Anyone still playing just three wedges? I'm seriously considering it.

[Lihu]

3 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

My favorite club is my 8-iron. So Mike would you suggest I think like I'm hitting an 8-iron, when I hit my wedges? 

Another thing, I have trouble with the "narrow" stance thing... My stance isn't overly wide... But my feet are perhaps under my armpits when I hit my wedges, could that be causing my problems? 

I also thought this, but I put my feet almost against each other now. I started doing this before I took a break from golf, but forgot and started doing the armpit wide stance again, before being corrected by the head coach at my home course. Getting senile I guess

Watch Erik's Quickie Pitching video again and see how he tries to brush the club head. That was the key for me and what the head coach told me to do.

[WUTiger]

On 9/14/2017 at 9:56 PM, onthehunt526 said:

Here's my problem, my PW is 44°, I'm not going to go directly to some sort of SW (56°). My thought was 44-48-54 (the wedges that match my iron set AW and SW). Currently I play EXi PW (44°) and AW (48°), and the CB Pro S 52°/12°, 56°/14° wedges. 

Mmmm, have we scrapped Sweet Sixteen?

Whether or not, I'll answer original question. Last fall I decided to go to three wedges: 48°, 54° and 60°. Got recent Calla MDs shown in my sig line.

Baseline specs for Calla X20 Tour:  9i = 41°, PW = 46. Other old wedges were Cleveland CG14, usually 50°, 54°, 58°.

For a couple of seasons, I noticed in a round of golf I would use primarily the X20T 46° or the CG14 50°, but rarely both. Also, four wedges ended up being a hassle to practice, plus I ended up with yardage overlap in several cells in my (modified) Pelz yardage table.

So, after a summer of testing wedges, I ended up with 48°, 54° and 60°. By varying backswing lengths and relying on feel-based hinge-and-hold shots inside 20 yards, I've got things under better control.

Only problem, I have about a 20 yard gap between 9i and 48°; I can bridge this by choking down on 9i or playing 48° back to deloft the club. In yesterday's scramble, I landed delofted 48° shots to 2 feet and 8 feet to set up team birdies.

In your situation - you hit full wedges well - I would suggest you listen to @mvmac: probably you're having technical problems for short wedges.  

2 hours ago, allenc said:

.... A trend I notice is that better players tend to have more spaced out wedges.  That makes sense because they can hit the ball better and longer so there may be several useful yardages at the long end of the bag they want to have clubs for.  They are also probably good at partial wedge shots.

I think mediocre players may want more wedges ...,

A mini-tour player who practices at our club says length with driver is a critical factor in number of wedges. He suggests that long hitters want 4 wedges because they're inside 150 yds. more often, and want more close-in options. Meanwhile more average hitters (he includes himself) carry 3 because they want an extra club in the 210-yard range.

Edited September 16, 2017 by WUTiger

[Aussie Abroad]

4 hours ago, Shindig said:

I think the general view of additional wedges isn't for the full shot, it's to have better gaps in the partial shots.  For example, if I dropped my gap wedge and carried only my 47 and 56, I'd have trouble from 45 yards out in a clean lie:  a half swing with the 56 gets me 35, a half swing with the 47 gets me 55.  

My additional wedges are solely to address distance gaps with full shots. PW flies 125, I needed a GW to fly 112, because my 50 was 105. I`ve removed the 50,55,60 and added GW, 52 (100 yards), 58 (85 max). 0-40 yards I will pick the club for the flight I want (most likely 58 or 52) after that I am probably hitting my 58 degree for anything up to 80 yards unless there´s a tree or I want to land one on the front of the green and roll it out. 85 - 105 is the 52.

[mvmac]

7 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

My favorite club is my 8-iron. So Mike would you suggest I think like I'm hitting an 8-iron, when I hit my wedges?

Yes and for shorter shots (or in between yardages) use the flighted feels I shared.

7 hours ago, onthehunt526 said:

Another thing, I have trouble with the "narrow" stance thing... My stance isn't overly wide... But my feet are perhaps under my armpits when I hit my wedges, could that be causing my problems? 

It's worth experimenting with but stance width probably won't make a dramatic change. It's most likely something else that is effecting impact.

[satchmodog]

I play a Sand and PW, that's it. It's all my sets have and I've honestly never tried anything different. I've been away so long that now I see wedges with odd letters on them and it's intriguing.

[onthehunt526]

I came across something in my practice session. Instead of changing two or three ( or Four) things. I tried changing one. I lightened my grip pressure to a feeling of holding Alina's hand. (She is my almost four year old.) I started with some quarter swing shots with my 58° wedge. It felt as I barely needed to swing the club back. Boom 40-45 yards every time. 

I proceed to hit seven or eight shots with a "half swing" or to about 9:00 or so. Same easy swing, same light grip pressure. 60 to 65 yards consistent every time. 

Now was the real challenge for me. 10:00 swings. So the only thing different, lighter grip pressure. Same easy swing. 75 to 80 yards for all six shots.

I decided I'd go back to 90 yards to see if I could at least hit 4 of 5 on the green. Actually I hit the first two right Of the Stick but on the green. The middle one was a smidge long. The fourth was two yards short of the flag. The final one was right on for distance about 12 feet to the left of the hole. 

I'm not sure what the issue is. But I may be on the right track. 

 

[RickPro]

On 15/09/2017 at 12:56 PM, onthehunt526 said:

After struggling all year with more lofted wedges, I am seriously considering going to a three wedge system.

Does anyone still play this system?

Here's my problem, my PW is 44°, I'm not going to go directly to some sort of SW (56°). My thought was 44-48-54 (the wedges that match my iron set AW and SW). Currently I play EXi PW (44°) and AW (48°), and the CB Pro S 52°/12°, 56°/14° wedges. 

Note: I don't need to go out and buy any wedges to replace anything, unless you guys think I need a 50° second wedge in which case, I'd have to buy that.

that can work, but I would recommend (44, 48, 52, 58). or space out your wedges more, (44, 49, 54) or (44, 50, 55).

Depending on the course I am playing, shorter courses i remove longer club (hybrid, fairway wood, long iron) for wedge (46, 50, 54, 58) or longer courses trade wedge for hybrid or fairway wood and use (46, 52, 56)