GW - same as iron set

[thesheriff]

My iron set came with GW as standard which was great for me as I felt like there was too much of a gap between my PW and 54 deg. Love it as it's bridged the gap nicely and offers another chipping option round the greens.

 

[Break90]

I've got 4-PW AP2's, with Cleveland wedges. 48, 52, 56 and 60, although currently only the 48 and 56 are in the bag.

PW goes 105, 48 goes 90, 56 goes 70. Oddly the 52 also goes 90, so a minor gapping issue there. Have to grip down on the 48 for and 80 yd shot.

 

[Orikoru]

At my level I've felt no need to buy specific wedges at all. I have a PW and a SW in my iron set, and I'm quite happy doing all my chips with the SW. Full PW goes about 110-ish yards, anything between 50ish and 100 I use the PW with a less-than-full swing, and then inside 50 I just chip on the SW. My chipping has been fine doing it that way, don't need to throw money at buying more wedges right now.

 

[Foxholer]

...
The lofts have been lowered so people think the new clubs go further.

Maybe that was the driving plan (I'm inclined to think so); maybe not (because CofG has been changed too, so that helps everyone!)! It's of no REAL relevance as that's the way it is! Remember that the ONLY thing that defines a particular iron club is the weight - e.g. 7i = 270/271gm!

GW is now pretty close to what the 'old' PW loft was, so that's the 'modern' club to use for the flight and distance of the 'old' PW!

Which really answers the OP's question - Yes; get the GW that matches the set!

Btw. Wedges are clubs that should only rarely be hit 'full'! Wedge play is the 'finesse' part of Golf!

 

[delc]

That argument doesn't hold water.
By your logic, the 7 iron has to be de-lofted otherwise if it had more loft it would "balloon out of control". So why is there an 8 iron????

The lofts have been lowered so people think the new clubs go further.

The distance a ball travels from a specific club is only really related to its loft and swing radius, the latter being determined by its shaft length. There has been a trend by club manufacturers to further de-loft each new model of irons to make it appear to go further than the old model, and therefore to relieve the gullible punters of some cash. A modern PW goes a lot further than an old time one, because it's really an 8-iron with PW stamped on its sole! Unfortunately that leaves a huge gap to the Sand Iron, which has to have the traditional amount of loft (56 degrees) to do its job. Hence the need for at least one Gap Wedge!

 

[GreggerKBR]

I found the GW that matched the Titliest 714 irons was about 10 yards longer than the Vokey 50* GW I eventually bought.
The shaft length was about 1/4 inches longer, even though the Vokey 50 is longer than Vokey 54!

The swing weight/momentum gives an different inertia at impact.

But... I struggle to control short game shots, chipping, bumps & runs with the 714s... really really struggle.
They just come out with so little spin compared to the Vokey that it catches me out every time.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

(Can of worms opening). Isn't it simply about finding a way to plug the gap in distances in the scoring end of the bag? If you are capable of using the PW and SW in the set (whether that's the ones that came with the full set or separate ones) to hit it the right distance from 100 yards back to a 30 yard pitch then fine and I'm sure there are some on here capable of doing that regularly. For me though and I would suspect some others on here, the gap wedge in particular pugs that gap nicely and I don't feel the need to have to feather a PW or blast a SW flat out. A GW also gives me another option in terms of ball flight too so plenty for me to like about my GW

 

[PJ87]

I prefer my Vokey pitching wedge to my 716 AP1 pitching wedge

both go basically same distance but I feel like I have more control over the vokey

much more confident with it which is weird considering its a blade