60 Degree Wedge - Recommendations

jimjo

Boys and girls!

I’m in the market for a 60 degree wedge and was wondering what your educated thoughts are?

Been told by a pro it’s not worth getting a second hand one, and even bought new they only last 6-8 months ‘before you throw them in the bin’, his words not mine! Can anyone confirm this? Granted he may have been exaggerating a little. Also he wasn't trying to sell me one either.

I’ve got my eye on the Vokey Spin Milled Wedge

Tom Ghostwood

+1 for vokey spin milled. All my wedges are these with the oil can finish. Lovely.

Jasonw

It entirely depends on your level and what you want it to do. If you want to impart loads of spin on the ball and need it to zip back to you then you need to replace them regularly. The pro was exagerating in this case as I'd say with a decent amount of play the bite in the grooves only lasts a few weeks. In which case I'd get one for practice and one for tournament play.

If on the other hand you want the loft that a 60deg can give to get it up to a raised green having short sided yourself for example then there's no need to buy new.

I like the spin mills myself but the grooves wear out very quickly. You can get TM wedges now where you just replace the face when it gets worn.

jimjo

Cheers lads, know theres had been quite a bit of discussion on bounce in wedges here on boards, but just wondered what the main consensus on what bounce to go for in a 60 degree wedge. I was thinking something along the lines of mid to low bounce possibly…?

Russman

Bounce will depend on many things, mainly your angle of attack into the ball, are you a digger or a sweeper ? Also do you play on turf that is soft or firm ?

To be honest, and its just an opinion, I would ask myself do i need a 60 degree wedge ? From my own experience I've been low single figures for a number of years and have never really felt the need for one. I've tried a few in the last couple of seasons and have pretty much come to the conclusion that they can cause more trouble than they're worth. I found them particularly hard to get used to the distances, but maybe thats just me. If your 56 degree is low bounce (maybe 11 degrees) you can open the face up enough for most shots anyway.

I'm not recommending you don't get one but I think more inportant with your wedges is to make sure you have consistent gaps between them, so it may mean going for, say, a 58 degree, depending on your set make-up.

You can't go wrong with the Vokeys though, also the Callaway X-Tour (as opposed to the X-Forged) is very nice too.

Jasonw

jimjo wrote: »

Cheers lads, know theres had been quite a bit of discussion on bounce in wedges here on boards, but just wondered what the main consensus on what bounce to go for in a 60 degree wedge. I was thinking something along the lines of mid to low bounce possibly…?

I'd agree with most of what russman says there. Again it's down to what you intend to use it for. I like to keep my options open so I have a low bounce in my 60deg so I can play flop shots or out of hard sand or clip it from a tight lie. If you go for a low bounce 60 deg my advice is leave it out of your bag until the summer. I then have a medium high bounce in my 56deg for use out of soft sand, rough. As I said I have a 60deg in my bag but honestly can't remember the last time i played it. Now I think of it probably 20 rounds ago.

heviballs

have had a ridiculous amount of wedges over the last few years,i carry a 52,56 and 60
I can only go from my experience but i found the Ping tour 60 the best,very easy to nip it off wet or dry ground and good but not max spin that you get off the vokey and cleveland in particular.
I use a vokey 56 and love it but i find the ping easier for delicate shots over bunkers etc

jimjo

It was recommended by a pro. I did wonder as well but he reassured me that the course I play literally all the greens are elevated.
I play a parkland course, the turf is generally quite dry, but this time of year is an obvious exception. From the material I’ve read I’d say I’m more of a sweeper if that’s anything to go by. Cheers for advice lads, reckon I might pick one up in the next few days or so

PhilipMarlowe

It does depend on the style of player you are. I carry a 60 degree vokey but almost exclusively use it from the sand. If I am less than 100 yards out I will mostly use my 53 degree and hit a lower shot that bounces once and stops (those times it's hit properly). Other people prefer to have the full shot with a more lofted club.
In general when pitching or chipping, I try to play the shot with the least loft possible so I might chip with an 8 iron or pitch with the PW. Most pitching is again done with the 53 degree. The 60 degree is reserved for those times when nothing else will do.
With that in mind, for me the grooves are not the most important thing because in the sand they are not making contact with the ball anyway and out of the bunkers I might only use the club once every 3 or 4 rounds so I wouldn't rule out 2nd hand. I have mine a good while now and don't see the need to change for new grooves. I'd be more likely to change the 53 which gets a lot of use.
But if you're the type of player that would tend to reach for it when you're 50 yards short of that par 5 on the middle of the fairway then I'd be buying it new.
I think mine is 8 degrees bounce. I've seen a few posters on here that use theirs from sand too but maybe we're weird. I don't carry a SW (56 degree) at all.

fullstop

Russman wrote: »

To be honest, and its just an opinion, I would ask myself do i need a 60 degree wedge ? From my own experience I've been low single figures for a number of years and have never really felt the need for one. I've tried a few in the last couple of seasons and have pretty much come to the conclusion that they can cause more trouble than they're worth. I found them particularly hard to get used to the distances, but maybe thats just me. If your 56 degree is low bounce (maybe 11 degrees) you can open the face up enough for most shots anyway.

Don't mean to nit-pick, but 11 degrees is not low bounce, given that 14 is the most in any of the Vokey wedges. 56 degree Vokeys come with bounce as low as 4 degrees.

I have a 52, 56 and 60. The 60 only has 4 degrees bounce, which I like because it sits nice and tight to the turf, most noticable on links courses. I don't use it out of the sand beacuse of the low bounce it tends to dig in, but it can be useful in very wet, compacted sand.

JimDean

jimjo wrote: »

they only last 6-8 months ‘before you throw them in the bin’, his words not mine! Can anyone confirm this? Granted he may have been exaggerating a little.

Yeah, on tour maybe.

I would recommend a nice cleveland.

ShriekingSheet

JimDean wrote: »

Yeah, on tour maybe.

I would recommend a nice cleveland.

I play a lot, and could easily used a Vokey for 2 years. If I've plenty of vouchers, I'll do it sooner. Sure, it doesn't perform the same, but imo you need to be extremely elite to warrant shelling out €200+ regularly to replace wedges.

Anyway, just thinking about it, what the hell happened Cleveland?? I remember when the wedge-craze kicked off, and the amateur on the street stopped ordering irons from 3-SW, and got 3-P with a seperate Sand Wedge, and then Lob Wedge. Cleveland broke all those barriers, they were the only real wedge focused manufacturers out there, then others followed suit.

Everyone played Cleveland back then. Mad to see how totally the tide can turn. I'd love to not play Vokeys, as I hate having stuff that everyone has, but they're very good.

JimDean

ShriekingSheet wrote: »

I play a lot, and could easily used a Vokey for 2 years..

And what do you consider "used".

ShriekingSheet wrote: »

Anyway, just thinking about it, what the hell happened Cleveland??.

I have two 588 chromes in the bag, the original and still the best.

ShriekingSheet

JimDean wrote: »

And what do you consider "use".

It varies from person to person, but about 36 holes per week with some practice on top.

JimDean

ShriekingSheet wrote: »

It varies from person to person, but about 36 holes per week with some practice on top.

I didn't mean that, I was inquiring about how you would deem a club "worn out".

ShriekingSheet

JimDean wrote: »

I didn't mean that, I was inquiring about how you would deem a club "worn out".

Oh... well they never really wear out do they? The groves deteriorate with time, rounding the once sharper, square edges, so the ball spins much less. And the face can get a bit brown. So imo they're a bit like cars. You don't necessarily use one til it's useless. You might have a few spare quid (or vouchers) and fancy a change.

That said, I did actually play with a guy off around 5 in the summer who struck his pitches really well all day but the ball just kept on releasing. I didn't know him but it was so noticable I said it to him after. He showed me the wedge and it looked pretty seriously worn - maybe 4 years old. He was a short hitter, so relied on his short game, but it was apparent that on the raised-greens we were playing on that day, he needed better grooves to manage.

JimDean

ShriekingSheet wrote: »

Oh... well they never really wear out do they? The groves deteriorate with time, rounding the once sharper, square edges, so the ball spins much less. And the face can get a bit brown. So imo they're a bit like cars. You don't necessarily use one til it's useless. You might have a few spare quid (or vouchers) and fancy a change.

You would want to be quite a player before grove wear started to affect scoring.

Personally I always play for release on all my pitches/chips. Again it comes down to the quality of the greens, a bit of bite can get the job done on fast smooth greens, I normally play on swamps.

Mr. Larson

I've got 3 Cleveland Wedges. A 50° Chrome CG12 - a 54° CG10 and a 60° CG12.

I bought the CG10 about 2 years ago for about €40 second hand (but hardly used). Loved it so much I bought some company for it. I just love the way they sit at address and how they look. I guess that's the main thing no?

Picked up the other 2 Zip Groove CG12's for €150 from Mc Guirks. They come highly recommended by me anyway.

Russman

fullstop wrote: »

Don't mean to nit-pick, but 11 degrees is not low bounce, given that 14 is the most in any of the Vokey wedges. 56 degree Vokeys come with bounce as low as 4 degrees.


Fair comment, point taken. I should have said "low enough bounce" meaning low enough to open the face right up, as opposed to a "low bounce wedge". I reckon a 56 degree wedge with 9,10,11 (ish) degrees of bounce has easily enough scope for playing cut up shots around the green. Also depends on the offset of course, easier to do it with something like an old Mizuno Tour Style rater than, say, an old Cleveland 588 which has quite a bit of offset (I know they made them in 14 deg bounce but you know what I mean ).

Too little bounce can be as dangerous as too much, the only thing is you'd have to walk less coz it'll be duffed in front of you rather than thinned over the green with too much bounce

Wedges and wedge design are very personal things (almost a black art) so I'd recommend the Op try as many as he can before settling on one or two....or three !