Confused about Bounce angles

[jwalker497]

I want to get a 62* wedge but can't find any brand name companies that make one (only 60* & 64*) so it appears that I'd have to adjust a a 60* wedge up or take down a 64* wedge. Here are the following wedges I'm interested in and what they would be after the adjustment to 62*

 

My question is regarding the altered bounce - What bounce angle would be best for a 62* club that would be used as a LW/XW?? Which option would you select?

 

Cleveland 588

60.3 (+2*) = 62.5*

 

Titlesit Vokey

60.4 (+2*) = 62.6*

 

Y-cutter

60.6 (+2*) = 60.8*

 

Cleveland 588

64.8 (-2*) = 62.6*

[bjackson]

very much a personal question, because your swing will determain the best bounce angle for your game. personally id go with that vokey, but that's just cause I like vokeys. It will be very hard to tell the difference if the options are at most 3 degrees apart.

[jwalker497]

What's a good bounce for a wedge that loft, in general?

[sfdoddsy]

Hi.

 

We corresponded a few times when you were deciding between the Fusions/Wide Soles/BB 2006s. I hope you like the BB2006 you chose. And I have seen your other posts about wedge lofts.

 

The quick answer is that a lob wedge usually has considerably less bounce than a sand wedge, 6* or so.

 

However, and please don't take this personally, are you really sure you want or need a 62 (or 64) wedge?

 

Much like myself, you have the most forgiving irons you could find. And whilst this doesn't necessarily indicate we are not great players, it does suggest we want or need certain things in our clubs.

 

So we have the set's PW, and probably the set's GW, then a specialized SW.

 

But a 60* wedge is usually more trouble than it is worth unless you already have a great short game. A 62 will be even more problematic.

 

I really enjoyed the last lob wedge I had (Solus) because most of the time I could hit really cool high flops. But too much of the time I didn't and taking 4 from next to the green because you skulled or fatted is not smart golf.

[jwalker497]

Thanks for the advice.

 

I am a good short player but still 18hdcp so maybe I should pass on it. thanks.

[BigMike300c]

well if your looking got a 62 degree Nike Sv makes one

 

search ebay i'm sure you'll find it on there

[dfung]

When you bend a wedge to increase the loft, you'll increase the bounce as well. When you bend a wedge to decrease the loft, you'll decrease the bounce (what a surprise!).

 

When you select a lob wedge, you're selection needs to be driven by your swing and the conditions that you play in. You generally want to have low bounce in a lob wedge to reduce the chances of the bounce part of the flange hitting the ground and pushing the leading edge up, e.g. "blading" it over the green and into the unsuspecting guys at the next tee. By that token, you're generally going to be safer bending a higher loft club down.

 

This is why so many people (rightfully) say that an extreme high loft wedge can be a danger in your game. The kind of shot that you're doing with a lob wedge means relatively fast swing speed and very high precision when you strike the ball. If you haven't got both those elements, the chances of sending the ball flying past the flat are quite high.

 

Traditionally, the highest loft wedge that players carried was the sand wedge at 54 or 56. If you wanted more loft, you hold the face open. But with a high-bounce sand wedge, you're really looking for trouble now because you've got a high bounce club, turned sideways and it's even hard to make clean contact.

 

Pelz wants to avoid this problem and get you in the scoring zone by having you use a low-bounce, high-loft lob wedge for these shots. You don't complicate things by opening the face. That part of the Pelz program definitely works for me - I'm defnitely better with a 60 lob wedge than trying to do the same shot with my open 56. I bought a Cleveland RTG 64, but, having used it a bit in the practice area, I don't think I'd ever bring it out for a round. It's makes for an interesting psuedo-flop shot, but realistically a flop shot is going to hurt my score a lot more than help it. The other part of the Pelz program - only 3 swings makes sense, but just doesn't work for me - takes more practice and discipline than I've been able to muster. Pelz would argue that if you had only limited time to practice, how can you tune swings of arbitrary arc length, but for me the problem comes when you're close but the distance tables call for a gap wedge and short swing.

 

I'd get your regular lob wedge in low bounce (whether 58 or 60) and just go with that.

[jwalker497]

When you bend a wedge to increase the loft, you'll increase the bounce as well. When you bend a wedge to decrease the loft, you'll decrease the bounce (what a surprise!).

 

When you select a lob wedge, you're selection needs to be driven by your swing and the conditions that you play in. You generally want to have low bounce in a lob wedge to reduce the chances of the bounce part of the flange hitting the ground and pushing the leading edge up, e.g. "blading" it over the green and into the unsuspecting guys at the next tee. By that token, you're generally going to be safer bending a higher loft club down.

 

This is why so many people (rightfully) say that an extreme high loft wedge can be a danger in your game. The kind of shot that you're doing with a lob wedge means relatively fast swing speed and very high precision when you strike the ball. If you haven't got both those elements, the chances of sending the ball flying past the flat are quite high.

 

Traditionally, the highest loft wedge that players carried was the sand wedge at 54 or 56. If you wanted more loft, you hold the face open. But with a high-bounce sand wedge, you're really looking for trouble now because you've got a high bounce club, turned sideways and it's even hard to make clean contact.

 

Pelz wants to avoid this problem and get you in the scoring zone by having you use a low-bounce, high-loft lob wedge for these shots. You don't complicate things by opening the face. That part of the Pelz program definitely works for me - I'm defnitely better with a 60 lob wedge than trying to do the same shot with my open 56. I bought a Cleveland RTG 64, but, having used it a bit in the practice area, I don't think I'd ever bring it out for a round. It's makes for an interesting psuedo-flop shot, but realistically a flop shot is going to hurt my score a lot more than help it. The other part of the Pelz program - only 3 swings makes sense, but just doesn't work for me - takes more practice and discipline than I've been able to muster. Pelz would argue that if you had only limited time to practice, how can you tune swings of arbitrary arc length, but for me the problem comes when you're close but the distance tables call for a gap wedge and short swing.

 

I'd get your regular lob wedge in low bounce (whether 58 or 60) and just go with that.

 

 

Wow, thank you very much for such an informative and attentive post! I appreciate that.

 

My current PW from my irons is 45*. I Also have CG10 wedges @ 46, 50, 54, & 58. I was thinking of bending the 46 to 45, and the 54 to 55. then getting a 60* lob wedge to make my wedges 5* apart versus 4*. Another possibility was to leave the wedges as is and add a 62* wedge to the mix.

 

Do you think I should leave my wedges as ithey are???

or

Should I bend them to the 5* gap range??

Or

Add a 62* wedge to the mix? Is that too many wedges??

 

Since my PW is soo strong, it makes it hard to cover the loft range to 60* which is where I'd like my LW to be - I am pretty good with a LW.

[dispatch096]

i would choose a lower bounce, so you could open up the face and hit super flop shots. Vokey.

[abc123tyler]

Having such a weak PW is something that makes wedge selection/gaps tough. My P is 48, then I go 54 gap/sand and 60 lob. If you want to go with 3 wedges I would put the cg10 46 in play with probably a 52 and then a 58 (I find 58 to be a good lob/sand mix).

 

4 wedges gives you a lot of options though. 46, 51, 56, 60 would be optimal imo. I prefer a 56 over a 54 from the bunkers, and like to carry a 60. It really depends on what you want/need though..

[dfung]

I had a 46 P wedge in my old set, so I sort of had a similar problem. I wasn't that hot on having my wedges bent, but was trying out the general Pelz recommendations. I ended up getting Vokey black nickels in 50/08, 56/14, and 60/04. Not nearly very even divisions, but it actually worked out very well. What made it work for me was the bounce selections - the 50 was medium (very flexible for bigger wedge shots), the 56 was high bounce which was great from the sand, but not too great from turf, and low bounce for the lob.

 

A better player playing where I do would probably prefer a lower bounce sand wedge, but what it bought for me was that I could get workable shots with all of them in a square swing rather than opening up the face. In some respects, I was picking the bounce for the conditions and adjusting the swing length (opposite of Pelz). I could get a fairly good short-sided pitch with the low-bounce Vokey - no way I'd try that with my sand wedge. I see a lot of low-handicappers here carrying something like 47, 54 and 58, where 58 is both a sand and lob wedge. That wouldn't work well for me.

 

Since that time, I switched to a set with a 48 degree P. The 50 is too close, so I don't carry that anymore. I got a CG10 52 instead, which has been OK, but not stellar. The CG10 has a different feel than the Vokey and I think an equivalent swing goes farther with the CG10, which isn't actually all that great in this case.

 

Only you can tell what's best, but I think that 50, 56, 60 might be worth a try. I wouldn't sweat the 1 degree difference right now - it's the 3-4 degree gaps that are going to cause you a problem. I don't carry a 3- or 4-iron (3W plus 2i and 4i hybrids), so all these wedges are OK. If I wanted to carry one less wedge, I'd probably get a medium bounce 54 to replace the 52 and 56 which would sacrifice some sand performance.

[herewego]

I have

48 PW

52/08 GW

56/12 SW

60/04 LW

 

I tend to not carry the lob wedge except on high wind days or stroke rounds.

On windy days I might end up in more bunkers and rough hence the extra option of getting out of greenside trouble or bunkered helps.

 

Not having to open the face of the lob wedge minimises the chance of a skull which can destroy a stroke round.

[lefty74pgh]

I am in the same situation. My wedges are currently 52*,56*,60* Vokeys. I am wanting to go down 2* in each, but concerned about changing the bounce.

 

I have heard some people say when the had there wedges bent they started hitting shots fat.

 

Is it better to get new wedges or have my current ones bent?

[jwalker497]

Which is the better option in your opinion?

 

46, 40, 54, 58

 

or

 

45, 50, 55, 60

[abc123tyler]

46,52,56,60 :P

[jwalker497]

Good one!! I set myself up for that one.

 

i just don't like the 6* form 46 to 52

[sfdoddsy]

dfung's post above was one of the best I read about the advantages and dangers of a lob wedge, or indeed opening up a sand wedge.

 

Through bitter experience, I have learned that while a high spinning flop shot that goes as high as it does long looks very cool, and feels great when you land it, most of time it is a waste. Especially if you are not a great putter.

 

Unless you can land it within, say, 5 feet, you are usually looking at a 2 putt anyway. So you may as well be 12 feet or 18 feet or 25 feet away. As long as you are on the green.

 

But if you thin a flop you are in much more trouble than if you thin a normal pitch. As dfung mentioned, you need to hit it hard to get the height and spin. And that hard swing means if you stuff it up even slightly, it will go a long way astray.

 

If you don't hit it hard, or hit it fat, or go right underneath it, you will land in that hazard you were trying to carry.

 

So, IMHO, unless you are so confident that you believe you can land the ball within guaranteed one putt range, or unless there is so much trouble short and long, or unless you just feel like showing off, you are far better using a SW or GW into the middle of the green and two-putting.

 

There is nothing more score destroying than being next to the green in two and taking a six or worse.

 

I learned this the opposite way. I was cleaning my fancy 3 wedge set and left them at home recently, and so played with my 9 iron as the lowest club. If I hadn't had a bunker problem on one hole which cost me 4 shots (9 irons don't make great greenside bunker clubs), I would have shot 76, my best score ever.

 

Since then, my awful short game is somewhat better because I putt when I can. chip when I can't putt, pitch when I can't chip, and only do a flop shot as a last resort if I'm playing matchplay, stableford or par events and just have to get up and down or the hole is lost or wiped.