Wedge Play Around the Greens and Bounce

[DaveLeeNC]

Historically I have played pretty much all my shots where the ball is to carry 30 yards or less with either a GW, SW, or LW (currently 50*.8 bounce, 54*.13, 59*.10). The LW is not an easy club to play and I don't practice as regularly as I used to. I am considering dropping the LW and replacing it with something like a Vokey SM8 56/8 (this would be a M grind) and achieving the softer shots by manipulating clubface more than I currently do.

 

I have never played a club with more than 50* loft and less than 10 degrees bounce. I play very tight lies (bermuda fairways) and I am guessing that the M grind Vokey at 8 degrees is going to be meaningfully easier WRT open face shots from super tight bermuda lies. Is that correct?  I also assume that the M grind 56* at 8 * bounce is not going to be the best shot for the typical bunker shot, but I have never tried that either. 

 

Second kind of related question is what is the difference between the Vokey SM8 and SM9? I have seen the "marketing speak" but have never read a real review that addresses that. 

 

Thanks. 

 

dave

[iacas]

As you may recall, Dave, I have a wedge that's got 22° of bounce. I can play it off concrete if I want, and hit a high shot.

 

There's more to a wedge's sole than the bounce #. The width, the camber, the relief… all matter. I can give you a wedge with 4° of bounce that plays as if it has more bounce than a wedge with 14° of bounce.

[DaveLeeNC]

Thanks for the comments/perspective, @iacas.  I agree that there is more than bounce going on here and less face angle and the M grind is probably more interesting to me than just going from 10* bounce in my LW to 8* bounce in a 56* wedge.

 

But I would observe that there is probably a difference between what you can do and what I should be trying to do (in some cases) 🙂🙂.

 

Thanks again. 

 

dave