Bending IRONS! and wedge stuff too :)

abc123tyler · February 14, 2006

weakening lofts. and WEDGES of course!

I am interested to hear opinions about bending irons weaker, specifically to get my PW and SW closer together. The importance to me is to be able to have PW, SW, LW without losing another club such as 3w or 2hybrid.

Right now I am playing PC Tours with a 48* PW, 52* GW, and 58* LW.
What I am thinking of doing is taking the PW to 49 or 50 and playing around 55 or 56 for SW and move to a 60 which I want to do. I would like to have a 56 to play from the soft! bunkers when I choose but also playable from the fairway... I would also like that the 60 I choose to buy is playable from the tight lie but also bunker friendly.

Recommendations on wedges are welcome and wanted!

Right now the 58 lw I have now is 14 bounce and works well out of the soft sand at my home course as well as lobs and rough shots. But other than that does not help in all tight lies on my course.

My 52 is 5* of bounce and it works pretty well in tight conditions.

Overall distance for irons is not a big deal for me, if I lose a couple yards per club I don't think I could care at all. Wedges are more important to me... shortgame!

What do you guys thing of the specs chart for Nike Blades on their site? They have the PW at 49*, is that what Tiger's PW is at? Just curious...

millercg · February 14, 2006

Not sure about bending the irons, but have you tried making 1/2 or 3/4 swings with you PW to cover that distance? That might be an alternative to bending the irons. I developed a 3/4 swing with my PW, with more of a pitch type shot. Worked well for me with the courses I played. Just a suggestion.

Goose · February 14, 2006

i want to keep my 2 iron as well and the way i have fixed that problem is to get a 54* wedge...actually its a 56.14 voey black nickel that i bent to 54 bc i had also wante 12* of bounce... my PW is 48*....i play the Vokey Special Grind 60*-m....absolutely an unbelievable wedge.

GoOsE :D

abc123tyler · February 14, 2006

Well I want to put a 60* wedge in... and I can't really drop a club to put in another wedge along with a gapwedge.

so...

[edit] thoughts on 49pw, 55/56.?? sw, 60.? LW ?????

tallshorty · February 15, 2006

You might want to try something similar to the setup I have, I mean how much difference is there between your 3i and you hybrid anyway?

abc123tyler · February 15, 2006

Well my 2hybrid is 19* and the 3iron is...21 if it is according to spec.

tallshorty · February 16, 2006

I would ditch the 3i myself, I doubt you would miss it if you and your hybrid get along. Then you could drop in the 60* :D

abc123tyler · February 16, 2006

I dunno if I could do that...

In the last 2 rounds I have needed the 3iron a few times a round...

I'm comfortable with what I can do with it and can work it better than my hybrid. When I feel like I cant hit hybrid I need the 3iron.

example: behind a tree with 180 to the green to the left. I had to take a back-stance 3iron and put substantial draw on it.. which I am comfortable doing. I can fade the 3iron as well. So I dunno. I would rather take PW,SW,LB and spend the time to work on shots with those clubs.

I am pretty decided now on just bringing PW to 49 and taking a 56 to 55 then a 60.

Thanks for the input guys.

golfernut78 · February 16, 2006

first comment is that the pro combos pitching wedge is 47* not 48* which might make the problem worse

second if you change the loft of the pitching wedge you then create a large gap between the pitching wedge and 9 iron, as well as decrease the offset (and potentially create onset).

as mentioned already i would look at a 54* sand wedge. i play the pro combos and originally played a 54*10 sand wedge and 60*08 lob wedge. its a great combonation and still use it this setup, although currently i've made way for the 52*08 gap/sand wedge and 58*08 sand/lob wedge to help keep the ball lower in the winter winds. as also mentioned you should work on the 3/4, 2/3 and 1/2 shots. i was reluctant to add these shots to my game, but found them to be a great asset in controlling trajectory and spin.

out of curiosity, why do you want a 60* so bad over the 58*. i've found that everything i can do with my 60*08 i can do with my 58*08 but i can do more with the 58*08. i feel like the only thing i've really given up with the 60*08 over the 58*08 is a little spin (very little) on the short green side chips and flops, but a nice spin milled 58*08 could solve that. maybe rather than getting a 60* you should look getting a 58* with less bounce so you can use from a variety of lies.

if you really are set on a 60*, 56* combination, then your best bet is to add a gap wedge. i used this setup for a week and realized the 56* was just too weak, the 54* made a big difference.