Wedge-shaped accessories every golfer should experience. For an hour or so, it will improve your scoring, confidence, and give you a greater understanding of the scoring club.
Eddie Hammond of PGA professional Moortown explains how it works and how it can benefit you.
Where to start?
It starts with a pitch wedge. Everyone loves a club in full swing, with most amateurs hitting three-quarter and half-pitched wedges, and there is a huge gap between their pitches and sand wedges.
Today, the iron is getting stronger and there are getting bigger gaps on the other end of the bag, so we do consider proper spacing sessions.
So how they hit the pitch wedge and then we train from there what we need to do, how many clubs there are in the bag and how much space there are.
What is that?
We usually look at four or six degrees increments between each wedge. You may need to fill 16 degrees, which usually means there is another three wedges there.
For some, it feels like a minefield with all these bounces, letters and grindings to consider, but during the accessories it is simple.
I always try to get the gap wedge to fit best and walk from there. The gap wedge is the easiest because usually in which manufacturer, there is one grinding and two rebound options. It’s really easy. Are you an intermediate player on the staunch golf course or are you a very steep, large divorcee who plays in Parkland on the golf course?
Then I look at the angle of the attack and where they hit the ball. If someone starts to hit the ball high at the club, there is too little bounce, so the club goes too far to improve it. So you’ll play a little bit, but mainly the yard count on the wedge wedge.
What about the taller flat wedge?
The conversation may start with what club they like to use and some questions about this club. Most people use the largest club in bunkers, so…
– Are you a good bunker player?
– Do you have confidence?
– The bunker is soft and fluffy?
– Or are they dry and exposed?
Such a soft and fluffy person, you are looking for more bounces, especially with wider soles on the club.
For those golfers struggling on the sand, you’ll look for 12-14 degrees of bounce, but you can get some good players who might perform well with six or octaves.
What about the wedge between the gap and the LOB?
Typically, this will be a wedge of about 54-56 degrees. One initial question is if you are someone who likes to always use square face tilt and chips or do you like to turn it on? Therefore, we will seek to reduce the size of the options based on the rebound. With a few questions, you can go from six to four, and then four to four to two.
So, in the Titleist series, you have M and D mills. So you are looking at 12 degrees on D and 8 degrees on M. They are versatile.
Then, you go back to the player’s course conditions – soft or firm? If you were to play forward, would you get a lawn mower? Then, ideally, you’ll head to Broken Green and play.
Is it okay for you to be a bad chipper?
The right people really help every golfer, even those who struggle with debris or think they don’t feel anything. If you give them a wedge at one end of the scale, the only bounce will be wider and then give them something more forgiving, narrower, narrower and less bounced, they will be able to say what is going on. Usually you can even see it through the ball flight, but they will be able to illustrate how it feels through the turf.
Why do we need new wedges?
The biggest thing most people see is the speed at which the ball stops because their wedges are too old. On the tour, some players will change their Lob wedge four times a year, Sand Wedge Three, gap wedge Two and screw wedge once. They don’t want to maximize rotation with pitch wedges because they are very good ball shooters and can produce a lot of rotations. But then in the Lob wedge, they want as much rotation as possible and as much control as possible.
I recently had a client who had a gap wedge about five years old and his 5,500-spin in full swing, which was very low because the grooves were so. He tried a new one, which went straight to 9,900.
Read more: How Matt Fitzpatrick’s Hover Chip Technology Helps Your Short Game
