Do I need a 60 degree wedge?

[MuniGrit]

If you are going to jump up from the 58 go to a 62 or 64. You won't see much diff in 58 vs 60.

[onthehunt526]

I have said this before. I'm a 6.7 Index and I honestly don't have a use for one.

They're nice if you can control them, but I can't. I usually just open up a 56° if I need more height.

[cooke119]

2 degree difference between a 58 and 60 will not make a difference IMHO. But then you need to look at the sole of the club. My 58 has a large sole which I use exclusively for bunker play. I usually use my 52 for chipping around the green or I use a 8 iron for a bump and run.

[Old Golfer]

On 3/7/2018 at 2:03 PM, cooke119 said:

2 degree difference between a 58 and 60 will not make a difference IMHO. But then you need to look at the sole of the club. My 58 has a large sole which I use exclusively for bunker play. I usually use my 52 for chipping around the green or I use a 8 iron for a bump and run.

Thanks for the advice.

[Piz]

Having grown up in the 1900's; I used to carry the standard assortment: a 9 iron, a pigeon wedge (usually 50, 51) and a 56 degree sand wedge.  There were not "lob" wedges, per se, and you played what came to be known as a "flop" by laying off your P wedge or sand iron.  Fast forward and I bagged a 61, 60, 59, 58, et cetera.  Now days I use a 54.  My answer is thus...you need a 60 degree wedge if you really like having one.  Personally; I do better with fewer wedges; but I play with plenty of people who do otherwise and do just fine.

[RickPro]

make do with 58. i use 58. i have 46,50,54,58. perfect 4 degree gapping. if you are going to get a 60, you probably need 50,55,60 for proper gapping. 5 degree gapping. just make sure you have consistent gapping with all the same wedges. I had a forged blade cleveland gap wedge, and a cavity back cleveland sand wedge. same brand, but different clubs, and i tend to hit them both the same distance. i use sm6 vokey now.

[Old Golfer]

Wedge update. I now have a 60 and 56 degree wedge. Mack Daddy 4. Love them. If it ever stops snowing here in NY, I can practice with them and see how they feel. 

[No Mulligans]

Yes to a 60* imo.  It is one of my most used clubs.

If the greens are receptive my most used clubs are (in order): putter, driver, SW

If the greens are not receptive my most used clubs are (in order): putter, driver, LW (60*)

Edited March 13, 2018 by No Mulligans

[MGN]

On 3/4/2018 at 3:36 PM, onthehunt526 said:

I have said this before. I'm a 6.7 Index and I honestly don't have a use for one.

They're nice if you can control them, but I can't. I usually just open up a 56° if I need more height.

I've been following this discussion and given my 2 cents worth.  I really appreciate your honesty from a low handicapper's perspective.  I vacillated about carrying a 60-degree at one time but due to the 14 club rule and inconsistency of the 60-deg wedge, I nixed the idea.

One challenge I've had is when my ball is on a tight or hard pan lie within say 30-40 yards of the green.  What do you do here?  Opening the club face requires great accuracy not to skull the ball across the green.  Is using the bounce of the 56-deg SW and pitching the ball to the flag a low-error alternative over a 60-deg wedge?  (even this pitch if fraught with risk since I get my SW 'stuck' in the tight lie if I come in a tad steep).

Your thoughts would be appreciated.  Thanks.

[Nutsmacker]

I like this post as I have been farting around with my bagged clubs for the last year.  I had a big problem with my short pitches to the green at around 30-80 yards.  I added a 56 degree wedge to my bag for those shots specifically.  However, I really like having a 60 degree for around the green shots.  I carry a 45, 50, 53, 56, and 60.

I dropped my 4 iron from the bag because its rarely used to add the additional wedge.  I hit the ball a decent length, so typically my longest approach shots would be dealt with a 5 iron.  If I am over 205-210ish distance, I just choke down on the 5 wood  and try to cut the ball.  However, those situations rarely occur.  I realized that most of my shots were 160 yards and in - with that I needed more variety in my bag to deal with those distances.  My 56 degree has low bounce and my 60 degree has more bounce .  So when its a tight lie my 56 degree comes out.  When I am chipping around the green out of the rough, that is when I use my 60 degree.  I had a sweet Ping eye 2 gorge 60 degree wedge that I lost at a CC, of course no one turned it in and I haven't found a replacement.  That bad boy had standard bounce and I hit it much better from tight lies than my newer 60 degree CTX wedge.  I miss my gorge wedge...

So, I would say that depending on where most of your shots are coming from depends on what to do.  Do you really use a 3 or 4 iron very often?  If no, why not drop it and put in another wedge?  I rarely used those clubs and even when I did my accuracy was not that good with them anyway.  When i have a 3, 4 iron to the green, I am happy with anything around the green or on the surface somewhere.  I can accomplish that 200+ yard distance shot with a 5 iron or 5 wood.  Sure, I might not end up knocking it stiff, but the results were pretty similar when I compared using my 4 iron for those 220 yard shots to taking something off my 5 wood.  

Edited March 18, 2018 by Nutsmacker

[Randtrap]

On 1/17/2018 at 1:10 PM, Kalnoky said:

I vote no on the 60*. Too easy to thin or slide under it, too unreliable. It's a specialty club.

I am selling my 58*. My new philosophy is to have an uncluttered bag. I play AW 48* and SW 54.10*.I learned to hit my PW 60-65 yards using a 1/2 swing, so I have no need for an LW. And I can pitch or hit flops by opening up the 54.10*. 

 

 

I'm with you on the LW. Opening the face in the SW is sufficient but many golfers struggle with that.

[xrayvizhen]

Maybe I'm just an old fart but I really don't understand the need for people carrying all these wedges. I have a 56° with a 13 bounce which I use as a sand wedge and another club that all it says on it is “PW”, which I use (can you guess?) as a pitching wedge.  To my eye it looks to be about 48° but I can fan it open so it’s as much as a 60 if I want it to be. Also, by adjusting the length of my swing  (50%, ¾ and full and anywhere in between)  I can hit it anywhere from 120 yards down to 50 at which point the shot drifts into the pitch & chip category.  So why would I need anything else? Frankly, I just don’t get it. There’s a guy in my golf league I play with frequently who’s about a 25 handicap. He carries an approach wedge, pitching wedge, gap wedge and a sand wedge and can’t hit any of ‘em worth a damn. I told him, it’s a lot easier to master two clubs than four, but he soldiers on, happy as a clam.

[Carl3]

16 minutes ago, xrayvizhen said:

I really don't understand the need for people carrying all these wedges

Until 18 months ago I carried a 56* and used it for everything 80 yards and in. They I got a shiny new 56* that would only travel 69 to 70 yards if I absolutely stomped on it. This left too big a gap between my UW that goes 100 yards. So I went with a 54 and 58* to supplement my 50* UW and my 45* PW. In my wedge fitting I found out the Ping 56* had a ton of spin which made it travel less distance than my old Cleveland 56*.

For me it is all about taking full and 80% shots on these 4 wedges to get the increments I need to get closer to the pin. I just got frustrated when sitting at say 50 yards out and not consistently getting within 20 to 25 feet  with my 56* or being 80 yards out and trying to take too much off my UW and coming up way short or flying the green if the pin was tucked back or depending on the lie. I also found that my longer irons got bunched up without as much gap between them. To each his own I suppose.