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Club Selection

Johnny Par

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Sep 5, 2006
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Would be interested to hear your thoughts on this.

I played 18 holes on saturday and encountered this situation on a number of holes.

I am on the fairway about 100 yards from the green. Normally for me, this is a Gap Wedge for me. The problem is, my GW is a callaway x-forged 52*. Everytime I put a full swing on, BAD things happen. It was so frustrating.

So now, I am looking for your advice. When in this situation, do you use your GW with full swing? or PW with 3/4 swing?

I am also rethinking my wedges. Thinking about contacting Ping to see if I can get the Ping Rapture 50* Utility Wedge or getting a Cleveland CG 14 50* wedge which I hear is extremely forgiving.

What are you thoughts? What club do you use in this situation?

Thanks.
 

nututhugame

Winter Sucks!
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Dec 29, 2008
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Southeast Wisconsin
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I have Wilson Staff Di5's and the set came with a matching 50* GW. I would hit that. I don't take a full swing with any of my wedges. That GW is pretty close to my fav. club... so forgiving. I would contact Ping to try to get that club. The advantage to me is that it feels and looks exactly like the rest of your irons.
 
OP
Johnny Par

Johnny Par

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Sep 5, 2006
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I have Wilson Staff Di5's and the set came with a matching 50* GW. I would hit that. I don't take a full swing with any of my wedges. That GW is pretty close to my fav. club... so forgiving.

Thanks for the response. Since I can't get the Ping Rapture GW anymore, don't want to spend $150 for the Rapture V2 GW, I may go with the G10 GW. Still looking though.
 

Fourputt

Littleton, Colorado
Sep 5, 2006
973
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I never full swing a wedge. That's one of the first things you learn when you take private lessons... the shorter clubs you generally don't want to swing more than about 3/4 of a mid iron swing. My 52° X Tour is about an 80 yard club, but don't gauge it from me.... I've always been shorter with my irons than most of my friends.

What's important is not how long they are, it's that you KNOW how long they are.
 

Pa Jayhawk

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Nov 15, 2005
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Never had a problem taking the same swing with a 56* or 52* that I do with any other Iron. 60-64* I try to keep it within a 3/4 swing, but have even been fairly effective on occasion with them in going over 3/4 if I want to put it back in my stance and generate a little more spin.

What kind of "Bad things happen"? It could possibly be in relation to the bounce of the club and the course conditions you play? Looks like it has about 12* bounce. So for example, do you play really firm fairways and tend to blade the ball a lot? Could also have to do with the design being different and finding it hard to set up.

Actually my 52* is the club that I am specifically most comfortable with swinging harder if need be. It was a big part of the reason I decided I could get rid of my PW and lengthen the gaps slightly on my other irons. Although it is one of my most used clubs and the one I likely have the most confidence in when using. If you have no confidence in the club, it could be directly responsible for the Issues and I would dump it or get a new one. I had a 56* at one point that met a similar fate, and every time I stood over the ball I dreaded the outcome. Didn't matter how good the club was, it didn't stand a chance and replacing it fixed the issue.
 

King Par

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Apr 15, 2007
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I'll choke up on a pitching wedge and make a 3/4 swing making sure that I make solid contact.
 

EHokie

They Like it When I Wag
Jun 24, 2008
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Charlotte, NC
I usually make the MISTAKE of taking a full swing with my gap wedge. I guarantee you I'd be far more consistent if I practiced hitting my PW with a 3/4 swing. I'm just usually afraid of going over a 3/4 swing and ending up 15 or 20 yards over the green.
 

BrandonM7

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Nov 23, 2007
1,156
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I've never had any problem making a full swing with any of my wedges, and don't really understand what makes them more problematic than any other club for some people. I did realize recently that the only thing my 52° gets used for are full swings, so I have the bits for a GW matching my irons inbound. I figure if it's never going to be used for wedgy things I might as well have the forgiveness of my irons just in case I need it.
 

RickinMA

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Feb 3, 2007
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this is the reason I have a cavity back gap wedge (bent to 53*) and only have a blade style wedge for my 58*
I'm very surprised you can't order a matching wedge for your set. I thought I had read that if you call Ping with your serial number, they can get you a matching club (just like how they can replace a lost 8 iron or whatever). who told you you can't get one?
 
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Johnny Par

Johnny Par

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Sep 5, 2006
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this is the reason I have a cavity back gap wedge (bent to 53*) and only have a blade style wedge for my 58*
I'm very surprised you can't order a matching wedge for your set. I thought I had read that if you call Ping with your serial number, they can get you a matching club (just like how they can replace a lost 8 iron or whatever). who told you you can't get one?

Good news. I went to golfsmith and asked if I could order the old ping rapture 50* utility wedge and they said if I give them the serial number, they could order me one. Awesome.
 
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Johnny Par

Johnny Par

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Sep 5, 2006
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I've never had any problem making a full swing with any of my wedges, and don't really understand what makes them more problematic than any other club for some people. I did realize recently that the only thing my 52° gets used for are full swings, so I have the bits for a GW matching my irons inbound. I figure if it's never going to be used for wedgy things I might as well have the forgiveness of my irons just in case I need it.

Not sure either why I am having so much trouble. Maybe it's the blade style of the wedge and taking a full swing is intimidating me.

But I need all the help I can get so cavity back seems to be the answer. The other option would be to practice my wedges at the range but it's hard to find time to go to the range and chelsea piers charges $25 for a bucket.
 

floggerrushmd

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Jul 11, 2008
589
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100 yards I hit a hard 60* provided I can't spin the ball back off a ridge or the front of the green other wise I hit the 56* with about a full wrist cock arms to 9 o clock swing.
 

ezra76

Well-Known Member
Feb 5, 2006
12,412
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Depends. 100 is a distance I can use PW or my SW. With the SW it goes very high, with the PW it'll be lower and trajectory control. If I have a lot of green, almost always the PW. If I need to carry it there, SW.
 

keithpbz

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Nov 18, 2007
242
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All my wedges have similar bounce so I can make the same swing with all of them. Did that so they all feel the same.
 

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