Wedge Bounce

[MuniGrit]

I'm thinking of replacing my 56 and 60 degree Cleveland with some new Titleist SM6. My current loft and bounce is 56/11 and 60/12. I was thinking since my gap wedge is 50 degree of going with more bounce and going with SM6 54/14 and 58 with either 12 or 10 degrees of bounce. My question is should my 56 have more bounce than the 60 because I have them backwards currently? My misses tend to be more fat when pitching and I play on somewhat firm turf to hard turf. Bunkers I play are all over the place but usually medium to soft.  Can anyone give me some advice.

[David in FL]

My personal preference is to get the most bounce in each loft wedge I can.

Bounce is your friend.

[Lihu]

27 minutes ago, MuniGrit said:

I'm thinking of replacing my 56 and 60 degree Cleveland with some new Titleist SM6. My current loft and bounce is 56/11 and 60/12. I was thinking since my gap wedge is 50 degree of going with more bounce and going with SM6 54/14 and 58 with either 12 or 10 degrees of bounce. My question is should my 56 have more bounce than the 60 because I have them backwards currently? My misses tend to be more fat when pitching and I play on somewhat firm turf to hard turf. Bunkers I play are all over the place but usually medium to soft.  Can anyone give me some advice.

 

23 minutes ago, David in FL said:

My personal preference is to get the most bounce in each loft wedge I can.

Bounce is your friend.

I agree, especially if your misses are fat. Not that I'm an expert or anything, just based upon my own experience.

[TN94z]

Just jumping in here because I am curious to see the comments. I have been thinking of getting more bounce with my next set of wedges as well.

[MuniGrit]

I think I am going to go with 54/14 and 58/12. That should fill space my lofts pretty good.

[Hategolf]

I went from a 60 to a 58 as well..I am very glad I did. The 58 is more forgiving and gets me closer to the flag with an easier swing.

[WUTiger]

You want to consider both bounce and sole grind. Vokey SM6 wedges have five different sole grinds available.

If you can, find a local Titleist Thursday course pro and schedule a free wedge fitting.

[saevel25]

3 hours ago, MuniGrit said:

My question is should my 56 have more bounce than the 60 because I have them backwards currently? My misses tend to be more fat when pitching and I play on somewhat firm turf to hard turf. Bunkers I play are all over the place but usually medium to soft.  Can anyone give me some advice.

There is more to it than just the amount of bounce. The type of grind matters a lot as well. 

For me, I have a ton of bounce on my wedges. 

52: 14 degrees of bounce
56: 16 degrees of bounce
60: 18 degrees of bounce

[1badbadger]

Another factor that should be taken into consideration is what the job of each wedge is.  For example, will both wedges be used to hit bunker shots, or do you typically play all of your sand shots with 1 wedge?  Do you use your wedges to hit full shots off of tight fairway lies, or are they primarily used for partial shots around the green?  It doesn't have to be set in stone, but if you can define what job each wedge will do, it will be easier to determine things like bounce and which sole grind will work best.

If you play your 60* out of the sand, or will be using your new 58* for bunker shots, then having a lot of bounce is fine.  If you never use your highest lofted wedge in the sand, then I would suggest a lower bounce, especially if it will be used out of the fairway.

[phillyk]

Like @1badbadger said, one wedge should be designated as the main bunker wedge which should have high bounce.  Not to say that you won't use the other wedges in bunkers, but you want to stick with one loft, mostly, so that the launch from the bunkers remain consistent.  And since you said you play on firmer turf, you'd want to have at least one wedge with low bounce that you can pick from those firm lies easier. 

[Lihu]

1 hour ago, 1badbadger said:

Another factor that should be taken into consideration is what the job of each wedge is.  For example, will both wedges be used to hit bunker shots, or do you typically play all of your sand shots with 1 wedge?  Do you use your wedges to hit full shots off of tight fairway lies, or are they primarily used for partial shots around the green?  It doesn't have to be set in stone, but if you can define what job each wedge will do, it will be easier to determine things like bounce and which sole grind will work best.

If you play your 60* out of the sand, or will be using your new 58* for bunker shots, then having a lot of bounce is fine.  If you never use your highest lofted wedge in the sand, then I would suggest a lower bounce, especially if it will be used out of the fairway.

 

48 minutes ago, phillyk said:

Like @1badbadger said, one wedge should be designated as the main bunker wedge which should have high bounce.  Not to say that you won't use the other wedges in bunkers, but you want to stick with one loft, mostly, so that the launch from the bunkers remain consistent.  And since you said you play on firmer turf, you'd want to have at least one wedge with low bounce that you can pick from those firm lies easier. 

Is it better to only designate one wedge to bunkers? I tend to base the selection off of how far I want the ball to go out of the bunker. Like a 60 if it's a tight lie with 15 feet to the pin or something like that, then 56 if I am going a bit longer and 50 degree if I want to go 30 to 40 yards out from a deep fairway bunker close to the green?

[phillyk]

5 minutes ago, Lihu said:

 

Is it better to only designate one wedge to bunkers? I tend to base the selection off of how far I want the ball to go out of the bunker. Like a 60 if it's a tight lie with 15 feet to the pin or something like that, then 56 if I am going a bit longer and 50 degree if I want to go 30 to 40 yards out from a deep fairway bunker close to the green?

If I have to really pop one up and land it soft, I'll grab a 60 and go for shallow dig.  Everything else I use a 56 and I change the amount of sand i want to dig into behind the ball to determine how far I want the ball to go, and how fast I'm swinging (my 60 has 8 bounce, and my 56 is 10).  I don't know if there's one single answer to hit a bunker shot.  Heck, TGC tells us 12 different ways to do it already.  But in general, for wedge bounce it's good to have some variety to cover all sorts of conditions, especially since most of use don't have 2 different sets of wedges for different conditions.

[Lihu]

Just now, phillyk said:

If I have to really pop one up and land it soft, I'll grab a 60 and go for shallow dig.  Everything else I use a 56 and I change the amount of sand i want to dig into behind the ball to determine how far I want the ball to go, and how fast I'm swinging (my 60 has 8 bounce, and my 56 is 10).  I don't know if there's one single answer to hit a bunker shot.  Heck, TGC tells us 12 different ways to do it already.  But in general, for wedge bounce it's good to have some variety to cover all sorts of conditions, especially since most of use don't have 2 different sets of wedges for different conditions.

That makes sense.

I've been subscribing to the hit "4 inches of sand" (2 before and 2 after the ball) on all my bunker shots theory. Not sure if this is the best or not, but it seems to work for the time being. Once I try to make more my sand saves, I'd still be open to other methods. Considering how often I'm in the sand, I only get a couple sand saves out of quite a few rounds. Many tap in non-sand saves. . .

[Groucho Valentine]

Bounce is your friend. Generally, lofts between 56-58 you should consider using more bounce on those clubs than lower lofts. But you also should consider the courses you play regularly. If you play courses that have lush rough and fluffy bunkers, go with more bounce. 12 degrees or so.  If you play firmer conditions, something 10 degrees (or custom bounces) might be better. 

 

Edited April 18, 2017 by Groucho Valentine

[iacas]

32 minutes ago, Groucho Valentine said:

Bounce is your friend. Generally, lofts between 56-58 you should consider using more bounce on those clubs than lower lofts. But you also should consider the courses you play regularly. If you play courses that have lush rough and fluffy bunkers, go with more bounce. 12 degrees or so.  If you play firmer conditions, something 10 degrees (or custom bounces) might be better.

I played the Old Course with a 60° club that has 21° bounce… and did just fine. My pitching wedge (48°) has 14° bounce. My 54° has 17°.

The grind matters quite a bit, too… but more bounce is almost always better. So long as the sole isn't just really wide.

[1badbadger]

26 minutes ago, iacas said:

I played the Old Course with a 60° club that has 21° bounce… and did just fine. My pitching wedge (48°) has 14° bounce. My 54° has 17°.

The grind matters quite a bit, too… but more bounce is almost always better. So long as the sole isn't just really wide.

Where did you get a 60* wedge with 21* bounce?

[iacas]

1 minute ago, 1badbadger said:

Where did you get a 60* wedge with 21* bounce?

You can also see shots of the grind there.

[1badbadger]

1 hour ago, Lihu said:

 

Is it better to only designate one wedge to bunkers? I tend to base the selection off of how far I want the ball to go out of the bunker. Like a 60 if it's a tight lie with 15 feet to the pin or something like that, then 56 if I am going a bit longer and 50 degree if I want to go 30 to 40 yards out from a deep fairway bunker close to the green?

It's personal preference.  I don't think one way is right and the other way is wrong.

Personally, I play almost all my greenside bunker shots with my 56* wedge.  The exception is if the sand is wet, or if the is very little sand in the bunker, or if it's really firm, but generally I like using the same wedge. Around the greens though, I'll vary my club selection depending on the shot.