Junior Wedge Selections

[libtech75]

12 year old daughter recently went up to adult size clubs. It's been a challenge but interesting getting through the fitting process. We ended up with Cobra LTDx irons. Stock shafts fit her pretty well.  Set came with a matched SW that she can't hit very well.  Tried a Callaway MD4 and it's ok, but wanted to see if anyone else had some good luck with other options.  Previous set was a Prodi G set that we had reshafted to max length. The Glide SW that came with that set - she hit like a magician.  Now she has lost her feel and touch because of the large increase in length and weight from what she was used to.  I can't find specs on the Prodi G graphite shafts, but they were certainly lighter than any stock or aftermarket offering.  Thought about maybe trying a PXG wedge, and fitting a Cypher shaft which is 40g - probably closer to her prior wedge than the MD4 or Cobra set SW. The MD4 has a recoil shaft that is 50g and the Cobra set SW uses the same KBS PGI 55g shaft that's in all of the clubs. There is something to be said about having the shafts being the same through the irons and wedges, and she hits the irons fine, but I am not sure how long or if she is going to get her touch back on the SW using the set SW from Cobra.

 

Also thought about getting a PXG wedge and sticking on a MMT or maybe even a KBS TGI which are both 50g. I know from personal experience the TGIs are pretty stiff in general.  I have a set of PXG wedges myself and love them (I have matched shafts), but that's like comparing apples to oranges.

[mrshinsa]

Try a lightweight steel shaft.   My 12yo daughter found it to be much better than any of those 50 gram graphites.

Edited August 25, 2022 by mrshinsa

[ShortGolfer]

If you want a lightweight shaft I'd suggest the 40g LL flex Black Helium shafts used in a lot of Callaway ladies clubs.  The 50g Black Heliums are L flex.

 

KBS TGI Graphite - .370" tip (50g) - 41.0", L Flex  Golfworks has this according to a Google search.  I wasn't able to find this using their in-house search engine when I was shopping for L flex wedge shafts.

Just as well, I ended up buying the 45g LAGP shaft for my 58/06 low bounce wedge.

 

Edited August 25, 2022 by ShortGolfer

[MB19]

4 hours ago, libtech75 said:

12 year old daughter recently went up to adult size clubs. It's been a challenge but interesting getting through the fitting process. We ended up with Cobra LTDx irons. Stock shafts fit her pretty well.  Set came with a matched SW that she can't hit very well.  Tried a Callaway MD4 and it's ok, but wanted to see if anyone else had some good luck with other options.  Previous set was a Prodi G set that we had reshafted to max length. The Glide SW that came with that set - she hit like a magician.  Now she has lost her feel and touch because of the large increase in length and weight from what she was used to.  I can't find specs on the Prodi G graphite shafts, but they were certainly lighter than any stock or aftermarket offering.  Thought about maybe trying a PXG wedge, and fitting a Cypher shaft which is 40g - probably closer to her prior wedge than the MD4 or Cobra set SW. The MD4 has a recoil shaft that is 50g and the Cobra set SW uses the same KBS PGI 55g shaft that's in all of the clubs. There is something to be said about having the shafts being the same through the irons and wedges, and she hits the irons fine, but I am not sure how long or if she is going to get her touch back on the SW using the set SW from Cobra.

 

Also thought about getting a PXG wedge and sticking on a MMT or maybe even a KBS TGI which are both 50g. I know from personal experience the TGIs are pretty stiff in general.  I have a set of PXG wedges myself and love them (I have matched shafts), but that's like comparing apples to oranges.

Have you thought about going back to Ping, and trying Glide wedges?

[libtech75]

8 hours ago, MB19 said:

Have you thought about going back to Ping, and trying Glide wedges?

I have, but she has grown out of the stock junior shafts that she had been playing and the stock adult glide shaft is going to have totally different characteristics.

[hangontight]

My 11 YO son switched from USKG TS wedges this summer; 52* Cleveland RTX Zip Core Med Bounce, 56* SM9 Mgrind 8* bounce, 60* SM9 Lgrind 4* bounce.   We took a handful of demo's in multiple grinds to the short game area at our course ...spent a week testing on different lies and such.  What he ended up with was not what I expected - both SW and LW are "low bounce", but after testing everything over the course of several days he feels confident in the set.   The M grind is very versatile. 

 

The shafts are the wildcard.  Stock shafts are like 120-130 grams , far more than the 58g shafts in his irons.  I put a zelos 7 (steel) in his GW first, which went well so we put those in the other two wedges as well.  Tempo and club control seems to be a much better fit.  I think they make a zelos 6 as well if you want even lighter.  From what I've seen , steel does seem like a better fit in wedges.

[libtech75]

12 hours ago, ShortGolfer said:

If you want a lightweight shaft I'd suggest the 40g LL flex Black Helium shafts used in a lot of Callaway ladies clubs.  The 50g Black Heliums are L flex.

 

KBS TGI Graphite - .370" tip (50g) - 41.0", L Flex  Golfworks has this according to a Google search.  I wasn't able to find this using their in-house search engine when I was shopping for L flex wedge shafts.

Just as well, I ended up buying the 45g LAGP shaft for my 58/06 low bounce wedge.

 

I wonder if going lighter in a wedge is a good idea.  I know everyone is different but the typical theory is to stay the same or go slightly heavier with the wedge. 

[libtech75]

Great info, but I am assuming your son

1 minute ago, libtech75 said:

I wonder if going lighter in a wedge is a good idea.  I know everyone is different but the typical theory is to stay the same or go slightly heavier with the wedge. 

Great info, but assuming your son went with the graphite shafts on the US Kids TS set?  I'm not so worried about the heads.  The MD4 head seems fine. Has great spin and she hasn't had any specific issue with the bounce, even though that wedge is much less forgiving than what she was used to playing. So it has to be the shaft, or weight balance between shaft and head that is messing her up. 

[ShortGolfer]

I was taking full swing with the new sand wedge and aiming at a picnic table in my back yard next to a maple tree using Callaway foam golf balls.

Dispersion was pretty good.  My older set had SWs around C7, which is the slightly higher SW theory. 

My fitter thought a constant SW would be better after seeing me swing clubs for hours while I got a full bag fitting.

My swing fell apart with high swing weights.  With a low swing weight I could repeat the exact same swing twice in a row.

I learned to play darts well enough that I could not only hit the target, but aim to the right or left on the next throw. 

I find I can do that with my 7I on the next swing.

I ordered a shaft with Michelle Wie Colorway as I reminder that is a low bounce wedge.  I find that visual clues like that help.

My wedge set will be 48/06, 56/12, 58/06, and 60/12.  The set XXIO 12s, a Ping Glide 3.0, and a Mac Daddy CB.  

Edited August 25, 2022 by ShortGolfer

[MB19]

9 hours ago, libtech75 said:

I have, but she has grown out of the stock junior shafts that she had been playing and the stock adult glide shaft is going to have totally different characteristics.

True, but the older Ping ULT 230 or 240 are really light and we’re a quality Transition shaft for my daughter from kids clubs.  The 230 can be had for $15-$20 on eBay with some looking.  
 

Best of luck/happy hunting 

[libtech75]

Daughter went out and played 18 holes at camp today and said she hit the wedge really well. She begged me not to swap it out "again" lol... maybe the Callaway MD4 is fine and I just tried to tinker too much for no reason instead of actually letting her get used to the equipment for more than a few hours (kidding it was more than few hours, at least a few weeks lol)....

 

Thanks for the opinions though guys much appreciated.  We will see how things go. We also got her into a TS1 head with the Speeder shaft.  Coming from an old Cobra F9 with stock Jr shaft which she hit great but wouldn't go that far anymore - she topped the heck out of every drive with the TS1 to the point she scratched up the whole toe topline and she NEVER hits the topline of the driver.  Put it away for a while then took it out again last week and she's starting to kill it now.  I guess that's a lesson to be more patient with their equipment but then what fun would that be?

[libtech75]

Just looked at it and it's actually the MD5, thought it was the MD4 for some reason just FYI.

[ShortGolfer]

I am an expert in how long it takes me to learn stuff as I'm a stroke survivor.  I've had to learn so many different things.  Including learning to walk again, which is an absolute necessity in our society.

After an eight month layoff for winter, I found it took me two months to get my club head speed back to where it was.  Yes, two months.  Which isn't surprising since a lot of neural connections in my body were established after the stroke and aren't as "hard wired" as the ones formed when first learning to walk.  

 

  She may have needed time to adjust to a less forgiving club, going from a cavity backed wedge to a blade.

 

I have an 33-3/4"  MD3 with a 450 F1 Recoil shaft with a C7 swing weight.  If she can swing that new Ladies clubs are that SW or lighter.

 

Edited August 26, 2022 by ShortGolfer

[libtech75]

Agreed, she’s actually hitting the MD5 wedge great now and getting a lot more consistent with her new irons.  She just needed some time.  

[killer21]

My experience with my daughter who is 13...I went shopping in my basement and gave her  my stock vokey 56 and 60 cut down a bit to much better success than light shafts in her previous wedges.  I have since found a 56 Vokey SW with a DG 105 Reg shaft and stuck with the all stock 60*. She loves them.  Might be losing a bit of distance on full shots so has a gap between her graphite GW and the 56 vokey but going to test out the 52 Stock Vokey tonight.  Really improved around the green with these.  They are K and F grinds.  Thinking of lighter shafts but don't want to mess with what's working so probably keep it around the DG 105 Reg maybe across the board moving forward at some point.