Question for 3-wedge guys

[Dan Drake]

@crazygolfnut Great questions! Let me see if I can clarify a bit. The first thing I want to mention is something that you have already touched on when you said "without jumping on them." Quite a few golfers, myself included, have an issue with trying to hit every club as far as possible. While that can work with a driver, it is a poor recipe for success with a wedge. The impact is far to glancing and exacting for most golfers to be able to make good contact when swinging "all out" with a club that has that much loft. So, with those two clubs (I do take full swings with my 50° as it is a "set" wedge w/the same shaft and it works for me), my Sw & Lw, I simply take the longer club and smooth the shot up there. I can hit my Sw 105 yards, but that is so rarely the right shot that it only happens a handful of times all year. It would need to be an almost perfect lie where I was very comfortable that good clean contact was almost a given, there would need to be an obstacle to go over but also something that I needed to stop short of, and it would be preferable if there wasn't a whole lot of wind to have to factor in. If any one of those criteria isn't met, then its just WAY easier to take my 50°, grip down a hair, swing a touch smoother, and hit my 120 club somewhere between 100-110 which is going to be fine for my purposes. The same rationale is used for my Lw which I can hit 85, but again, I just choose not to try to swing that hard.
The second part of this equation is the landing area, the green for all intents and purposes. Let's say the flag is in the middle of a green that is 30 yards long and 25 yards wide (pretty standard sized green) and I have 105 to the flag. Well, my shot pattern with a full out, 105 yard sand wedge is going to look like a circle (tilted oval really, but for this example a circle will work) up there by the green with only the perfectly struck shots near the pin, the really well struck shots short on the front part of the green, and anything that is missed is going to be short of the green. Now take the same shot pattern with my 50° that I can hit a little partial shot with. It might go 115 and be on the back of the green, it might go 105 and land right by the hole, and I might miss it and have it go 95, but it will still be on the front of the green. Almost my entire circle of the shot pattern is over the green now vs. the full Sw where only half of my shot pattern is over the green. More birdie putts and fewer balls plugged in the front bunker is a good thing for me!
At most levels of golf, the best way to be a good wedge player isn't to hit it "stiffer" with your good shots, it's to make more pars and birdies with your mediocre shots. Taking an extra club and creating a shot pattern that is more centered over the green is the best way to do that, IMHO. Also, I'm not really talking about hitting my PW from 50 yards, although that is a partial shot. What I'm really talking about is being able to take about 10 & 20 yards off your full swing distance with the two or three shortest clubs in your bag so that you can "blanket" the green with these types of shots, instead of only your really good ones getting on the dance floor.

[Pepperturbo]

If I follow you correctly, we go about the game similarly.  However, I don't have my clubs, per se, set up for specific shots, accordingly wouldn't suggest that for average Joe golfer.   They don't have the same level of touch or creative vision and skills to offset the variables that can come from unusual gaps.  Heck, the reason for four sometimes five wedges in a bag is people want them because they don't know how to shorten a full swing to create, say, a half or 3/4 shot and still create spin.  

Over the years, I've observed a great many people pull the same clubs for separate yardages because certain clubs are trusted, and they continually play the same yardages, the same tees on the same course.  If that isn't wanting predictability I don't know what is. For those reasons, static gaping from the top to the bottom of the bag benefits average Joe while uneven gaping from shot-specific clubs would hinder. A relative played on the PGA tour back in the 50s & 60s. One thing I learned from him was each club should have 3-yardages, one 10-15yds longer than static yardage, and one 10-15yds shorter than static. Do the math, that means each club is X=3, essentially eliminating the need for specific shot clubs. In other words, my 7i is 140, 150 static and 160yds.

The only club in my bag set up for feel play is 58/8 at E0 SW, and it has a slightly softer DG-S200 tip shaft, as opposed to 52/8 SW at D6 with the same golf shaft as my irons.  LW, SW, and PW are equal lengths to my 9i, which contributes to feel shots. Otherwise, all irons shafts from SW to 3-iron have stock gaps and the same 110gram weight except 2-iron, which has a 95-gram shaft.

I also learned my short-game by opening the face of low (2*) bounce wedges to increase bounce.  So, when I want a particular shot effect, I manipulate the face angle.  Another reason I don't need shot specific clubs. It would be nice if people sought out that level of club and shot control, but based on handicap trends, it doesn't appear that's going to change any time soon.  One man's opinion. Have a great weekend. Hit'em straight.

 

[Dan Drake]

@Pepperturbo
Thank you for the reply and I agree with you on multiple levels about good golf being played the way you said.
My contention with "shot specific clubs" is more for the average golfer who isn't going to practice very much and isn't particularly skilled manipulating a club or shot and I mean in more from the short game side of things, ie. partial wedge shots and in.

[crazygolfnut]

Thanks for the explanation. I am always learning.

[mikeypear]

i play 54(12) and 58(8). gap wedge is part of iron set and used for full shots. primarily use the 58 out of greenside sand. the ping glide ES sole is incredible for bunker play. stupid easy to hit.

[Hawkeye77]

Why do you need low bounce for hitting a high shot?

[Hawkeye77]

The more I've experimented with different short irons over different distances, the more interesting things get. A "normal" 100 yard shot for me (and just normal wedge swing) is a 50 degree, but using P and 9 iron under different or even the same conditions is an eye opener. The distances away from the green the past season in particular that I would normally hit my 58 degree, for example, have decreased dramatically in favor of less loft and more control and scores are the better for it. Hitting 100 yard 8 irons as part of regular practice routine to sync things up when working on full swing has been a big part of changing some things up.