Wedge coverage

[dougajmcdonald]

Hi all,

I'm looking for some wedge advice.
I'm due to get a new iron set at Christmas but have noticed most only go down to PW these days, with what I believe will be ~46° loft.

I'm after a SW replacement and something more 'lobby' but not as severe as 60° (my dad has one and I'm not a fan).

Am I right in thinking something around 54° would replace my old SW and perhaps a 58° for a LW?

Bit worried I might see a huge gap between 46 and 54 (always something I worried about).

Any opinions on two (or more) wedges to get decent cover without going over the top (money / numbers) wise?

Any suggestions greatly appreciated,

Doug

 

[Foxholer]

Gap Wedge is the normal tool to fill the - er - gap!

Anything from 49* to 54* depending in PW loft and your particular style/need. 57 upwards is considered Lob Wedge.

Depending on your style and the attributes of the head (bounce, camber, width, grind), you could use GW or LW as SW replacement.

For a 2 wedge set up, something like a 52 and 58 would work. The 58 would SW replacement and have grind so that high bounce could be manufactured for bunker shots, yet still enable you to 'nip' the ball off tight lies.

I'm deliberately being a bit vague about attributes because it is a case of 'different strokes for different folks'! scratch (wedge specialists) have 3 categories of player. Sweeper/Sliders (like me), Digger/Drivers and Driver/Sliders. Sweepers require low bounce to avoid thins on tight lies, Diggers high bounce to avoid fats from 'sharp' leading edges digging into soft turf etc. So establishing what style you are, and what ground conditions you normally play is important. Having done that, the other attributes can be 'tuned' to your particular needs.

 

[G_Mulligan]

As you can see in my sig I go for full coverage in my wedge yardages and options around the green. I use the Dave Pelz system for distance control which works very well. Around the greens I also like my mixture of bounce angles from 6-14* my 58 is 10 and is my alrounder go to club. My 54 is 14 and used for bunkers and rough and can be opened nicely for deep rough. My 64 is also 14 and is fast becoming my favourite club. The more I practice the more I can seem to place the ball withing 3 foot of the hole on delicate little chips or lobs over trees/bunkers and from bunkers I can get really aggressive on tight pins. My 50 is great for bump and runs when short in the fairway and long running chip shots across long greens.

I love my wedges and could not imagine dropping one of them anymore.

 

[bobmac]

If your PW is 46 degrees, get yourself a 52 and a 58.
Then practice as much as you can.

 

[MadAdey]

2 choices really IMO. 50,54,58 or 52,58. It all depends on how well you can manufacture shots, or if you prefer to have set of clubs that have nice equal spacing in. I actually have a 50 & 58 in the bag! not so conventional! but as I am comfortable with manufacturing shots with my 50* wedge it works really well.

 

[garyinderry]

Over the top money wise? depends what you are after. You could buy some vokeys off ebay to keep the price down. Sm4 are reasonable on there these days.

 

[HomerJSimpson]

If your PW is 46 degrees, get yourself a 52 and a 58.
Then practice as much as you can.

Listen to Bob. The man talks sense. No need for a LW and the 52 and 58 plug the gap from the PW perfectly

 

[dougajmcdonald]

Listen to Bob. The man talks sense. No need for a LW and the 52 and 58 plug the gap from the PW perfectly

Thanks for for all the feedback guys greatly appreciated. I popped out earlier and picked up a 52 and 58 degree set of Cleveland rtx's as they were dirt cheap and I wasn't hitting the vokeys as I wanted to! (Shame).

popped out for a quick 9 earlier and popped two 80 yard shots inside 10 feet with the 52 and a decent number of shots with the 58 (although it's clear I need to get my distances sorted with that!) loving the shot shape and how easy it is to pop things up with the new two, thanks again all.