Highest Lofted Wedge

[Drew-1986]

Been using 50/54/58 wedge setup for a good few years now, but I am looking to replace my wedges before the new season starts. Over the last while have noticed I very rarely use my 58 for full shots or much chipping and pitching, unless I am short sided. My question is, how have you come to the decision on what the loft of your highest wedge is?

 

My thoughts have me wondering if going to 50/55/60 setup would simplify the majority of my pitch and chipping with the 55, while the 60 would give me the option of spinner and higher shots when short sided or in a bunker

[Bobb3rdown]

That's what I do. 50, 56, 60. Works well for me.

[RogerinNewZealand]

Your 50 54 58 is excellent combo. Many Coaches dont recommend a 60.... i look at the Original Cleveland ta 588 as a guide... 48 53 57. Naturally the 58 has to be superb in the Sand.... i chip with 9 and 8 irons, not wedges. The theory is you have ONE wedge you LOVE and TRUST.As its not a distance wedge ,its hob is to get you outa trouble and sand. I started golfing mid 90s ,all Ping.. so i just assumed everybody made wedges that worked in Sand eg isi...so around 2010 i got back into golf and learned lots of wedges dont work in sand. When in doubt go Ping or Cleveland . Keep an old t/a588 around as your comparison wedge! Happy New Year. May your 2024 golf be different... In The Fairway🤭

[JJgolfwrx]

Comes down to the performance rough, sand, and most importantly in wet conditions.

 

You can have larger loft difference between your lw and sw because you rarely use lw in full swing. 

 

I'd recommend 59, 55, 51 personally. 

[ShortGolfer]

I use my low bounce lob wedge for picking the ball off wet bunkers.  

The 2019 rules revision gives you the option of taking a 2 stoke penalty and dropping it out of the bunker, even if you duffed a bunker shot and changed your mind.

 

It may be wise to take penalty strokes when conditions are horrible.

 

I saw an ice sculpture in the bunker the other day.  I'm sure something like that could result in an impossible shot.

Edited January 1 by ShortGolfer

[lefthack]

I have a 52 and 56. My 52 dies everything inside of 100 yards not in sand or heavy rough, that's the 56. I learned to do everything with my 52 to keep it simple. I had a 60 for a few weeks, it was more trouble than it's worth. My PW is 47*. 

[Springsteennut]

I use the same combo as you and it’s worked well for me. 

[gator022]

I don’t think you’ll find a discernible difference  between 50-54-58 and 50–55-60.  Heck my club fitter says half or more of the clubs he works on are off a degree or two and people don’t even know it.

[Binson]

I think if you're a decent wedge player, you'll likely love a 60 and its higher ceiling.  But, for the average golfer, a 54-56 is going to lower scores by lowering the floor. 

 

Ultimately, it depends on your delivery conditions and how static loft can help you reach those delivery conditions more easily. That can differ from player to player. 

[YAMS49]

56 here. Used to run 52/58 but have found there's nothing a 56 can't do that the 58 could. I use the 56 for almost everything inside 75yds, having just one club for that yardage range has really helped dial in many shots.

[Tyler724]

54, 60 for me. I do feel it simplifies my decisions. Something about the six degree loft spread makes me feel confident in which club to use vs a 54/58 or 56/60 set up. 

[ShortGolfer]

39 minutes ago, YAMS49 said:

56 here. Used to run 52/58 but have found there's nothing a 56 can't do that the 58 could. I use the 56 for almost everything inside 75yds, having just one club for that yardage range has really helped dial in many shots.

I may be better off with 56s instead of the 58s I use but I don' think Ping makes a low bounce thin sole 56 nor Callaway making a 56 Z grind wedge.

I use the low bounce for picking the ball off the mud and the Z grind seems to work best on soggy wet grass.   We have a had a lot of rain for months.

Right now I have a 52/54, and two 58s.

Edited January 2 by ShortGolfer

[birddog1]

I’m high handicap and have a 60 which I hit pretty well but I’m going to change and have the 56 as the highest loft.  

[llewol007]

I have narrowed it down to 52/58 for me. I learned to have open wedges so I typically use the 52 for my chipping. In the bunker, I use the 58 aswell as tight pins if I short sided myself. It really becomes feeling the shot out and not necessarily being to mechanical. I love watching the Gary player videos that I take to heart around the greens as well as inside 100 yards. You really have the knowledge to hit the shot and your body feels how hard to hit the shot. It has worked wonders for my short game . 

[MattM97]

What's your PW? If it's say 44° for example then you could go from a 6° gap to an 8° gap depending on setup. 

 

Right now I'm playing 49(bent 50)/54/58 and next wedge set I might seriously consider a 48/52/56 setup or a really weird 49/53/57 if I need to. 

[YAMS49]

9 hours ago, ShortGolfer said:

I may be better off with 56s instead of the 58s I use but I don' think Ping makes a low bounce thin sole 56 nor Callaway making a 56 Z grind wedge.

I use the low bounce for picking the ball off the mud and the Z grind seems to work best on soggy wet grass.   We have a had a lot of rain for months.

Right now I have a 52/54, and two 58s.

 

Yeah you want the T grind for low bounce but it comes in at 58° lowest, could get that bent to 56° maybe. 

[rsballer10]

I think the 58 degree wedge will be infinitely better on full swings, which is why I suspect it's becoming so popular. Personally, I carry a 60 degree wedge because I never hit a lob wedge with a full swing anyway, and I prefer the extra loft around the greens. I think my lofts are currently 49,55,60. I prefer the gaps to be wider in wedges, as 4 degree gaps creates a logjam with club selection.

[ShortGolfer]

I think golfers get too fixated with gapping their wedges because that is what works with the long clubs and irons.

But, when you are close to the green it is more about getting out of difficult lies.

What club is best for getting out of the bunker?  What club is best for lob shots when there is no chance of a chip and run?

Your local weather may dictate what wedge grinds you need.  A year ago many courses had no water.  This year my course has been repeatedly soaked with heavy rain!

I have a 52, 54, and two 58s.  I may well have a two 56s if I they made them in the grinds I want!

Edited January 2 by ShortGolfer

[Ger21]

For the last 10 years or so, I've been 50-56-60. I use the 56° for almost everything inside of 100 yards. What I found was that I only used the 60° at most once/round on average, and half of those shots cost me a stoke. So I took it out of the bag, and replaced it with a 7 wood. After 5 rounds with the 7 wood, I found that I no longer really needed my 3 iron, so I took that out, and replaced it with a 64° LW. I figured if I'm going to have a LW, I might as well have a LW.

Going foreward, I'll likely alternate between my 3 iron and the 64°. I won't play the 64° in the spring when the grass is short and the ground is soft. And there are certain courses I play where I really like the 3 iron off the tee.

[Jimbo709]

There are no right/wrong answers to this question.  You need to pick the best options for your game, the shots you like to play, and the courses you play.

 

56* is the highest wedge for me.  I switched irons and wedges a couple years ago and ditched my 60* - it was more trouble than it was worth.  My old set had 50-55-60 wedges, I didn't like the gapping.  Now I use 48-52-56.  I use my 48* for everything around the green, except bunkers and high loft shots I use the 56* (52* is primarily a full swing club).  Kinda back to how I played back when I was a junior with just a 48*-PW and a SW

[Jdudley13]

25 minutes ago, Jimbo709 said:

There are no right/wrong answers to this question.  You need to pick the best options for your game, the shots you like to play, and the courses you play.

 

56* is the highest wedge for me.  I switched irons and wedges a couple years ago and ditched my 60* - it was more trouble than it was worth.  My old set had 50-55-60 wedges, I didn't like the gapping.  Now I use 48-52-56.  I use my 48* for everything around the green, except bunkers and high loft shots I use the 56* (52* is primarily a full swing club).  Kinda back to how I played back when I was a junior with just a 48*-PW and a SW

I agree, its such a personal preference subject. If everyone says you should have a 58 degree but you have no confidence in it then it's useless to have in your bag. Think about the shots that you hit most around the green and have a club for it, then think of shots that come up outside of that and what club would be most useful to you. 
I personally have the same set up as you currently, 50,54,58. I use the 58 for almost everything around the green or the 54 when i want more run out. I practice with my 58 in all kinds of lies 2 or 3 days a week so I am really confident with it, otherwise I would use a 50 degree or something to get the ball rolling sooner. Find what youre confidence getting up and down with in all types of scenarios, minimize the guess work of switching clubs. 

Edited January 3 by Jdudley13

[DCCarpenter]

I am playing just my Ping Eye 2 plus pitching wedge and sand wedge at 48.5 degree for the pitching wedge and 53 degree for the sand wedge. Finding them perfectly fine in all conditions with the 1 exception of very soft fluffy sand. 

 

Might pickup the Eye 2 lob wedge again (had one in an old set) just for that instance. I like the simplicity of just using the 53 for every shot inside 75 yards currently, might see if I can perfect a super open face out technique from fluffy sand with it to avoid the extra club.

[sheppy335]

50 MG3/54 Hi-Toe/58 Hi-Toe

[HGLucky13]

I run a 50*, 54* and a 60*. The 50 is my last full swing club and I also use it around the green when I have a clean shot to the pin/green. The 54 gets used the most on everything inside 20 yards, most of the bunker shots and anytime I am short sided inside of 80 yards. I noticed this week that the 60 hasn't been used in a few months and was about to take it out of the bag, but then I had 2 bunker shots yesterday that were in rock hard bunkers and when I used the 54 (which has more alot more bounce than the 60) I ended up thinning the shots. I think I will start to use the 60 more for those specific shots. Short sided in hard bunkers. Probably would have saved me those two shots.

[ShortGolfer]

It is vital to be able to read the ground under the ball, even though bunker rules don't allow you to do that!

The ground under the ball will dictate what wedge grind/loft/bounce is best.  As well as figuring out the setup/swing that works best with that swing.

 

A lot of YouTube videos show the wedge being thumped against the hard ground or dense fairway grass.  That works really well if you have that.

I have many lies that are so different that humping doesn't work for me.

The other issue is that what you think you are doing and what actually happens may be different.  

For most of us this means experimenting and finding out what seems to work.  

Or having someone teach you.

 

Edited January 3 by ShortGolfer

[EKB]

I’m also doing some experimenting with this end of the bag.  My PW is a 46 and I’ve had the 50/54/58 setup for the past year but thinking of going to a PW, 50 and 56.  I don’t think I’ll lose anything from 120 yards in and it’ll free up a club to help solve a gapping issue I have at the top of the bag

[jda]

My PW is 48, so I go 52, 56 and 60.  I can hit the 60 high or trap it with a low and check around the greens - rarely hit full shots with it, but it has it's place.  I only really use the 56 out of the bunkers since it has a lot of bounce.  I like very low bounce on my 60 - like 3 or 4 degrees.  I want to be able to keep all of the loft if the lie is tight and in soft grass, the loft does not matter to me anyway.

 

In general, my game would not be what it is if I did not use the full loft of a 60 and just trapped or otherwise de-lofted it.  The toe-up to toe-up swing with my 60 has saved me more times than any other club.  My friends call them flops, but they are just regular swings and trusting the loft.  I can hit flops too, but I don't have to do that too often.

[ChipNRun]

On 1/1/2024 at 12:08 PM, Drew-1986 said:

My thoughts have me wondering if going to 50/55/60 setup would simplify the majority of my pitch and chipping with the 55, while the 60 would give me the option of spinner and higher shots when short sided or in a bunker

 

At the upcoming golf expos, get a couple of 60* wedges out of the slightly-used club bin and see if you can hit them OK.

 

I have tried several times to use various 60*, without much success. Other than for greenside pop shots, I always had distance control problems with 60* for anything more than half swing.

 

Note that a couple of years back Golf Digest surveyed tour pros on wedge mix. One finding: half the PGA players had a 58* as their highest lofted wedge.

 

For about two seasons, I dropped my iron set PW and went with 48-54-60 of Callaway mix. But, the MD-PM U-grind 60* soon got replaced by a MD4 58/8 C-grind. First season, I sank three greenside cut shots for birdies with C-grind.

 

I got MAX graphite-shafted irons, but kept the 48-54-58 wedges after reshafting them in graphite.

 

For you I'd have to invoke WRX Law #2: go with what's legal, and works for you.

[VA_Astra]

I have 48/54/58

 

I chip usually inside of 70 yards and pretty accurate. Inside of 30, I use my 58 90% of the time.

 

I usually only full swing my 48, I can take some off or step on it as needed.

[Mark_Tha_Tinkerer]

On 1/2/2024 at 6:19 AM, ShortGolfer said:

I think golfers get too fixated with gapping their wedges because that is what works with the long clubs and irons.

But, when you are close to the green it is more about getting out of difficult lies.

What club is best for getting out of the bunker?  What club is best for lob shots when there is no chance of a chip and run?

I agree with this thought process in choosing your wedge setup.  I know I need a club or clubs to get out of a greenside bunker and one to float soft, high  shots over trouble within 30 yards of the flag/green.  Since prevailing wisdom seems to be amateurs can't hit a 64* lob wedge, I may have found a unicorn club in my very old Cleveland REG 588 Tour Action 64* LW swing weighted to D9.  It covers greenside bunkers and short flops and that is all I use it for.  Then, I needed something to hit  from 40-75 yards and finally settled on another old wedge (Cleveland CG 11) at 58*.  My GW is part of the iron set at 51* and will cover me from 75-90 yards.  My 47* PW takes over at 90-105 yards.  I do not like hitting wedges with less than 3/4 or full swings and I chose my setup accordingly.  

 

For me, 47, 51, 58 and 64 degree progressions work and I've got all distances covered pretty well.  Focusing on uniform loft progressions in my wedges just wouldn't work for my game.