Wedge Gapping

[Ye Olde Boomer]

Where is the best place to have a seven degree gap….

between my 9-iron (41º) and my present pitching wedge (48º),

between my set matching PW (46º) and my present gap wedge (53º),

or between my set matching gap wedge (51º) and my finesse wedge (58º)?

I'm choosing the first option to go into April.

Which would you choose?

 

[ScienceBoy]

Where is the best place to have a seven degree gap….

between my 9-iron (41º) and my present pitching wedge (48º),

between my set matching PW (46º) and my present gap wedge (53º),

or between my set matching gap wedge (51º) and my finesse wedge (58º)?

I like my pitching and gap wedges to match so I chose the first option to go into April.

Which would you choose?

I would worry less about degrees and think more about distances.

Take every club from 8 downwards, a place to make notes and some time on a launch monitor.

Work out how far each club goes, you can usually get three distances out of each (3/4, 1/2 and a pitch) You may have duplicates but you will also see any gaps.

Some like to write the results on paper and tape to their shafts, usually seen on lower handicap player clubs

 

[Deleted member 1147]

Gap & lob wedges

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

I would worry less about degrees and think more about distances.

Take every club from 8 downwards, a place to make notes and some time on a launch monitor.

Work out how far each club goes, you can usually get three distances out of each (3/4, 1/2 and a pitch) You may have duplicates but you will also see any gaps.

Some like to write the results on paper and tape to their shafts, usually seen on lower handicap player clubs

A clock position matrix of wedge distances is ideal, I agree, but requires more practice time than a senior like myself can tolerate.
I was briefly a 7 and, through much of my prime, an 8 or 9.

Now I play only recreationally and socially, never in competition save the odd member-guest invitation, and my index has soared over 12.
That's still decent golf for a physical wreck like myself, even if I have to be the one to say it!
While I may have deviation with longer clubs, my distances tend to stay true to loft with wedges.

I chose to live with the gap between 9-iron and strongest wedge because finessing distances with the pitching wedge is a fairly common procedure for veteran players.

 

[ScienceBoy]

A clock position matrix of wedge distances is ideal, I agree, but requires more practice time than a senior like myself can tolerate.

Also way too complicated, just learn 3 distances per club, full, 3/4 and hald then. Should cover it all and omit the need to worry about degrees

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

Also way too complicated, just learn 3 distances per club, full, 3/4 and hald then. Should cover it all and omit the need to worry about degrees

Perhaps you're not familiar with terminology which is common in America but possibly not exactly the same in the UK, ScienceBoy.

Full, three-quarters, and half swings for each wedge IS (exactly) the system which we call the "clock position matrix system."
The loft in degrees is not actually worrying about degrees but rather what a typical American player calls each of his/her wedges instead of "pitching," "gap," "approach," "sand," "lob," or whatever. This became common in the era of stronger lofted numbered irons and thus multiple wedges coming after them. We just say "my 52" or "my 58."

An alternate system, particularly for the player who prefer cut lobs right to the pin over bump and run chip shots, is to use the stronger wedges mainly for full shots and just the lob wedge for all partial shots inside of, say, 75 yards.

 

[Dibby]

Perhaps you're not familiar with terminology which is common in America but possibly not exactly the same in the UK, ScienceBoy.

Full, three-quarters, and half swings for each wedge IS (exactly) the system which we call the "clock position matrix system."
The loft in degrees is not actually worrying about degrees but rather what a typical American player calls each of his/her wedges instead of "pitching," "gap," "approach," "sand," "lob," or whatever. This became common in the era of stronger lofted numbered irons and thus multiple wedges coming after them. We just say "my 52" or "my 58."

An alternate system, particularly for the player who prefer cut lobs right to the pin over bump and run chip shots, is to use the stronger wedges mainly for full shots and just the lob wedge for all partial shots inside of, say, 75 yards.

I think you are misunderstanding his response, he is telling you to worry about how far you hit the clubs and make the choice based on that, not what you call them or what loft they have stamped on them. The faster the swing speed, the bigger the distance gap for the same amount of loft gap becomes, hence gapping is more important with the output result (distance hit) than the input (loft of the club). E.g for some people a 7 degree gap might be 35 yards, but for others, especially if you don't hit full shots with wedges, it might only be 10 yards.

 

[ScienceBoy]

I think you are misunderstanding his response

It is rare for me to make sense, so its understandable.

 

[Ye Olde Boomer]

It is rare for me to make sense, so its understandable.

Not at all; I may very well have misunderstood.

At the bottom end of my set, loft is a generally reliable indicator of how far I'm going to hit. At the long end, it varies more.

Although I often carry two 5-woods, a newer 18º and an older 21º, and there is about a full club between them.

Not that this latter fact has anything to do with wedge gapping.

 

[hairball_89]

Given your attitude to the rules of the game, if you're not sure as to whether you have the correct gapping - just buy another wedge to fill the hole?!