52, 56, 60 or 52, 58??

[fundy]

Think distance wise I can manage on my course dropping the 56 to a 58.

My 52 is 115 yards and 56 played to 95. So I reckon 80-85 for 58. If I needed to put it up in the air.

Quite like the half shots with the 52 so should make me play more of them if anything

So youre going to have a 30+ yard gap between your clubs at the scoring end of the bag? sorry but this is just illogical to me and I would want another club in the gap personally. yes you can hit half shots etc but why complicate the process (and for those who think it doesnt get yourself on trackman and see just how accurate you are with half swings, quite an eye opener if anything like my data!)

For me I would find out how far I hit my PW, choose the highest loft you want ie 58, see how far that goes then look to fill the middle with 10 - 15 yds gaps

 

[pendodave]

I have :

pw (45) 110
50deg 95
54 80
58 65

with full but comfortable shots.

Sadly enough, I was up at our grass range yesterday evening noting down various half swing, pocket to pocket, knee to knee swings with these. My short game has been a bit rubbish recently, and I just wanted to be absolutely certain how far the various clubs went at easy to recreate swing lengths to take some of the guesswork out of the situation. I have a tendency to get a bit yippy, and thought that removing one more variable from coursing around my brain might help me to put a better swing on my around-the-green shots. We'll see.....

 

[One Planer]

So youre going to have a 30+ yard gap between your clubs at the scoring end of the bag? sorry but this is just illogical to me and I would want another club in the gap personally. yes you can hit half shots etc but why complicate the process (and for those who think it doesnt get yourself on trackman and see just how accurate you are with half swings, quite an eye opener if anything like my data!)

For me I would find out how far I hit my PW, choose the highest loft you want ie 58, see how far that goes then look to fill the middle with 10 - 15 yds gaps

I would agree.


When I was fit, the gap between my 58° and PW was about 30 yards. 52° solved that issue for me.

30 yards between wedges is on the large side.

 

[Bobirdie]

So youre going to have a 30+ yard gap between your clubs at the scoring end of the bag? sorry but this is just illogical to me and I would want another club in the gap personally. yes you can hit half shots etc but why complicate the process (and for those who think it doesnt get yourself on trackman and see just how accurate you are with half swings, quite an eye opener if anything like my data!)

For me I would find out how far I hit my PW, choose the highest loft you want ie 58, see how far that goes then look to fill the middle with 10 - 15 yds gaps

My pw plays to 135
Played my 58 vokey to 80
52 plays 115.

All yardages from my bushnell range finder so they are spot on.

20 yard gap between my pw and gw. I reckon I could live with. See what you mean with gw to 58 though

 

[Scrindle]

I play PW, 52, 56 & 60. I don't mind opening the face of any club and played a 9 iron out of a ditch with an open face to save a drop just 2 weekends ago in fact, but I know that a major weakness in my game is that my swing tends to fall apart when I can't make a full swing. So, I want as much of a distance range as possible with a full swing to compensate. Multiple wedges gives me an additional 2 middle distances I can use a full swing from.

I'll shortly be swapping to a PW, 50, 54 and 58 degree wedge when the MP-T5s come out. I can't imagine that I will have any issues opening a 58 out for flop shots in the same way that I can with a 60 on the odd occasion that there is literally no other shot to attempt left open to me.

 

[Slab]

Interesting thread and more than a little envious of those who can use 58 or 60 to good effect




As an aside its hugely impressive that when talking about options between two degrees 52,54,56,58 etc that everyone who's reported has wedges that only land in multiples of 5 or 10 yards across full, 3/4 or half shots

Surely most are either rounding up or down on their distance and if so what difference does 2 degrees make now!

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

So youre going to have a 30+ yard gap between your clubs at the scoring end of the bag? sorry but this is just illogical to me and I would want another club in the gap personally.

With this sort of discussion I really do wonder how amateur golfers managed before we had gap wedges; lob wedges etc. I guess they just learned to use what they had for these 120yds and less shots.

 

[woody69]

Interesting thread and more than a little envious of those who can use 58 or 60 to good effect

As an aside its hugely impressive that when talking about options between two degrees 52,54,56,58 etc that everyone who's reported has wedges that only land in multiples of 5 or 10 yards across full, 3/4 or half shots

Surely most are either rounding up or down on their distance and if so what difference does 2 degrees make now!

My PW (48) hit full is 120 yards
My 52 hit full is 100 yards
My 56 hit full is 80 yards
My 60 hit full is 60 yards (or 300 thinned).

If I am in between clubs I'd almost definitely take the club up (depending on landing zone / trouble) and try to take something off, shorter swing etc, but it produces a mixed result. I also more likely to go up a club in winter tbh

 

[pendodave]

As an aside its hugely impressive that when talking about options between two degrees 52,54,56,58 etc that everyone who's reported has wedges that only land in multiples of 5 or 10 yards across full, 3/4 or half shots

Surely most are either rounding up or down on their distance and if so what difference does 2 degrees make now!

I don't think that 10-15 yards between wedges (as an average over, say. 10 shots) is particularly remarkable. I would imagine that as a % it is actually a lot more than the distance between a 7 and a 6 iron, and no-one would think anything odd about that even for a handicap golfer.

As for the 2 degrees difference, I think it's more a case of taking the loft of the PW which is normally part of a set and then building up from there in 4 or 5 degree gaps. I use this method, rather than thinking that I prefer a 56 to a 54 in the abstract.

My iron set has 4 degree gaps all the way from the 4 to the pw, so it makes sense (in my mind at least) to continue at roughly the same gapping from the PW to my most lofted sand wedge (58).

Of course, a lot might depend on what your normal course is like around the greens. If there's a lot of trouble/banking etc in front of greens a 1/2 pw for me would not generate enough height to come in over the rubbish and hold the green. At a links course, the chip and run possibilities might allow the lower running/spinning half shot to be used more profitably.

There's plenty of ways to skin this particular cat, and most are valid in their own particular way.

 

[JPEGG42]

For me its 52/56 combo and trust myself to open the face when needed...
It depends on how comfortable you are in your own game! Mine is scary at present with the dreaded "S's" for some reason!

 

[Slab]

I don't think that 10-15 yards between wedges (as an average over, say. 10 shots) is particularly remarkable. I would imagine that as a % it is actually a lot more than the distance between a 7 and a 6 iron, and no-one would think anything odd about that even for a handicap golfer.

As for the 2 degrees difference, I think it's more a case of taking the loft of the PW which is normally part of a set and then building up from there in 4 or 5 degree gaps. I use this method, rather than thinking that I prefer a 56 to a 54 in the abstract.

My iron set has 4 degree gaps all the way from the 4 to the pw, so it makes sense (in my mind at least) to continue at roughly the same gapping from the PW to my most lofted sand wedge (58).

Of course, a lot might depend on what your normal course is like around the greens. If there's a lot of trouble/banking etc in front of greens a 1/2 pw for me would not generate enough height to come in over the rubbish and hold the green. At a links course, the chip and run possibilities might allow the lower running/spinning half shot to be used more profitably.

There's plenty of ways to skin this particular cat, and most are valid in their own particular way.

My point was that no one hits a wedge 78 yards or 83 yards or 78-83 yards!
Everyone fits into round numbers like 80 yards or 80-85 yards or 80-90 yards. All just a little too convenient when we are talking amateur golfers with 2 degree loft separation! Does no one hit a wedge in increments starting with anything other than 5 or 0 ?

 

[JPEGG42]

Only way you will know what you need is to have a Wedge lesson with your Pro...

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

With any wedge discussion into getting the right wedges for the right distances it's a bit unfortunate that you still have to hit it straight(ish) for that to matter

Depending upon the situation I will sometimes be looking for the correct distance (playing over a greenside bunker) - sometimes I just want it straight (playing between greenside bunkers). I will always choose the club for the approach shot to minimise risk, and not necessarily to maximise probability of getting close.

 

[Fyldewhite]

To me it's all about consistency. An extra wedge (I have PW at 46 + 50/54/58) gives me an accurate club to within 5/6 yards either way right down to about 80 yards by simply playing a normal full swing. Yes, there will always be wriggle room but to me, once you bring in another variable (length of swing etc) you are just going to lose consistency for some of those shots almost by definition. I lose the 3 wood (proper luxury club imo) that most carry without question. I don't necessarily hit the extra wedge more than I would the 3 wood but it's the number of times my shots from 80-120 yards are more accurate because of it that matters to me.

 

[no more 3 putts]

Going through exactly the same thought process. Currently using a 51/55/60 combo (with a 46 PW) but need a hybrid at the other end to close a gap. I am thinking 52 8 degree bounce and a 58 with 6 degree. Should give me all the options I need around the greens. I started playing my 60 a lot lately to the point where i barely use the 55 and I agree that sometime having too many options clutters the mind.... or maybe just trying to justify getting some new toys to play with.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

Get your wedges sorted and then work on distance control, especially when you aren't hitting full shots. I don't see you'll have too big a gap and it all comes down to good technique and feel

 

[garyinderry]

why does everyone talk about "full shots", when we are told this is not the thing to be doing with the scoring clubs?

 

[Imurg]

Wedges are golf clubs.
Any club can be used to hit a full shot.
I hit full shots with my 58 if I need to - damn useful shot sometimes!

 

[Fyldewhite]

why does everyone talk about "full shots", when we are told this is not the thing to be doing with the scoring clubs?

I don't have to hit a full shot, and I sometimes don't. From 80 yards in (due to the 14 club restriction ) I am forced to. In fact I may even actually try to shave 3/4 yards off a longer wedge shot but with mixed results. What I am saying is that with a full shot (ie my normal swing, not flat out) will give me 4 consistent distances from 120 to 80 rather than 3. That, to me just makes so much sense and I believe is a sizable advantage in a pretty important part of the game.

 

[the_coach]

why does everyone talk about "full shots", when we are told this is not the thing to be doing with the scoring clubs?

a 'full shot' with a wedge would be a 3/4 swing length finish at the top, (same for a 'full' 3/4 top for a 9i 8i 7i you don't want to be swinging to parallel with these scoring clubs ideally either as it's about control)
Just oft times gets referred to as 'full' for the longest distance you'd hit that/any of the wedge/s to, as opposed to the part swing lengths of the 30, 40, 50, 60 etc yard shots.