Wedge advice

Waesfjord

Hi all,

To those who understand the short game well, can you please throw in your twopence worth on this query...

I've got a standard PW (7deg bounce, 45deg loft) and SW (12deg bounce, 55deg loft).

Regarding a new wedge, would people recommend getting a gap wedge (50deg) before a loft wedge (60deg) first?

I was thinking that a lob wedge may be more beneficial, as it's perfect for those tights shots around green (as I miss the green often) where little or no green available for a simple chip, so want the ball to carry then stop quickly, very difficult to use a PW or SW for this shot, as if open the clubface to increase loft, you increase bounce of club, so in danger of blading the ball rather than lobbing it??
What puzzles me though is what bounce to go for in LW. Too low may result in sticking in ground? Any rules of thumb or safe options?

Does the gap wedge offer anything other than being able to potentially swing a full swing over sort distances to get a more consistent distance control than e.g. a 3/4 length PW swing?

Conor J

i like to seperate each club from another by 5 degrees.
I dont have a GW at present, but I do have a LW.
however, I do want to remedy it soon.

depending on how you play around the greens, id imagine a LW would be the better buy first. If you pitch n run a lot of shots, or play a lot of Links, then perhaps you can buy the GW first.

Kace

I use a pitch (48), gap (52), sand (56) and lob (60).

I must admit that the gap is probably the least used club in my bag but I do like it and it fills a rather large 'gap' between the pitching wedge and sand wedge.

Don't think I would be without one, but definitely get the lob wedge first as you will have a lot more use for this.

Benicetomonty

Worth getting the gap wedge in my opinion. I've a 60 degree lob with 4 degrees of bounce and a 52 degree gap. I don't really see the use of the sand wedge anymore, I find the lob as effective if not better out of bunkers and the gap wedge covers shots between 60 and 110 yards.

Good investment for me.

dvemail

I have a gap (52) and a lob (58) along with my PW, and around the greens i probably use the 58 a lot more.
If you could get a loan of a lob or gap wedge off somebody just for a round it would help as everybody is differnet with what they feel comfortable with. Personally i like to have that extra bit of loft around the greens because you can it closer to the pin and it makes the shot easier.... sometimes.

ShriekingSheet

Hi Brian,

First thing I'd mention is that a Gap Wedge and a Lob Wedge are used by people for different reasons. So it's a little bit like apples and oranges.

The LW has shot to fame in relatively recent times, as modern course designs have more raised greens and complex bunkering. This means you need to chip it higher and land it softer, as opposed to more old fashioned fairway-level greens where you could bump it low with an 8 iron from a lot of spots. Two things that'll highlight this for you are a) how the bulk of older players favour lower chips, as this was by far the most useful shot for the greens at the time they learned, and b) look at any old course in the last 10 years that has redone it's greens- did they raise them? Probably. You need an LW in the bag to cope with some shots around these new greens.

The GW has come into play even more recently. It's basic theory is that people prefer to hit full standard shots as much as possible, rather than being flexible with a Pitching Wedge, gripping down to take a few yards off it's normal distance. In effect, the goal is to have one swing and just change the club to vary the distance. Hitting a high full shot from virtually every yardage is a very american thing, where conditions are often perfect and greens are watered and receptive. I don't think it's relavent to Ireland.

In my view, no matter how many wedges you have, you will never always have a full shot. Gripping down, powering down and punching shots are all skills of the game, and whether you like it or not, you need them, especially in Ireland when you have weather and hills to deal with.

The LW on the other hand is a must. Over-use is not advised, but when you need to get the ball up quickly and land it softly, there's no substitute for the Lob Wedge.

Webbs

To carry on this thread if people recommend having a LW what is their preferred bounce for parkland courses in Ireland seeing as you have both wet and dry (well sometimes) conditions over the year?

ShriekingSheet

Webbs wrote: »

To carry on this thread if people recommend having a LW what is their preferred bounce for parkland courses in Ireland seeing as you have both wet and dry (well sometimes) conditions over the year?

It's a personal preference, but by the book, mid or high bounce would suit irish parklands by and large.

f22

Personally I play quite a bit of links too so 54 (10) and 60(6) is the best compromise I have come up with.

mike12

Hi,
If you have only room to put in 1 wedge you could look at droping the sand wedge espically if it is a cavity back as it is not very versitile and go with a 52% and a 58% i would go with 10 degrees of bounce which will see you right in almost any suitation bar the tighest of lies also good out of the bunkers as u can use the 52% for longer ones and 58% for shorter ones.
Mike

Russman

Personally i don't use a lob wedge (but thats just me ), but the best way IMO is to check the loft of your PW, decide what you want your most lofted wedge to be, and go for equal gaps between whatever selection you choose.
I think the reason the gap wedge has become popular is that modern pitching wedges are much stronger than they used to be. I had a set of TP9 irons about 10 years ago and the PW was 50 degrees, nowadays they're mostly 46 or 47 degrees, thus leading to the big "gap" to the sandwedge.......

jimbling

I'm a bit wedge crazy.
PW:47° (Cobra S9)
GW:49° (Cobra S9)
GW:52° (Cleveland G12 RTG+ DSG)
SW:56° (Cleveland G12 RTG+ DSG)
LW:60° (Cleveland G12 RTG+ DSG)


The 52° GW is still my favourite club in the bag. I use it for anything between 100y - 50y out, which is obviously a lot of shots. I also use it for a lot of chips around the green too.

Probably because it was my first really good wedge, and it is extremely versatile. I can put stop/backspin in the ball relatively easily with it too.

I followed up by buying the other two G12s, but haven't had much practice with them, so find myself falling back on the GW constantly.

They also have that double bounce feature. So if the ground is soft I just open the face up for the higher bounce.

stockdam

OP.....it depends on where you have problems. If it's holding the green from close range especially when hitting over bunkers then a lob wedge would be handy.

However I would tend to go for a gap wedge first as your wedge is very strong. How far do you hit it......120 to 130 yards? How far do you hit your sand wedge......90 yards? You'll then maybe see that you have a problem from say 100 to 110 yards or so.

Your wedge is more like a 9 iron in loft. A gap wedge would be quite a useful club and if you are a good wedge player then you'll be able to play all sorts of shots with it.

It's really down to you........how many shots do you have where you think you need an extra wedge?