62° versus 64° Wedge

[HokieHacker]

I am thinking of getting a more lofted wedge to go with my Vokey 52° and 58° (non-conforming). Is there any consensus on how much is too much? I would like to use the club for both chipping and pitching. I am an 18, so this may be money I should be spending on lessons, but I wanted to get one before the rules eliminate the option. There seem to be a lot more 62°'s on eBay. In the for what-its-worth category, I agree with the comments I have read on the site that the groove rule change is ridiculous - it is the ball that is the problem on tour, not the clubs. I was following the group behind Appleby at the Greenbrier the day he shot his 59 and it had nothing to do with the grooves in his wedge - it was because he had a wedge into every hole. It is like changing the race track because the cars are going too fast. As for us mere mortals, no matter what technology has brought to the party - the overall scoring average remains essentially unchanged.

 

[BigJim13]

I am an 18, so this may be money I should be spending on lessons, but I wanted to get one before the rules eliminate the option. .

1. Don't waste your money on a wedge with more than 58* of loft. If it were me, I would sell the 58* and get a 56* and keep it that way. 60* is overrated in my opinion and frankly you will lose more shots with a 60+ wedge than you would save. You're right, get lessons.

2. No matter when the rule changes, you will still be able to find non conforming wedges on clearance and on ebay.

 

[TheTrueReview]

HH, the wedge lofts you have are fine. I disagree with BigJim. 56 - 58 degree is fine for a sand wedge. With a 52 degree gap wedge, you have a 4 degree spacing to your next club up, which is good. Have a look at your pitching wedge and make sure it is about 47 or 48 degrees, which would make an optimal spacing between that & your gap wedge. Some manufacturers have strong lofted clubs & so some pitching wedges might be 45 degrees, which leaves a big gap to your next wedge. I sold my Wilson Staff Ci7 irons for that reason a few years ago.

I agree with Big Jim about the lessons.

 

[Fourputt]

I do agree with Big Jim. I don't carry anything more than 56°, and it seems to be quite enough. The reason you see so many on ebay is because most players find that they aren't as easy to use as they thought they'd be. They don't really sell all that well new, and many who do buy them find out that they made a mistake. You already have a 58° and that should be a good plenty.

What most players need is better technique around the green, not more clubs.

 

[Bakemono36]

I personally think that anything more than 56* is too much for most people. When you have a loft of 58* of more, the angle of the clubface is so extreme that the effective hitting area becomes quite small. Unless you have a very consistent swing, thats a difficult club to hit well.
I used to carry a 60* but found that I wasnt consistent enough with it. Ive since replaced it with a 56* and if I need more loft to hit a flop shot, I simply open up the clubface a bit.

 

[HokieHacker]

Thank you for the advice. I will use this money at the range and to consult with my PGA professional. I agree the problem is not not in the tools, it is definately the craftsman (it is just a lot easier to blame the clubs).

 

[BigJim13]

I used to carry a 60* wedge, did for a long time. I found that I pulled it out on the course so few times and when I did it was 50/50 whether or not I would chunk it or skull it. Finally I just gave up on it and now carry a 52/56 set up. You know what I found? There were no shots that I hit with a 60* wedge that I couldn't hit with a 56* wedge. I shaved some of the bounce of my 56 and now I can't see the point of a 60* wedge. You know what else happened? I got better with my 52 & 56- if I decide to try out for the PGA tour I may consider adding a 60 again, but that's a long way off

 

[N.V.M.]

i carry a 64 and i friggin love that thing. full swing 100 yards bang on, and easy to hit 40-50 yarders. i pitch it from around the greens almost all the way to the hole, and its like a mini flop shot, and it just lands so soft, and barely rolls. its radically improved my short game.

 

[FATC1TY]

1. Don't waste your money on a wedge with more than 58* of loft. If it were me, I would sell the 58* and get a 56* and keep it that way. 60* is overrated in my opinion and frankly you will lose more shots with a 60+ wedge than you would save. You're right, get lessons.

2. No matter when the rule changes, you will still be able to find non conforming wedges on clearance and on ebay.

Rules aside, which doesn't really mean jack.

I'm gonna agree with Jim here. As an 18-cap, your right, lessons would be be helpful, but they aren't that fun, and buying new clubs is.

I'd forget a higher lofted wedge, honestly. You WILL lose more shots if you get fancy with some high lofted stuff. I'm slightly more than half your handicap, and I'm not comfortable with my 60* unless the lie is nice and flat, sitting in decently thick rough, or out of a short sided greenside bunker. Anything other than that, I use my 56* and work the ball that way.

Like TTR said, gaps might have you playing different lofts to space the gaps, but I'd honestly leave well enough alone.

If you can hack around the course and get up and down easy enough, then work on your short game and some imagination with your wedges already. I find chipping with a high lofted club harder. The more loft I have, the more spin I get, and I struggle with allowing my shots to run out, and instead they hop/stop.

Check your loft gaps and adjust your wedges from there. Work on techinique, it'll pay off better than your lofted wedge.

 

[BigJim13]

Learn to hit chips with your PW from around the green, once you gauge how much they will roll out you will become money with that shot and I can pretty much guarantee that your 18 will become a 10. Flop shots and high pitches look cool but unless you practice them ALOT its hard-I mean REALLY hard- judge where to land them, how hight to hit them and whether or not your going to get any roll, not to mention how much you need to open your face and stance. USe a PW when you can!

 

[johnnymo]

I bagged a 64 for all of about five rounds. I literally gained nothing over my 58 and would much rather keep my 3i in the bag. Depending on what I do next bag wise I may go 50 54 58 depending on the loft of the pw and yardage gap but I seriously doubt that I will be bagging anything 60+ anytime soon.

 

[MGP]

I bagged a 64 for all of about five rounds. I literally gained nothing over my 58 and would much rather keep my 3i in the bag. Depending on what I do next bag wise I may go 50 54 58 depending on the loft of the pw and yardage gap but I seriously doubt that I will be bagging anything 60+ anytime soon.

I went the 50º/54º/58º route this year and glad I did. The 54º is higher bounce and is my sand wedge, the 58º is low bounce so I can hit a flop with it or I can open it up to increase the bounce for short sided bunker shots. The 50º is my money club -- the low one or two skips and stop are what I do best with it and feel confident pitching it right at the hole. The 58º wedge is seldom used but handy when I need it.

 

[Bakemono36]

Learn to hit chips with your PW from around the green, once you gauge how much they will roll out you will become money with that shot and I can pretty much guarantee that your 18 will become a 10. Flop shots and high pitches look cool but unless you practice them ALOT its hard-I mean REALLY hard- judge where to land them, how hight to hit them and whether or not your going to get any roll, not to mention how much you need to open your face and stance. USe a PW when you can!

+1. All those fancy trick shots look cool and are great when you can pull them off, but they are high-risk shots and most of simply dont practice them enough to pull them off on a regular basis.
Unless its a really thick, juicy lie; Id feel more confident with a chip or a pitch than a flop shot any day.

 

[RickinMA]

I think there is a place for high loft wedges. Maybe not for everyone, but for those who play on courses with small, hard, elevated greens, high loft is very helpful.
I recently played the course I learned to play golf on, and for the first time in a long time, I remembered why I throw the ball way up in the air and use gravity to make it stick.

It was a slow day on the course during the back 9, and it was my little sister's first time out on the course there (she took up the game a couple of years ago and shoots pretty good bogey golf from the blue tees) - we tried a variety of approach shots on a couple of different holes and the only ones that stuck were the high flying bombs.

If you play on big, soft, flat, greens lower loft is just fine - but when you're trying to stick them on an elevated postage stamp, the 60* becomes very helpful

 

[SilverUberXeno]

I love my 60* wedge. When I've noticed is that most people with a 60* wedge try to make every shot a flop shot. SO unnecessary. The point of having a 60* wedge, to me, is to make the "trick" shots minimal. With a 60* wedge, I can have my hands way ahead for a chip and still get decent loft on the shot.

Also; if you're opening up a 56* wedge, your 'effective hitting area' is the same as if you had a standard shot with a 60* wedge. And the standard 60 is a lot easier to hit than an open-faced 56.

My course has the kind of greens that like to let the ball trickle 20 feet if you're not careful. I actually feel MORE comfortable taking a longer, smoother swing with a 60 than a short, very-abbreviated swing with a 52 or PW. It feels more fluid to me, and my greenside-to-50-yd work with my 60* wedge has been exceptional lately.

As long as you aren't trying to do anything ridiculous with it, a 60* wedge has a place.