Comments on: Give Us Your Comments Regarding High-Lofted Wedges

By: 9handicapper

9handicapper — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:49:34 +0000

It all depends on the course…

If your playing some of the tough mountain courses in the Carolinas or Georgia where bunkers can be 20yrds long and 6ft deep, then your best pal in the whole world is a 64* degree wedge … you need loft and distance.

Go play some of the courses at Pinehurst, like the Legacy .. it’s common to find yourself 4ft down and 40yrds to go … you better have a 62 or 64 degree Wedge or you’ll be in there til’ Easter…

Merry Christmas everyone.!

By: Art

Art — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:54:09 +0000

I think the USGA needs to stay out of the club making for anyone but highly skilled players. I have and use a 60 and a 64 degree wedge. When I replace them, I would not consider any wedge head that does not have square groovs period.

By: M R Clag

M R Clag — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 18:30:27 +0000

I am a 10-hndcp senior player. I tried the higher lofted wedges, but don’t have the skill set to use them successfully. That seems to be a theme among the respondants, so it appears that the high wedge loft idea is self-policing.

I am fortunate to have a very good teaching professional. He can not only teach, but he was accomplished enough to play in six British Opens. In other words, he has been there and knows of what he speaks. He personally feels that 58-degrees is about as high as one needs to go, providing the grind on the sand or lob wedge does allow one to open the blade for the occasional ‘flop’ shot.

By: Antoine

Antoine — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 05:47:03 +0000

Hi guys,
Everybody is talking about loft, if you hit a 70° wedge with no bounce it’s as easy to hit as your 9 iron.
Bounce is the problem for some players,the more bounce the more difficult to hit.
If you are serious about golf you need wedges, 52,56, 60° , but you also need practice and a golf teacher to give you the confidence you need to hit a high lofted club with a lot of bounce.
Have fun, it’s a difficult game.
Antoine

By: Remickulous

Remickulous — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 02:32:13 +0000

I am 40 and this is my first season golfing. I have gotten down to a 25 handicap and havent hit over 100 in a few months, and I absolutely LOVE my 60 wedge. With 7deg bounce and a nice wide flange, I use it anywhere 80 yards and in – rough, sand, fairway, sometimes fringe…it performs for me like no other wedge. I am moving to the hireko forged 60 with 4 deg bounce to help me lay it open even more. No one I play with uses a 60 and they say I am nuts…until they watch me consistantly put it close to the hole from 80 and in.

It is not usually an easy club to use, but I have been working hard to get better, and I can only use my 60 in my back yard, so when I can’t make it to the range or the course, the 60 is it. Play it forward, open it up, open the stance, hinge the wrists back and through and I get a nice high flop that stops. Play it back, hinge and hold, and I can make it run. Hit it full, just back of middle, and I can make it spin back or just stop on a dime.

Take away my 60 and you take away my favorite club…and I am still a friggin 25 handicap. Imagine if I had to use my 52! This is NOT a techno “cheater”, if they want to take away a “cheater”, take away those damn chippers! Make golfers use a real club!!! Leave my wedge alone and we won’t have any problems. That’s all I have to say about that…

By: john mcfarland

john mcfarland — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 14:52:41 +0000

I am still a fairly new golfer this go around. I came back 2.5 yr. ago after layoff of 25 yrs. I haven’t used the different wedges enough to make an intelligent comment however I do like what the lob wedge does (stop and hold) and I like what the gap does also when it is need for short to med pitches.

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 22:14:49 +0000

My teaching pro told me that anything over 56 degrees will only get you in trouble. Of course, I had to prove him wrong. “Everyone” is going ga-ga over the 60+ degree wedges, and everyone can’t be wrong, or so I thought. Well, they were for me. I couldn’t keep three shots within 20 yards of each other on the range, and had even more trouble on the course. I took out the 60 and 64 degree wedges, added a 2 hybrid and a chipper and have been much better off for it. The 2 hybrid has put more balls on the green than my wedges ever did, and even though I get laughed at at first with the chipper, I usually bounce the ball off the pin at least once a round. The score is what counts, not what is in the bag, and getting rid of the high lofted wedges were a good thing for me. I would like to see them kept, though, so I can have a better chance of beating my friends and their fad wedges.

By: Matt L.

Matt L. — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 01:04:51 +0000

I have a full set of wedges culminating in a 60*. My PW is a standard cavity back, while my AW, SW, and LW are blades. While I do best with the SW (56*), the 60* LW works well out of greenside bunkers, where I would tend to overshoot a green (if I didn’t leave it in the sand) with the SW. I can hit a decent flop shop with the 60* open a bit, but distance control is very difficult. It’s also easy to blade or shank it while flopping. I would imagine that the higher the loft, the lower the bounce necessary to make use of it. For a 64* (which I don’t have), I would guess it would be best to slip it under a tight lie, requiring less bounce. It takes a lot of practice to have skill with flatter wedges, so I agree with others that the USGA should focus on other areas. The recent groove ruling makes these even harder to control, so I agree with others that the USGA should focus on other areas.

By: Ray Kelley

Ray Kelley — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 03:23:31 +0000

I am a 62 year old who was playing to a low teens handicap.
After carrying and misusing a 60 for years, I had a sesion with a really good teacher who showed me that I could be a lot more consistent with the 52 (and the 54 and 56).
I am amazed at the increase in confidence. And the reduction is scores.
I’m about 3 down on the handicap and a lot less stressed.

By: Jeff Summitt

Jeff Summitt — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 13:47:06 +0000

Gary:

There is no rule for the maximum loft allowed on a wedge. Is it is legal? Conforming might be a better term. It is only conforming to the Rules of Golf is it had been submitted and tested by the USGA or R&A in which you would need to ask the manufacturer. There are other factors such as groove width, depth and so forth that make a club conforming. But if you get 50 yards out of it without blading the ball, then you must seriously de-loft the club at impact.