Do I need a 50 degree wedge?

[Hazza]

Hello all,

Had a recent change of irons, my last set stopped at a 44degree PW so I had a 52 and 58 degree pair of Cleveland 588's in the bag. My new set has a 43 degree PW and also a 55 degree SW. Do my current additional wedges work or would I be better to change the gaps maybe a 50 degree. The set does have a GW option which is 47 degrees. 

Thanks

[dkolo]

27 minutes ago, Hazza said:

Hello all,

Had a recent change of irons, my last set stopped at a 44degree PW so I had a 52 and 58 degree pair of Cleveland 588's in the bag. My new set has a 43 degree PW and also a 55 degree SW. Do my current additional wedges work or would I be better to change the gaps maybe a 50 degree. The set does have a GW option which is 47 degrees. 

Thanks

You have a pretty big gap so I would imagine you would need something in there. Whether it's a 50° wedge or something else, maybe even 2 wedges, is a different question.  You need to figure out your yardages on each end of the go and try out some wedges to see how they fit into that gap. A 50° might work, but what type of wedge you get will impact that. A bladier wedge might give you different distances than a chunkier cavity back due to different CGs even with the same loft. You really just need to get your yardages and try some wedges. Consider also how it hits tweener distances on pitching. A gap wedge is very typically used on pitching for a lot of folks so see how comfortable you are doing that with the wedge. 

[Arthurd561]

I agree with dkolo in that you need something in there to take care of the gap between your pw and 55. The distance in between those clubs would have to be made up with different swing speeds which is more difficult than with having a different loft on an added club. The only reason not to have a gap wedge is if you feel you can gain strokes by carrying a club instead of your gap wedge. This may be a lofted hybrid or a club to chip and run with that is used primarily around the green. You have to weigh your options, are you gonna play better with the gap wedge in your bag or whatever club you replace the gap wedge with. It is a personal question that can only be answered by reviewing your weaknesses and choosing the club that best helps out weakness.

[DaveP043]

In my world, I don't really care a lot about the loft numbers,  my normal distance with each club is much more important.  If there's a big gap in yardage, it would make a lot of sense to explore finding a club to fit in that gap.  Of course, you also need to weigh which club you'd take out of your bag to keep within the 14-club limit.  For me, if I have to have a big gap somewhere, I'd rather it be at the longer end of the spectrum than at the shorter (wedge) end, but that's all personal preference.

[Patch]

Could you open up that 43 wedge when you need 50 degrees? I use to carry 4 wedges. I have now culled that down to two by manipulating the club faces at addres. I only carry 12 clubs now.

[allenc]

It's really weird that a lot of game improvement sets are bundled with 4 - PW, SW rather than 4 - PW, GW or 5 - PW, GW, SW.  In these sets the PW is very strong so that omitting the GW leaves a big gap in a similar fashion that omitting the 7-iron would.

In the case of the OP's set it sounds like the 47* GW that goes with the set would have worked great with the 52* and 58* that you already have.  The SW that came with it very likely does not fill in as important a gap between your two current wedges.  If you can I would think you should trade the SW back in for the GW and play your 2 current wedges.

Of course the best thing is to see how far you hit them all and if you have yardage gaps, but I think just about everyone would benefit from that GW.

[pganapathy]

You need a wedge according to your distance gaps.  If the gaps are too big, get another wedge that fills the gap.  Otherwise get another club elsewhere to plug another gap or a specialty club to help get out of trouble, like a chipper or a hybrid

[Hazza]

Thanks a lot for the feedback folks. I hit the 52 around 95yds and the 58 around 75yds. The PW is going to be around 120yds for me. 

I can see how with the GW it would be fairly balanced at least on lofts with my current 52 and 58. 

I'm definitely going to need something in there though.  As it stands I'm carrying 13 clubs. 

I guess one option is to get the 47 and work with what I have opening up the face etc.  Obviously yardage gaps are key rather than the lofts themselves. 

[DutchGolf]

My situation was quite similar to yours in terms of gaps, I had a 45 degree PW and a 54 degree SM5, for me the distance gap between those was definitely to big. In this gap, where I ended up more than I would like to admit, I always had to fabricate something and think about it, which ended not very well in general. I bought a 50 degree and I absolutely love it. I would recommend buying a gap wedge, but in your case I would look at a 48 degree, because the loft gaps are 5 and 4 degrees with the other wedges, instead of 7 and 2.

[rehmwa]

Yes, you NEED that wedge.  And some other toys too.  and a nice watch.  and cargo shorts.

(I like yardage gapping, too, as a way to pick them.  But 75-95-120 isn't too bad.  I have 4 wedges and full swings about:  60d (70 yds); 56d (95 yds); 50d (110yds);  PW46 (120 yds).  works for me)

 

That 100 - 110 distance is really a sweet spot for me - I use my GW (the 50 degree) probably the most of any of my wedges.

[Golfingdad]

13 minutes ago, Hazza said:

Thanks a lot for the feedback folks. I hit the 52 around 95yds and the 58 around 75yds. The PW is going to be around 120yds for me. 

I can see how with the GW it would be fairly balanced at least on lofts with my current 52 and 58. 

I'm definitely going to need something in there though.  As it stands I'm carrying 13 clubs. 

I guess one option is to get the 47 and work with what I have opening up the face etc.  Obviously yardage gaps are key rather than the lofts themselves. 

Yeah, I think you have it right.  Get that gap wedge because a 25 yard gap is really big, especially at those distances, and especially considering you only have 13 clubs.

[Hazza]

Is 43 to 50 still a too big gap really? The 47 is sounding like the better option. Then keep the 52 55 58. 

The alternative I guess is 43 50 55 60. 

I know I need to check yardages but just looking for opinions on those options. 

 

Cheers

[Mr. Desmond]

3 hours ago, Hazza said:

Is 43 to 50 still a too big gap really? The 47 is sounding like the better option. Then keep the 52 55 58. 

The alternative I guess is 43 50 55 60. 

I know I need to check yardages but just looking for opinions on those options. 

 

Cheers

43, 48, 54, 60.