Do i need 5 wedges with my play style?

[mdl]

Something weird is going on with your wedge swing.  No one has 25 yard gaps between 4˚ separated wedges.  You must be delofting your wedges, and your 52˚ worse than your 60˚.  If not that would mean you just get 20-25 yard gaps for every 4˚ step in loft through your irons naturally with consistent trajectory because of your crazy swing speed, and that would mean you'd be hitting your 3i ~300 yards, which of course you're not.  What are your yardage gaps between PW and 9i, 6i and 5i?  How far do you hit your 5i?  PW?

I'd say learn to hit your wedges with a consistent, not low trajectory and use the loft that's there.  Among players who do that, even the major bombers don't have 25 yard gaps between 52˚/56˚ and 56˚/60˚.

[trickyputt]

[quote name="boogielicious" url="/t/78847/do-i-need-5-wedges-with-my-play-style#post_1089071"]That makes no sense at all.  He will score lower with tee shots that are closer to the hole.

But that's not the point, if he's hitting a pw approx 170yrds, allowing 12yrds per club, that's an approx 230yrd 5 iron, if you can hit a 5i 230 yards, there isn't really a need to carry a driver, therefore allowing room for an extra wedge if he desires? I've never known any amateur hit irons that far, although I think I recall McIlroy hitting a 6i 240yrds in the open, but then he is the worlds number 1.[/quote] Spot on. I have been watching PGA players hit 200yds 6 irons. I was thinking to myself...self, you have not seen that before,so you better remember it. Now I am thinking..Something is up. Probably salesmen. Sneaky bastards are under every rock these days.

[Hardballs]

Spot on. I have been watching PGA players hit 200yds 6 irons. I was thinking to myself...self, you have not seen that before,so you better remember it. Now I am thinking..Something is up. Probably salesmen. Sneaky bastards are under every rock these days.

Although I think I've deciphered it, This made no sense to me at all! Have you been drinking tricky?

[trickyputt]

[quote name="trickyputt" url="/t/78847/do-i-need-5-wedges-with-my-play-style#post_1089178"] Spot on. I have been watching PGA players hit 200yds 6 irons. I was thinking to myself...self, you have not seen that before,so you better remember it. Now I am thinking..Something is up. Probably salesmen. Sneaky bastards are under every rock these days.

Although I think I've deciphered it, This made no sense to me at all! Have you been drinking tricky?[/quote] Well who needs a 200+ yard 6 iron? I can see the manufacturers changing the number on a 4 iron to 6 to sell more clubs though. I am sure the tv anouncers would never pick on the clubs, or they wouldnt have anything impressive to talk about. How the heck does anybody hit a 6 as far as Jason Day?

[Hammer 4]

Well who needs a 200+ yard 6 iron? I can see the manufacturers changing the number on a 4 iron to 6 to sell more clubs though. I am sure the tv anouncers would never pick on the clubs, or they wouldnt have anything impressive to talk about. How the heck does anybody hit a 6 as far as Jason Day?

I may be wrong, but Tiger hit a 6i 260 yds at pebble once...

[Hardballs]

Well who needs a 200+ yard 6 iron? I can see the manufacturers changing the number on a 4 iron to 6 to sell more clubs though. I am sure the tv anouncers would never pick on the clubs, or they wouldnt have anything impressive to talk about. How the heck does anybody hit a 6 as far as Jason Day?

I'm with you now, the pro's do have their lofts tweaks to their preference, and they can prob deloft a club at will, but it's still impressive! As is their short game to counter any wayward shots.

[trickyputt]

[quote name="trickyputt" url="/t/78847/do-i-need-5-wedges-with-my-play-style#post_1089247"] Well who needs a 200+ yard 6 iron? I can see the manufacturers changing the number on a 4 iron to 6 to sell more clubs though. I am sure the tv anouncers would never pick on the clubs, or they wouldnt have anything impressive to talk about. How the heck does anybody hit a 6 as far as Jason Day?

I'm with you now, the pro's do have their lofts tweaks to their preference, and they can prob deloft a club at will, but it's still impressive! As is their short game to counter any wayward shots.[/quote] I cannot wrap my mind around the gaps they must be playing. It makes my game look like a 3rd grade effort.

[golfbarefoot]

A major aspect to consider as you become a good wedge player is factoring in the spin, especially on full shots. Most only focus on distance control, but to truly improve your proximity to the hole with all wedges at all variations.. Control your spin. I cannot tell you how often I see good players stick wedges, but the spin often ends up leaving their proximity less than desirable. Hackers love to see players pull the string and spin it back really far but in reality it's rare you want to spin it back so much. Control your spin with wedges is huge but overlooked.

[cooke119]

I'm just saying I play in a league and see plenty of guys who hit long drives but suck around the green. Good wedges tailored for their swing, and lessons would certainly help them. But yes I agree,  hitting long and straight is most important.

[Pretzel]

Something weird is going on with your wedge swing.  No one has 25 yard gaps between 4˚ separated wedges.  You must be delofting your wedges, and your 52˚ worse than your 60˚.

I would say this probably has truth to it, even ignoring the little bit of math that came after it. My 100 yard club is also my 60* wedge, but I don't even come close to that gap wedge yardage and my sand wedge is a good ten yards shorter. I would encourage @LaTech Bulldawg to post a My Swing thread to help us see if this could be the reason, rather than going out and purchasing a new wedge as a fix. Plus, the tweaks you could make would probably lead to some more consistent scoring, which is always a plus!

[mdl]

I would say this probably has truth to it, even ignoring the little bit of math that came after it. My 100 yard club is also my 60* wedge, but I don't even come close to that gap wedge yardage and my sand wedge is a good ten yards shorter.

Yeah, I'm not as long as you, but I'm a big ex college baseball player too and have good distance. My 60° goes ~90 yards. But my 54° goes ~105, not 130 or something. BTW, I CAN hit my 60° 100-105 if I deloft the crap out of it, ssuper hard, and hit a slight pull draw. But that's a worse, less consistent shot than my stock 54°, so I don't.

[aatonytone]

Ok so I currently have a new set of irons. My old set the pw was 48°, now it drops down to 46°. My old wedge set up was 52°, 56°, 60°. My 60° was great when I had to get up and down quickly and stick it.  So now I'm switching my wedges to 50°, 54°, 58°...but I really am thinking of adding a 62°. I have great distance off the tee 90% of tee shots are used with a 3 wood or 5 iron. So now my bag would be made up of:

Driver

3 wood

3 hybrid

5 threw 9 iron

pw (46°)

50°

54°

58°

62°

putter

. most of my tee shots land within of 150 yards and less. So I believe if I get the confidence with the 5 wedges then its the way to go. The 62° is to get the ball up and down quickly with spin. I know many of you will say you can do it with the 58° but if I can do it better with a 62° then why not?

especially since I will hit the 62° more than I would a 4 iron.

[jsgolfer]

Ok so I currently have a new set of irons. My old set the pw was 48°, now it drops down to 46°. My old wedge set up was 52°, 56°, 60°. My 60° was great when I had to get up and down quickly and stick it.  So now I'm switching my wedges to 50°, 54°, 58°...but I really am thinking of adding a 62°. I have great distance off the tee 90% of tee shots are used with a 3 wood or 5 iron. So now my bag would be made up of:

Driver

3 wood

3 hybrid

5 threw 9 iron

pw (46°)

50°

54°

58°

62°

putter

. most of my tee shots land within of 150 yards and less. So I believe if I get the confidence with the 5 wedges then its the way to go. The 62° is to get the ball up and down quickly with spin. I know many of you will say you can do it with the 58° but if I can do it better with a 62° then why not?

especially since I will hit the 62° more than I would a 4 iron.

I use the same setup for my wedges. I could definitely carry less and just flight my wedges, but I like full swings to certain yardages,

pw (46°) - 125 Yds

50° - 115 Yds

54° - 105

58° - 95 Yds

62° - 80 Yds

[mdl]

3 wood

3 hybrid

5 threw 9 iron

pw (46°)

50°

54°

58°

62°

putter

. most of my tee shots land within of 150 yards and less. So I believe if I get the confidence with the 5 wedges then its the way to go. The 62° is to get the ball up and down quickly with spin. I know many of you will say you can do it with the 58° but if I can do it better with a 62° then why not?

especially since I will hit the 62° more than I would a 4 iron.

I'd say the big question is the gap between your 3h and 5i. For me, if I'd taken out my 3i and 4i in my old set (or my 4i and 5i in my new set, which go similar distances as my old 3i and 4i though with the same lofts!) I would have a lot of par 3s where I had to try to hit an 82% hybrid or not been able to reach it with my 5i. I also would have had a pretty common range of par 5 yardages where to go for the green in 2 I would have to hit an 80-90% hybrid, and I score best by far on par 5s largely from having the distance to be hitting iron for the green on my second shot and either getting on in 2 or getting pin high and near the green and having a good shot at an up and down birdie. Personally I think 4 clubs in the 46-60˚ range is enough. 46/50/54/60, 46/50/55/60, and 46/51/56/60 all seem like possibly reasonable options to me. And you can probably bend your current wedges into one of those setups unless you really think the 1˚ bend will mess up the tuning of the bounce/grind and screw you on turf or sand interaction, something that seems doubtful to me.

[WUTiger]

One way to tweak your yardage might be to change the increments of your shaft length. This would be easier to do uniformly, compared to bending the wedge lofts.