How long until we see the first 40 degree wedge???

[JamesWA]

This may sound very ignorant but is there anything that makes a set wedge different from a nine iron apart from loft ? 

Edited February 23, 2022 by JamesWA

[Hoyoymac]

Been through the phase of chasing distance and using clubs with strong lofts and come out the other side.

 

I’m now playing a set of minimalist looking blades with much more traditional lofts.  Much better carry distance consistency now.  Very few head shaking odd fliers that go 10-15 yards further than usual.

 

Heavier and stiffer steel shafts with Pro Soft vibration dampening inserts have also improved feel and resulted in better dispersion

 

I also no longer say to my playing partners, “Wow, I can’t believe my Pitching Wedge went that far!”

 

My 9 iron now has the same loft as my old pitching wedge, and they go about the same distance.

[Billfitz]

3 hours ago, JamesWA said:

This may sound very ignorant but is there anything that makes a set wedge different from a nine iron apart from loft ? 

Bounce maybe, and shaft length. Otherwise you might as well call a PW a 10 iron. Some sets do.

[dodint]

3 hours ago, JamesWA said:

This may sound very ignorant but is there anything that makes a set wedge different from a nine iron apart from loft ? 

 

I'm sure different manufacturers approach it in their own way. The Ping G425 set PW/UW has the same face/grooves as the Glide 3.0 long wedges (46, 50, 52), so in that way they're different than the set 9 iron. The construction of the back of the G425 and Glide are unique to their respective lines. 

[Boney]

One year later...

Apparently Bryson DeChambeau is using a 40 degree wedge.

https://golf.com/gear/irons/bryson-dechambeau-ping-irons-wall-to-wall/
 

[guty17]

On 3/1/2023 at 12:26 AM, Boney said:

One year later...

Apparently Bryson DeChambeau is using a 40 degree wedge.

https://golf.com/gear/irons/bryson-dechambeau-ping-irons-wall-to-wall/
 

Very good article. But he wont use it for any kind of wedge shot. He still plays 1i-SW like in old days, just with different numbers on soles.

[boggyman]

On 2/23/2022 at 5:32 AM, Hoyoymac said:

Been through the phase of chasing distance and using clubs with strong lofts and come out the other side.

 

I’m now playing a set of minimalist looking blades with much more traditional lofts.  Much better carry distance consistency now.  Very few head shaking odd fliers that go 10-15 yards further than usual.

 

Heavier and stiffer steel shafts with Pro Soft vibration dampening inserts have also improved feel and resulted in better dispersion

 

I also no longer say to my playing partners, “Wow, I can’t believe my Pitching Wedge went that far!”

 

My 9 iron now has the same loft as my old pitching wedge, and they go about the same distance.

I’m with you. Been playing the OL Rad Speed Cobra’s and although I don’t like to use the word “flier”, I hate the occasional one that goes a tad extra. I know when it does, it was hot in the middle of the “hot” face. Same swing, same golf ball, same lie! I like the clubs but!!!!! Yesterday we played our Wednesday morning shamble. After 9 holes, I started playing outta our sons bag. He has 4/5 790s and 6-Pw in the p730s, all with Px 6.0 steel.  Just stripped them. I’m going back to my beloved blades, W/S FG17s. Loft for loft, hit them better than any iron I’ve owned! Love the old school lofts also!

[Boney]

Another year later...

Ping's new G730 irons have a 40° wedge.

https://ping.com/en-us/clubs/irons/g730

[596]

And you only need 4 irons to cover 40* and above.  Works for me. Don't care what they call the club. It could be 40* 5 iron, 45*  6 iron, 50* 7 iron and 56* 8 iron. No need for any wedges at all! 

[goje22]

6 minutes ago, Boney said:

Another year later...

Ping's new G730 irons have a 40° wedge.

https://ping.com/en-us/clubs/irons/g730

It’s probably time we start adding 9.5 irons to match the loft / naming progression 😉 

 

At this point, we probably just need to ignore the #’s on the bottom of clubs lol. Outside of blades, every companies irons (even the same category) are all over the place with loft. I tend to like how both Ping BP and i230 just stick to one progression; but at my core I still don’t agree with how strong the lofts have become. 
 

fwiw I play ping iblades in retro spec (48* pw)

[bcjim]

1 hour ago, Boney said:

Another year later...

Ping's new G730 irons have a 40° wedge.

https://ping.com/en-us/clubs/irons/g730

Funny that the "retro spec" loft is....wait for it...bent all the way up to .....40.5!   

[Boney]

The silliest part is this concept, from an article on MyGolfSpy:

"lowering the CG and adding perimeter weighting made a golf club more forgiving. The problem was that combination would launch the ball to too high, spin it too much and balloon it all over the place. The solution was to strengthen lofts..."

I've seen this same rationalization many times. So you're telling me your club that has 33° of loft and is 37" long will "balloon all over the place" if it has a 7 on the bottom, but the same head 7 grams heavier at 36.5" long with an 8 on the bottom is perfect? Are people really that gullible?

[Yuck]

Somewhere someone has likely “Power Spec-ed” their Paradym X 41 degree PW down to 39 degrees.

 

[North Butte]

For every idiot who buys a set of irons because the 33 degree iron has 8 on it instead of 7, there's two other idiots who go online to complain that 33 degree irons are supposed to have 7 on them instead of 8. Either way, it's dumb to care AT ALL about what number some company decides to stamp on the sole of an iron. But egos are so easily stroked or bruised, some people just can't resist. 

 

 

[596]

Pretty soon you'll buy a set with pitching wedge at 25*. Then every 5 degrees,  6 more wedges through 55. No longer any need to buy silly regular irons.  Just image how awesome your game will be when you hit a wedge into every green! 

Edited March 17 by 596

[notsohard]

I've had the 40deg PW for close on 40 years. I just call it the 8 iron.

[philly2kuk]

At this point it’s more what yardage each “number” carries for me. I no longer assume a PW is an actual PW.

[North Butte]

My pitching wedge (i.e. the club with "P" on the sole) has 43 degrees of loft, in the past my "P" club has had anywhere from 42 to 49 degrees. 

 

But funny thing about the "pitching" part. For quite a while I've been struggling with short game inconsistency on the easy, basic shots inside 30-40 yards.  I'll try running the ball along the ground with a 7-iron or I'll try flying it onto the green with a 58 degree wedge, or occasionally maybe a 9-iron or sand wedge. Doesn't matter which clubs I try, those shots never seem to settle into any sort of groove for me.

 

A couple weeks ago I had an epiphany, of sorts. I thought, "Hey, those are 'pitch' shots and I have a "pitching" club". So for several rounds now, if it's an in-between sort of bump and run type short game shot or even a little fiddly shot out of the rough just off the green I use the club with "P" on for all of them. I've got to say my 20-40 yard short game is trending very positively. Still not great but not awful like it has been. 

 

So that's what the "P" stands for, apparently!

[Nessism]

On 3/16/2024 at 4:21 PM, North Butte said:

For every idiot who buys a set of irons because the 33 degree iron has 8 on it instead of 7, there's two other idiots who go online to complain that 33 degree irons are supposed to have 7 on them instead of 8. Either way, it's dumb to care AT ALL about what number some company decides to stamp on the sole of an iron. But egos are so easily stroked or bruised, some people just can't resist. 

 

 

 

Incorrect.

 

For many of us, we have gotten used to how far we hit each club.  If I'm 135 yards out, I grab my PW.  Period.  It's been this way for a decade or more in my case.  I have no interest whatsoever with trading my 45 degree PW with one that's 41 degrees, because then I need to learn all new distances through the set.  And for what?  Because some marketing executive with an MBA told the club designers to jack the lofts on the "new" set?    F that.