Forgiving wedge for approach shots?

[Jonnyy8699]

I currently have a huge gap in my set. I have Taylormade Rac OS irons, 3-PW, and a 56* sand wedge. My pitching wedge is 45*, so I have a 11* gap. I can't seem to find a matching approach wedge to match my set, so I need a wedge to fill the gap.

My problem is I find myself playing my pitching wedge from way farther in than I need to. I hit it about 120, but I can only hit my 56* about 80. And even when I am about 80 yards out, I find myself leaning towards hitting my pitching wedge because I love the forgiveness and consistency of it. I sometimes tend to unintentionally flop my wedge on full swings, and its a muscle-back so its obviously much much less forgiving.

So I need to get a 50* wedge. I demo'd the vokey, as it is the obvious favorite of wedges, but with the 50* it is hard to keep accurate and distance is inconsistent, and mis-hits are much more present than with my pitching wedge, as I am an 18 capper. So does anyone have a good, forgiving, probably cavity-back wedge that comes in 50*, that can also spin it a good amount? I was thinking the Ping Anser wedge, because of the great feel and it also has a somewhat cavity back. Thanks for your input!

[LuciusWooding]

There are a lot of ways to approach that distance, including changing setup, choking up, changing how hard you swing, or adding clubs. I never found blade wedges that bad on forgiveness in terms of where you hit on the face, it's more about turf interaction and setup. Maybe the SW has so much bounce it's hard to use from the fairway, or the fact that most MB clubs have a sweet spot closer to the heel than toe weighted GI irons and you may habitually hit in the center or toe. I encourage you to get blade wedges above your PW and learn to hit them well to maximize your potential. However given your comments I doubt that will be your course of action at the moment, so:

I think you can find AWs as part of most iron sets if you prefer a matching design, though it probably won't match the clubs you have exactly. Something like a burner AW from a few years ago might be available cheap while remaining close to current clubs. I humbly suggest you try to look for a 52 degree if you can find it, since you seem to favor your SW for specialty shots and not approaches, and even if there's some overlap the more forgiving wedge will pose a better choice for you. A 50-51 would be fine too of course. I find that with wedges the distance is less important than the type of shot in terms of selecting a club.

I would steer you away fromThere's the option of something like a cleveland CG16 or CG14 which have some cavity to them, they should be easy to find under 100$ at any number of lofts and bounces. They will be better on full shots than the SW, but not as good as the irons, so you will have to put in some work unless you get an iron set matching wedge of some kind. Scoring and specialty wedges are for better players and are designed to work well at special partial shots and make them a priority. Less offset, more perimeter weighting, a big head and a wider sole will help on full shots but they don't help on anything else except a bump and run. Judging by your comments you should go with an AW from a set of GI irons, it will give you the fastest improvement and the easiest fix for the gap. You might be able to save money too, since you probably can find one around 50$ or less while scoring wedges are at least in the 80s. The ping anser wedges look nice and if you like them then fine, but I wouldn't expect forgiveness from them. Honestly they look like any other blade but with some designs on back that are too high on the head to affect the shot. If you choose them I suggest you commit to learning a good wedge game to make the most of them, it will make you a better player with some work.

Spin is 90% technique, 40% loft, 30% ball and 11% grooves, so there shouldn't be a big difference among different clubs. Notice the pros often use worn clubs with a smooth spot in the center, and don't lose much spin. Forgiveness is something you can gain through club choice, but you can only maximize your potential for spin. You need high clubhead speed and clean contact to generate spin more than anything else.

And don't bother spending extra getting a forged or oil can wedge; if you find one that works then great, but a cast club with a stock finish will work just as well. They use feel as a marketing term but don't listen.

[Jonnyy8699]

Wow thank you for the input. That makes sense, I might just buy an A-wedge from a different set and use that. Although I believe I have found a great combination. The Taylormade Tour Preferred CB Approach wedge. I found it on a site that sells individual irons for not a bad price, and it has a True Temper Dynamic Gold XP R300 Steel shaft. It seems like it is a true wedge, with the forgiveness of a regular iron. It is 51*, so that works. I think this would help me improve my wedge game like you said, but still help me with my current problem. Also it is taylormade so it matches my irons, and it doesn't look to bad either haha. What do you think?

Also I was thinking of the Cleveland CG 16, or the Mizuno JPX CC wedge. And then there's always the burners where I can find an A wedge.

Originally Posted by LuciusWooding

There are a lot of ways to approach that distance, including changing setup, choking up, changing how hard you swing, or adding clubs. I never found blade wedges that bad on forgiveness in terms of where you hit on the face, it's more about turf interaction and setup. Maybe the SW has so much bounce it's hard to use from the fairway, or the fact that most MB clubs have a sweet spot closer to the heel than toe weighted GI irons and you may habitually hit in the center or toe. I encourage you to get blade wedges above your PW and learn to hit them well to maximize your potential. However given your comments I doubt that will be your course of action at the moment, so:

I think you can find AWs as part of most iron sets if you prefer a matching design, though it probably won't match the clubs you have exactly. Something like a burner AW from a few years ago might be available cheap while remaining close to current clubs. I humbly suggest you try to look for a 52 degree if you can find it, since you seem to favor your SW for specialty shots and not approaches, and even if there's some overlap the more forgiving wedge will pose a better choice for you. A 50-51 would be fine too of course. I find that with wedges the distance is less important than the type of shot in terms of selecting a club.

I would steer you away fromThere's the option of something like a cleveland CG16 or CG14 which have some cavity to them, they should be easy to find under 100$ at any number of lofts and bounces. They will be better on full shots than the SW, but not as good as the irons, so you will have to put in some work unless you get an iron set matching wedge of some kind. Scoring and specialty wedges are for better players and are designed to work well at special partial shots and make them a priority. Less offset, more perimeter weighting, a big head and a wider sole will help on full shots but they don't help on anything else except a bump and run. Judging by your comments you should go with an AW from a set of GI irons, it will give you the fastest improvement and the easiest fix for the gap. You might be able to save money too, since you probably can find one around 50$ or less while scoring wedges are at least in the 80s. The ping anser wedges look nice and if you like them then fine, but I wouldn't expect forgiveness from them. Honestly they look like any other blade but with some designs on back that are too high on the head to affect the shot. If you choose them I suggest you commit to learning a good wedge game to make the most of them, it will make you a better player with some work.

Spin is 90% technique, 40% loft, 30% ball and 11% grooves, so there shouldn't be a big difference among different clubs. Notice the pros often use worn clubs with a smooth spot in the center, and don't lose much spin. Forgiveness is something you can gain through club choice, but you can only maximize your potential for spin. You need high clubhead speed and clean contact to generate spin more than anything else.

And don't bother spending extra getting a forged or oil can wedge; if you find one that works then great, but a cast club with a stock finish will work just as well. They use feel as a marketing term but don't listen.

[Mr. Desmond]

Find something with a cavity that you love and hit well with some consistency. And buy it.