at a loss deciding on wedges

[J.J.]

i finally got my driver situation straight and the new 9 degree g5 will be here tomorrow so now i'm moving on to wedges..

i have no clue what degree wedges and what bounces to go with.. i was thinking do 52*, 56*, and 60*.. i heard to keep a 4 degree inrcriment between my wedges.. thats cool but my taylormade 320 pitching wedge is 47* so that makes a 5* difference.. would it be worth it to have the pitching wedge bent to a 48*? is there another route i could take to completely ditch the pitching wedge all together to save room in the bag? only problem i find with that is with my power (pretty decent) i use my pitching wedge on a majority of the par 3's i play unless its over 140-150..

this brings me to my next question.. i like to have my stuff matching.. i don't care about every brand matching.. i just like each thing to match.. such as all my woods one brand.. all my irons one brand and model and so on.. i was set on the titleist vokey spin milled wedges til i discovered that the nike SV line of wedges can be had for pretty cheap if you search hard and i would also have everything matching.. is the difference worth the price?

sorry for a long post full of noob questions..

[Kona]

PW 47 or 48 (bend 1* more loft)
SW 52 or 53 (some may call this an AW) with medium bounce (7*~10*)
LW 57 or 58 with medium to heavy bounce (11*~14*)
5* or 6* wedge loft increments OK, since your wedge length increments are only 1/4" instead of the 1/2" length differences from 5 iron to 9 iron where there are 4* loft steps.

You want your pitch wedge and sand wedge for sure. Lob wedges is optional...I hate and love mine, but my PW and SW are essential for me to loft chip over to elevated greens.

My Sand wedge or my other chipping club, 8 iron, have help to produce many one puts: Nice.

You can also get a 5-wood (18~20*) or a 7-wood (21~23*) or 3 iron-hybrid (22*) for your longer distance FW shots

No doubt Titleist Vokey (esp. Oil Can, etc.) wedges are excellent and have great marketing momentum, but also try Mizuno MP wedges.

[ezra76]

I play a 47* PW and a 50* gap. I also have a 56* SW but never hit it more than 3/4 at the most. Today I dropped 2 balls at just behind the 100marker to an elvated green. Flew it entirely with a smooth PW and hit the front edge with the gap. There is a good 15yds. between my PW and GW with 3* difference. I'm more of a feel guy anyway. I hit the green from 158 on a par 3 with an 8iron and 3 holes later hit the green from 145 with a 7iron. Yardage markers are relative.

[Youngun5]

i've been going through your same kind of dealio here for the past couple months.

i first had 4 wedges, (48, 52, 56, 60) but found that i had to sacrifice too many long distance clubs, and only used a couple of the wedges for the majority of shots.

i then went to 3 (48, 54, 60) and found that the gap between 48 and 54 was a lot to handle. another issue was the bounce of those particular wedges, the 60 was low-bounce and useless from the sand, and while the 54 worked from the sand i couldn't use it from up close sand as well as i liked.

I'm now adjusting my 3. for now I think I'm gonna keep my 48, and I purchased 50, and 58 degree wedges. the 50 is gonna be weakened to 52. and hopefully they'll have enough bounce to handle any sand situation i'll face, and yet both play well from any number of situations i need.

just some of my findings, hope they help.

good luck with your search, let us know how it goes.

[chemboy2]

I would suggest not getting too caught up in getting a perfect 4* spread as much as making sure that you have distances and uses covered. Take into consideration course conditions that you normally play in as well when selecting bounce.

Also, more and more OEMs are coming out with special sole grinds as standard; play around with those and see if you may be able to get one wedge to do double duty.

Lastly, try not to get overwhelmed as there are a ton of great choices out there right now!

[gunning4u]

I personally would like to have only 3 wedges in the bag. I too was told to keep a 4* gap in my wedges and I didn’t like it much I would hit my 52 and 56 on top of each other. I have a 47 52 and I dropped the 56 for a 58 low bounce CG10. I had a SM Volkey and it defiantly feels harder than the CG10 IMO. I use the 52 strictly as a gap wedge 95-125 and use the 58 for everything inside 95 and its great out of the sand.

[Sandpiper3]

Its all about how you feel your covering your distances properly. Me, i went 48-54-60, and i can be all over the pin from 135 down to like 50 yards with those 3 clubs (except from 115.... but i just never hit it inside of 110-115). Whereas my buddy has a full set; 48-52-56-60 and feels more confident without a bigger yardage gap between clubs as he is not as good at 3/4 shots and those little feel shots, he's more analytical.

Just go try a bunch man, and dont worry about having everything matching (*cough* VOKEY SM *cough*)

[Youngun5]

Vokey SM's = most overrated and overhyped wedges ever.


IMHO of course....

[ualtim]

Any questions?


With a 47* PW, I would go with 52* and 58* Srixon WG 504's. If you have room in your bag you can go 52*, 56*, 60* but that will usually cost a club in the upper end of the bag. I have tried both set ups and have settled on the 52*/58* as I found I was not using the 56* wedge. If I needed more roll I was hitting a 52*. If I needed the ball to stop with minimal roll, I was using the 60*. With the Srixon WG 504's, I can really open up the blade and get more loft if needed without worrying about the heel digging in.

[J.J.]

thanks for the help... i like the way those srixons look.. they pretty reasonably priced?

i dont mind if i have to lose a 5 wood to have something that will allow me to have better approach.. i never use my 5 wood and rarely even my 3 wood.. i feel confident enough in my lower irons that i dont ever use them.. i am planning on picking up a hybrid to have for a just in case situation but thats it

[ualtim]

Originally Posted by J.J.

thanks for the help... i like the way those srixons look.. they pretty reasonably priced?

They are a little bit harder to find, but worth the search. I was able to snag mine new for $65 a piece on eBay plus shipping. If you can find them, give them a hit. You'll be hooked.

[MCDavis]

I'm playing 3 wedges: 46º PW, 52º GW, 56º SW. Works well for me. The PW is 125, GW is 115, SW is up to 100 and bunkers.

I have found no use for another wedge in my bag. Of course, I learned on just a PW/SW combo and never had more than that until last fall. It's more fun to learn more shots with fewer clubs!