Wedges - Whats the story on degrees?

[adamk15]

Hi this is my first post so treat me lightly!

Im about to buy some new wedges soon (probably some MD Norman Drews, any of you got them?) and was just wondering about what degrees to get?

Im definetly going to get two but Im slightly confused on what degrees to get them in. After a quick sneek in some of my friends bags I have seen 52 with 56, 54 with 58 and even 52 with 58. I seem to be erring towards 54 and 58 (I struggle to get height on shots) but any advice would be great on what works best for you. Cheers.

Adam

 

[haplesshacker]

Hi and welcome to the asylum!

Depends where your 'gap' is. My 52 is invaluable as my gap wedge, and sits neatly between the PW and SW. The 60 only tends to come out on greenside bunkers.

I've heard nothing but good things about the MD wedges, and good value.

 

[USER1999]

I have 54 and 58.

A standard sand wedge is 56, so if you have one with your set of irons this makes it more interesting.

A pitching wedge can be around 47 to 48, so if you have a SW at 56, a 52 may be useful as a gap wedge.

I wouldn't go over 58, as 60s and above can take a bit of mastering.

That said, a SW can have a lot of bounce, so a 58 with low bounce can be a very useful option to play off tight lies.

MD make nice wedges.

 

[adamk15]

Cheers this Forum seems to be a new godsend to my golf decision woes! I've got a PW (with my ben hogan irons) but I never got a SW alongside. This has meant I've been using a SW from my old Ben Sayers set (disgusting club with 0 bounce for some reason) so I doubt I will keeps it in the bag (Useful for those stray tee shots that land on an immovable path mind you haha!) I think I'm settled on a 58 for those tricky shots and a 52 or 54 to fill the gap.

Thanks and any further advice is still welcome!

 

[WGC2]

I agree totally with haplesshacker I am also getting a NV Drew wedge and am considering a 58 as it is good out of greenside bunkers, elevated greens and some approach shots.

 

[USER1999]

If you are using the 58 as a SW, you will need a bit of bounce on it ( ask when you buy it, and avoid the MD Norman Drew as I think they are low bounce).

Have fun with your new sticks.

 

[haplesshacker]

I agree totally with haplesshacker

Just be careful, there's a very thin line between advice and opinion. I can't play for squat, (see breaking 100 thread of mine). However I did look very carefully at my existing lofts before deciding which wedges to add.

 

[Imurg]

Hapless has got it right about the lofts. You need to know what loft your pw has before you can do anything else. These days a pw can be as strong as 45 degrees(Cally X20) or as weak as 48. Having a SW at 56 and a pw at 45 leaves a huge gap for 1 club to fill - you could be looking at a gap of 30-35 yards between the 2.

A pw of 45 means a gap wedge of 49/50 and a SW of 54 and then maybe a 58 if you want.

A pw of 48 gives you a gap wedge of 52 and a sw of 56 and then maybe a 60.

Some of the better players will say that you don't need all these wedges and that you can just lay the club open and slide it under the ball. if you practice lots than yes you can do this but its not easy - don't be afraid to load up on the wedges. I like to carry 4 so that I have a club for any shot from 120 yards in to the flag.

Then you've got to think about bounce - the angle between the leading edge and the bottom of the club. Too much bounce and the club will literally bounce off the turf and hit the ball halfway up. Too little bounce and the club will dig in. In sand you want a decent amount of bounce - 10 degrees or more as you want the club to slide through and not dig in. For chip shots- again you want lowish bounce and for the flop shot as little bounce as possible.

Your divot gives a good indication of the bounce you need. A shallow divot means you need low bounce and a deeper divot means you need higher bounce.

Complicated innit!!??

 

[Herbie]

Good points there especially the last one which is why I suggest trying a few if you can find a vendor willing to let you go through a few. Find out what suits your game, if you get the right SW you may not need any others, but sometimes having a handy wedge between a good SW and PW comes in handy in few choice positions like a tight lie.

 

[andiritchie]

Once you chose the lofts on your wedges then get some good varied bounce on them so you can play from all the lies easy enough.

i have a standard 8 degrees bounce on my 52 just to blend in with my irons,my 56 has 10 degrees bounce which aint that much but high enough for me for soft lies,deep rough and deep sand,and my 60 has 4 degrees of bounce for hard bare lies and bunkers where there aint much sand,i will just open and de-loft the club faces to play different shots knowing the bounce on the wedge will be right for the job

 

[Cernunnos]

AdamK15, NVDrew wedges are great I use them. Its a matter of tast between low & high bounce. tbqh I Find high bounce just gets in the way & prefer low bounce myself... We're all different & prefer different things. Most Iron sets come with a SW that has High bounce, if you don't like the SW in your set then chances are you prefer a low bounce club. Hence when I went for my new Ping irons I chose not to have an SW, so went 3-W.

As for what to use for the gap if needed, thing is Pitching wedges in different manufactures sets can be different. Some will be 47, or 48 degrees, meaning less of a gap, but some sets like my previous Yonex set, had a PW that was 45 degrees, meaning a gap wedge was far more important. Hence why I bought a 50 degree gap for mine. I've kept it for times when I want to occasionally swap with my 47 degree Ping Pitching Wedge.

Oh one other point, you may also find regardless of loft MD NV Drew wedges fly further but also stop quicker than some other wedges or equivelents in standard sets, so getting that extra degree or so of loft wont hurt in the slightest. So its well worth getting that 60 degree wedge. In old sets years ago 54 degrees was the norm for a sand wedge, these days its 56 degrees, though some sets come with a 55 degree wedge, but I wouldn't worry too much about that.

I'd say check online on the website for your club manufacturer & find out first what lofts each of your clubs are & then decide upon what lofts of NV Drew to get & if you can get access to a proper range or practice ground to try examples of them out on, all the better, to make sure you are getting the distance differences you require, all the better.

Hope this is of help.

 

[flandango]

I have my pitching wedge, sand wedge and I brought a 60 degree to get the ball stopping quicker hitting into greens from around 40ish yards. I have also taken to using it in greenside bunkers. Does take a little getting used to when hitting full shots.

Not saying that my wedge set up will stay like this but at the moment it's ok.

 

[USER1999]

I never hit full shots with my 58, this is a finesse club, for pitching around the green. The scope for card wrecking is way too high for full shots. A half pw is way more reliable for this sort of distance.

 

[vig]

I echo most of above. Find out what your PW is then have a consistent gap of no more than 6*.

My PW is 48, my gap is 53 and my SW is 58

 

[viscount17]

my PW is 45 and SW is 56, from the tenor of the post it seems that my GW at 52 is wrong?
should I be looking for a 50? (no problem with changing it, it only cost a tenner!)

 

[brendy]

52 is fine viscount, as long as you know how to use it and its not spare ballast in the bag. Same goes for any wedges.

 

[Cernunnos]

my PW is 45 and SW is 56, from the tenor of the post it seems that my GW at 52 is wrong?
should I be looking for a 50? (no problem with changing it, it only cost a tenner!)

On Paper it may wrong, but check the yardage difference in actual play, especially if your wedges are of a different mix of manufacturer to what your main iron set are.

I have a 50' wedge that I was using with my previous setup, which on paper was correct, but the NV Drew wedges fly very well. Infact my 50' NV drew outflies in carry my 47' Ping with ease by a good 5+ yards or more.

So get down to your local recreational ground or practice ground early one morning & pace out an average of several shots for your current PW GW & SW, to see if the average yardage differnces are similar or not.