How would Pro's do without a Lob Wedge?

It seems like Pro's are incredibly reliant on their variations of lob wedges around the greens. For many of them, it's their go-to club. Back in the day, all Pro's only carried a 56* wedge as their highest club. The greens were a slower back then and conditions a little softer.

My question is, how do you think guys would do nowadays if conditions were kept exactly the same, but the USGA decided that no Pro may use a club with more loft than 56*? I think guys would adapt, and those with truly good short games would shine, and I bet we'd see a little more creativity than we do today.

Seve did just fine with a 56 but then he was special. I think most of them would get on OK. They would adjust quickly enough.

Tom Watson seemed to do just fine with nothing more than a 56.

They will adjust and have no issues.

It would make them use their imagination a bit more but apart from being under the lip of a links type bunker they could get along just fine.

Been used on Tour for almost 40 years, so 60 degree wedges aren't going away.

Players are pretty creative with 60 degree wedges as well.

I guess they adapt, or conditions change a bit, or both.

But not happening, ever.

I once made a statement on this board that the modern player primarily uses his wedge around the greens and was laughed  off the board. According to the GOLFWRxers touring pros still run the ball up with an array of clubs like they did on the Shell Wonderful World of Golf days......LOL!

why would you limit the loft of a club? ... do we want to minimize the loft of a driver or 1 iron? ... and why would we see more creativity? ... players deloft their wedges all kinds of ways for all kinds of shots ... phil has a 60 or whatever with zero bounce ... loft and bounce aren't "distance" problems ...

lol, I never said they were the problem. This thread is just to pose a random hypothetical scenario.

Mark O’Meara, not exactly known as anything special around the greens, won the 1998 Masters with a 55 degree wedge as the most loft in his bag. 60 degree was in 99% of bags by then and had been for a long time.

They'd just use low bounce and open the face. Next.

I hit a flop shot with my 9 iron this weekend because it was path only and I was on the other side of the green. You learn to adapt.

What would the odds be that Patrick Reed would get a 56 degree wedge, crank it up to 60 but then tell everyone that he couldn’t notice the difference?

^^^^^ ROTFLMFAO!!!!!! well played +1

Yup. Pretty much any wedge grind imaginable can be easily done. They'd get a 56 ground to their preference for this purpose and adjust in no time.

I saw an interview with Rocco Mediate and his highest lofted wedge was 56*.

I think they'd all do fine if that was their only option.

They'd just open up their 56* and do fine like they did for decades before the 90s.

I've even considered ditching mine and going with just SW.

Sei Young Kim uses just a 56 (56.5, according to one site).

I wouldn't bother playing...

Right, and they would have a second 56* wedge with more bounce for sand.

Easy: Slightly less well than they do with a 60*. ;-)

Most tour players would struggle to shoot par without a lob wedge. Take away the grandstands that prevent their bad shots from going OB and take away marshals who find their ball in the rough, they struggle to break 80.

Add no caddies and they won't break 85. Tour players these days just don't know how to play golf.

;)

They would be fine at 56*. To me the loft that would make it fun is if it couldn't be higher than 45*. Flops would become much more difficult and pretty much kills the ability to fly shots to the hole at short yardages.

I used a 10* bounce 56* sand wedge all throughout high school and never had an issue. That's what most players used at the time, including tour pros.

The 58* or 60* wedge is a convenience, nothing more. It was certainly not revolutionary.

They’d still be really ******* good.

I suspect it would make almost no difference.

Now amateurs on the other hand, take away their 60-degree wedges and most of them probably lower their scores.

They would be fine. It's not the club.

You couldn't possibly be more correct.

A 56 with the right bounce and grind and they would master it just like the 60. It might even end up being better.

Now if you limited them to 48 degrees then yeah, we'd see some differences. But with the right bounce/grind they'd still open that up and hit little spinners and flops. They'd end up mastering that too. But certain short shots with no green to work with would be harder.