Sandwedge

dball

Its all i can find online but the following is taken from wikipedia:

A gap wedge is the next higher-lofted wedge after the pitching wedge, and is usually used in a similar manner. It is the newest wedge and so is one of the least standardized as to its purpose and thus its design, but lofts for gap wedges are centered around 52° and have a moderate amount of bounce.[8]
The concept of the gap wedge originated when the loft angles of irons were reduced as a result of the higher launch angles of modern "cavity-back" irons for a given loft, and also from amateur players' desire for greater range. The pitching wedge was de-lofted along with the numbered irons from about 50–52° to about 45–48°; however, sand wedges remained the same, because their 54–58° loft is part of their design which makes them effective at cutting through sand. This results in a "gap" of about 8–10° between the pitching wedge and sand wedge, which can result in a difference in carry distance of up to 40 yards between these two clubs. To fill this "gap" in loft and distance, some golfers began carrying an additional wedge in the 50–54° range. This club was often the pitching wedge or 9-iron from the player's older "muscle-back" set, but as the practice became more common, manufacturers began designing wedges specifically for this role. While clubmakers invented different names for this club, such as "approach wedge" (Callaway), "attack wedge" (TaylorMade), "dual wedge" (Cleveland) and "utility wedge" (Karsten Manufacturing - PING), the term "gap wedge" is typically used in conversation to describe a wedge in this general loft range, and is used by some manufacturers such as Adams Golf. Some are simply identified by their loft angle and bounce; a "52-8" wedge is a gap wedge with 52° of loft and 8° of bounce.


I have a set of Cleveland launchers and have a D wedge and a P wedge. Following reading the above i realize i might not have a sandwedge at all - i have been using the dual wedge for years..


any thoughts anyone - should i invest in a sand wedge or stick with the dual.

BigChap1759

You need to look on the Cleveland website and identify the loft and bounce of the wedges in order to make a judgement.

You normally want your SW to have relatively high bounce(>8) to help out of sand or rough

Senna

If its the Cleveland launchers then its a 50 degree "D" wedge, your PW should be 45 degrees. The sole is very big on that D wedge because it was designed to be used in bunkers too, so that could be why you never missed a SW. Do you carry a Lob wedge?

I've spend this last 1+ year with a 54 being my highest lofted club in the bag, so you don't have to have a SW, but for chipping over trouble, high faced bunkers, lobbing the ball up or chipping onto slow greens, many people wouldn't do without a high lofted wedge.