Which Glide Wedge grinds?

[clearwaterms]

My very generous wife has agreed to purchase 2 new golf wedges for me as a birthday gift.  I have been playing Ping irons for about 3 years now and am very happy with these clubs.  I currently play Ping G25's /w PW and Gap Wedge.  My sand wedge is a 56 degree Acer wedge that I have played for about 5 years.  The "U" gap wedge is a 50° so i am thinking that I would like to add 54° and 58°.  I currently use the gap wedge for everything outside of 80 yards but a full swing with that club is around 115 yards so I find myself trying to chock down, take 3/4 swings for those critical 100 yard shots.  My goal would be to have a pair of wedges that would allow me to evenly gap a full swing all the way to inside 90 yards.  

I typically play public Midwestern golf courses so that means tall rough, slow greens, typically dense sand.  I currently struggle with longer sand shots either taking too much sand or not enough sand (so I either dig in and the balls only goes a few yards or I get club on the ball and it clears the green)

 

[iacas]

In the 54 and 58, for a mid-handicapper, I think the PING Glide wedges are a good choice.

The 54 has the standard sole (SS) and the wide sole (WS).

The 58 has all four options available to you, but as a 16 I might avoid the TS (thin sole) and even maybe the ES (eye sole). I'd match it to the sole you choose for the 54 so you don't have to effectively learn two wedges.

http://ping.com/clubs/wedgesdetail.aspx?id=18283

[clearwaterms]

Thank you for the fast response, a few follow up questions.  

Do you have any links to define turf interaction / sand interaction?  With my G25's I typically take small divot on a well struck shot but as a mid cap golfer, my divot isn't 100% consistent, occasionally hitting a skulled / fat shot as well.  

My current irons have the ZZ65 shafts, would you recommend the CFS spinner shaft, ZZ65, or something else?  The CFS stiff shafts hit the ball too high.    

I prefer to address the ball with the club face square, instead try and use Pelz's theory of back swing distance and choking down to manage distance.    

[iacas]

The best thing you can do with those kinds of questions is find a place to hit some of the wedges.

The "Glide" wedges are named after the word Dave and I use to refer to the "bounce" on the wedges. They're some of the best wedges from a major manufacturer you can buy. And, I typically recommend getting as much bounce as possible and learning to use it properly (below), but I can't give specific recommendations blind.

There you go.

[WUTiger]

I hit the Glides at a couple of demo days this year. The SS and WS seemed to work reasonably well from most types of lie.

Also, the Glides are down to about $80 each at some shops. And, given the Glides are phasing out, you might have to reshaft to get non-stock shafts.

I couldn't find any spec sheets on the ZZ65 shafts, but an online description suggests it falls between the CSF-S and CFS-X in stiffness and weight.

Also, if you hit mainly partial shots with SW and LW, you probably want a lower-launching shaft that's not overly stiff in the tip. The Spinner shafts are designed for low launch, high spin.

[clearwaterms]

WUTiger,

To summarize you think that both the SS and WS would be fine from most types of lies, what are the Glides being replaced by?  I am left handed, and the 54/58 combo isn't very common so I will likely need to order them regardless.  

As for the shaft, I don't know that I fully understand what you are saying about the lower launching, high spin, is the CFS spinner (stock in the Glide wedges) the right call for me?

 

[ZappyAd]

I have been playing Glide wedges for about a year now - 50', 56' and 60', all in SS with CFS Wedge shaft, one ping color dot less upright than my iron set.  When I bought them after hitting different grinds and talking to the pro I decided to get all the same grinds to keep things simple.  

I hit the 50' 110yds, 56' 90yds and 60' 70yds.  I use the 56' / 60' out of sand and the bounce is absolutely fine.  Long sand shots are just more difficult to hit so I don't think the club will make that much difference.  I use mainly the 56' for chipping around the green and find I can open or close it without issue.  

My irons (S55) have CFS Stiff shafts and as far as I can tell the CFS Wedge shaft is just fine for me.

All in all I think they are great wedges.  After about a year of use I can't think of a situation where I've ever thought I needed a different make or model of wedge.  I would say the grooves don't grab quite as much as they did but I put that down to just normal wear (I practice with them a lot).  If I was looking to replace my wedges today I would buy Glides again, probably the exact same spec but I might try to change the lofts to get away with just 2 (so maybe 52' and 58')

[WUTiger]

4 hours ago, clearwaterms said:

As for the shaft, I don't know that I fully understand what you are saying about the lower launching, high spin, is the CFS spinner (stock in the Glide wedges) the right call for me?

I'm going by what you talked about earlier, that "the CGS stiffs hit the ball too high."

The CFS Wedge shaft is 120 grams- heavier than either the CFS.S or the ZZ65 - and has low-launch dynamics. This would probably work. See Glide wedges for details.  

I played stock low-launch shafts in Cleveland wedges for several seasons - I just hit more normal flight shots rather than quick-stop line drives. 

There's two main ways to stop shots on greens: lots  of spin, or a high trajectory + steep descent angle.

You need to determine what you want from your wedges, and find wedge + shaft combo that will do it. Also, the ball you use influences short-game tactics.

If you really want to fine-tune this, go get a fitting.

For performance tips, I will defer to @ZappyAd who actually plays Glide wedges.

[Golfingdad]

On 1/3/2017 at 6:46 AM, clearwaterms said:

My very generous wife has agreed to purchase 2 new golf wedges for me as a birthday gift.  I have been playing Ping irons for about 3 years now and am very happy with these clubs.  I currently play Ping G25's /w PW and Gap Wedge.  My sand wedge is a 56 degree Acer wedge that I have played for about 5 years.  The "U" gap wedge is a 50° so i am thinking that I would like to add 54° and 58°.  I currently use the gap wedge for everything outside of 80 yards but a full swing with that club is around 115 yards so I find myself trying to chock down, take 3/4 swings for those critical 100 yard shots.  My goal would be to have a pair of wedges that would allow me to evenly gap a full swing all the way to inside 90 yards.  

I typically play public Midwestern golf courses so that means tall rough, slow greens, typically dense sand.  I currently struggle with longer sand shots either taking too much sand or not enough sand (so I either dig in and the balls only goes a few yards or I get club on the ball and it clears the green)

 

I have a similar setup.  I play i20s in my irons down to the "U" wedge, which is also 50 degrees.  And I happen to have Glide wedges in 54 and 58, both is standard sole (SS).  I use that 50 for 110-120 shots and the 54 for up to about 105.  I rarely try and hit "full" shots with the 58, but it'll go to about 85-90 if I ever felt the need.  I usually just use the 58 for greenside bunkers and pitches where I'm trying to land it soft with less rollout.

Actually, I found the thread with my specs:

 

[clearwaterms]

@Golfingdad, that link doesn't work for me, it says i do not have permission to see it.

[Golfingdad]

19 minutes ago, clearwaterms said:

@Golfingdad, that link doesn't work for me, it says i do not have permission to see it.

Oh, sorry about that.  Here are the specs:

Loft:                54 and 58

Color Code:      White Dot

Length:             54 - 36.25" and 58 - 36"

Bounce Width:  Standard Sole

Swingweight:    D8

Grip Code:        White