Bounce Angle

1916

Could someone explain to me the Bounce angle on a wedge?

I assume its the angle of the sole of the club, not the actual width of the sole?

From my readings, higher handicappers are advised to get as high a Bounce as possible as this may prevent the wedge from digging in

I was told by a Pro to get a Vokey wedge as he described the sole on mine (a SW) as 'too bouncy' (I've a standard set TM SW), but from what I took from this is the sole of my wedge was just too wide, in particular from sand play.

1916

Trampas

my own opinion is that only your sandwedge should have any high bounce and all other wedges shouldn't have much.

You really down want to be bouncing wedges on the fairway

Pen1987

The bounce angle is angle of the sole when the shaft is held vertical. A high bounce angle will be good for soft-sand/fluffy bunkers and soft fairways because it stops the clubface digging into the sand/bunker. Basically it helps you avoid hitting it heavy (although not all that much) because it helps the club slide under the ball a little more.

A low bounce angle will be good on hard fairways and packed sand bunkers. It lets the clubface dig and makes it slightly more difficult to 'blade' it.

Most Irish courses would take a mid-high bounce angle wedge, especially during the autumn/winter months. Its all personal preference though.

Personally, (before I got injured) I played to a high level and carried three wedges, all Vokeys [the old style ones]

my PW was a 50degree with medium bounce

my SW was 55* high bounce one a 1degree upright bend

my LW was 60* low bounce 1* upright

I carried these with the chosen bounces because the PW was pretty much a utility wedge I used for hitting chips around the green and low spinning pitches from between 40 and 60 yards and full shots from 130-150. On the chips the bounce angle made no difference, on the shots between 40-60 yards I wanted the face to dig slightly so the ball would spin so I needed something without a high-bounce, then on the full shots I didnt want to develop too much spin so I couldnt have too low a bounce angle (BA), so the medium BA was a compromise.

Then my SW was for bunker play, the high bounce gets even higher the more you open and flare the clubface. The course I played most regularly was fluffy enough in the sand so I needed high BA so it was too easy to duff it, I didnt need to develop spin in the sand, the sand causes spin itself - so I didnt need a low-bounce there, so there was really only choice - high BA.

The LW I used for hitting flops and touchy shots around the green, low bounce to stop the club digging and because if I did choose a LW with high BA I couldnt flare the clubface much if I ever needed to because the heel would be to high-bounce and cause me to blade it more often...

madds

Great post there Pen1987. Very informative.

Sionnachster

Top posting Pen1987 - I hope your injury is short term....