time airmailed two greens directly over a center flag and at my exact previous solid stock distance (of course ran down hills behind the green into s**t, needed two shots to get back on the green on both, and I didn't 1-putt either, hence the doubles).  Standard mid to mid-high ball flight on both shots, so it wasn't a de-lofting, just found an extra 10-15 yards on both shots from really exploding through the shot.  Clubbed down the rest of the day and worked perfectly.

[mdl]

To the OP, I've actually been considering a gap wedge for the first time.  I carry a 54˚ and 60˚, both of which I like.  My old PW was 48˚, and that worked great.  My new PW is 46˚ and goes about as far as my old 44˚ 9i did, so now I've got a 54˚ I hit ~105 and a PW I hit 135-140.  It's forcing me to dial in some shots I wasn't consistent with before (de-lofted crushed 54˚, 3/4 PW), but I'm considering just going ahead and dropping my 3i (new strongly lofted set has a 20˚ 3i which goes a very similar distance to my 19˚ hybrid, which I hit more consistently) and getting a 50˚ GW.

My other, preferred option, is that I'm considering just having my irons all bent two degrees weaker, so then I could have seamless transition from my 19˚ 2h all the way to 48˚ PW, 54˚ SW, and 60˚ LW.  I definitely think that with a 48˚ PW you don't need 4 wedges.  48˚, 52˚, 56˚, 60˚ seems excessive, and I love having the 60˚ in my bag so I wouldn't want to drop that.

[Stevedore]

PW 44 Cleveland CG 16's

GW 50 "              "     "

SW 54 "

LW 60 "

[rustyredcab]

PW is 46* so I carry a wedge between that 46* and my sand wedge (54* or 56*). I'd give up my 60* wedge before I'd give up the "gap" wedge. My gap wedge(s) are 50*.

[azgreg]

I carry a 50/8, 54/12, and 58/4. I use the 50 for all my chips that don't have to carry a bunker, etc., I use the 54/12 in the sand only, and the 58/4 any time I need to throw it up and bring it straight down. I use my pitching wedge for all approach shots 140 yards and in.

[bradsul]

I love my gap wedge, aside from my 9i for 150yd approaches it's my favourite club to hit into the green.

PW 48deg

52.8

56.14

62.12

My pitching wedge is my 140yd club and I use the 52deg GW to cover anything from 130yd down to about 110yd.  My 62deg takes over from there up to about 40yds from the green where I switch over almost exclusively to my 56deg.  Maybe not the most ideal use of clubs but it's working for me.

[Mr. Desmond]

A lot of talk about forged clubs -- but with wedges, which I tested, I felt no difference between 8620 cast and a forging unless it was a finesse shot - a short chip or very short pitch.