Sand/lob wedge

dr.kenneth noisewater

Looking for some advice over what to get. I have only started playing over the last 18 months and the set I bought off a friend is missing a sand-wedge. I've had some issues with bunker shots recently so looking to get one but a few friends have recommended getting a lob wedge instead and using this for bunker shots. Anyone recommend which would be best to get? Or what degree?

RoadRunner

I use my 58 degree wedge out of bunkers. I used to use either my old 56 or 60. Wedges help for approach shots from 100yards in. Something open, like a 60degree is good out of bunkers (but can be tricky to use on tight lies on grass). Plenty of suitable older wedges for sale on adverts. <begin plug>I've got some used wedges here: http://www.adverts.ie/irons/full-wedge-set-52-56-60/10545946#comment_70067955 which wouldn't be a particularly great named brand and are therefore cheap, something like that would be useful to get you going. </end plug>

(But be careful only allowed to carry 14 clubs in your bag!)

spacecoyote

You need to be looking at the "Bounce" on the wedge, as much as the loft.

Generally (if I'm remember correctly) a sand wedge will have considerably more bounce than a lob wedge, which makes it easier to play out of a bunker. A lob wedge with low bounce would be better off a thin, tightly packed bunker

I'd recommend a sand wedge over a lob wedge. If you're starting out at the game, anything with 60 degrees and up is probably an unnecessary club.

I have a 56 degree sandwedge with 13 degrees bounce & a 60 degree lob wedge with 8 degrees bounce. To be honest the lob wedge is a passenger in my bag.

Not sure if they still do it, but Cleveland used to take in a trade in of an old wedge against a new club. They would literally take any piece of junk & give a guaranteed amount for the club. They make really nice wedges too. Was chatting to a lad in Haypenny about it, around a year ago. He said a guy came in, went to their bargain bucket, saw a wedge there for €10, bought it, and handed it straight back to the lad in the shop in exchange for a larger discount off a new wedge.

BigChap1759

Best bet is a 56 degree sand wedge with at least 12 degrees of bounce

JIdontknow

Would also suggest starting off to probably use a 56 or a sand wedge, you'll be able to use this club for chipping etc too so can get plenty use from it. Mcguirks are doing a special on the Cleveland RTX 2.0 Wedges at the moment, have used these and found them nice myself, but others may recommend other wedges.
http://www.mcguirksgolf.com/c/wedges/9/cleveland_brand

What are the bunkers you are playing out of like, are they soft with plenty sand (feet sink in when you shuffle, sand soft to rake, etc) or firmer bunkers with less sand (firm compact sand that club can tend to "bounce" off?)?

dr.kenneth noisewater

JIdontknow wrote: »

Would also suggest starting off to probably use a 56 or a sand wedge, you'll be able to use this club for chipping etc too so can get plenty use from it. Mcguirks are doing a special on the Cleveland RTX 2.0 Wedges at the moment, have used these and found them nice myself, but others may recommend other wedges.
http://www.mcguirksgolf.com/c/wedges/9/cleveland_brand

What are the bunkers you are playing out of like, are they soft with plenty sand (feet sink in when you shuffle, sand soft to rake, etc) or firmer bunkers with less sand (firm compact sand that club can tend to "bounce" off?)?

Thanks for the advice, will head to McGuirks tomorrow hopefully. Mainly firm sand(suppose thats weather related really) but different course on Monday was soft which caused me plenty of issues!

bmay529

As said it depends on the type of sand where you play. A sand wedge usually has a good amount of bounce and is designed so that you can hit it into sand behind the ball and the bounce will resist it digging into the sand and allow you take the ball out on a cushion of sand without ever touching the ball. A lob (60deg) wedge usually has very little bounce and wpuld be difficult not to let it dig into the sand. On the other hand a lob wedge with very little bounce will be very handy out of bunkers that have very little sand or that are packed hard or wet. Both would be ideal so you could choose which to use dependent on circumstances and would not cost much if bought second hand.

mike12

Hi,
Don't buy anything over bulky like the sw from a starter set, any wedge with at least 10 degrees of bounce and 54 to 58 degrees of loft will be fine.
I'd go the higher loft if u have a lot of deep bunkers

Jawgap

My advice is to do what I did and go see a pro - tell him what you want, describe the sand and bunker construction on the course you are likely to play most often and see what he/she recommends.

IMO, it takes a different wedge to get out of a links pot bunker with finer sand compared to a big parkland punker with 'claggy' sand and shallow construction.

DuckSlice

spacecoyote wrote: »

You need to be looking at the "Bounce" on the wedge, as much as the loft.

Generally (if I'm remember correctly) a sand wedge will have considerably more bounce than a lob wedge, which makes it easier to play out of a bunker. A lob wedge with low bounce would be better off a thin, tightly packed bunker

I'd recommend a sand wedge over a lob wedge. If you're starting out at the game, anything with 60 degrees and up is probably an unnecessary club.

I have a 56 degree sandwedge with 13 degrees bounce & a 60 degree lob wedge with 8 degrees bounce. To be honest the lob wedge is a passenger in my bag.

Not sure if they still do it, but Cleveland used to take in a trade in of an old wedge against a new club. They would literally take any piece of junk & give a guaranteed amount for the club. They make really nice wedges too. Was chatting to a lad in Haypenny about it, around a year ago. He said a guy came in, went to their bargain bucket, saw a wedge there for €10, bought it, and handed it straight back to the lad in the shop in exchange for a larger discount off a new wedge.

What bounce you get should also be determined by what angle of attack you have in my opinion, if you are a sweeper/shallow then low bounce required, if you are a digger/steep then high bounce needed. Something to consider!

FixdePitchmark

If you ave only started playing no room for a lob wedge - in fact , only about 5 % of players should have one at all.

Russman

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

If you ave only started playing no room for a lob wedge - in fact , only about 5 % of players should have one at all.

If even.

slingerz

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

If you ave only started playing no room for a lob wedge - in fact , only about 5 % of players should have one at all.

I'd be interested to hear why you think that?

spacecoyote

slingerz wrote: »

I'd be interested to hear why you think that?

I think that general concensus would be that it's a very low percentage club, and is not really necessary for 99% of shots.

I've played rounds with mates who are obsessed with their lob wedge. They're trying to play a flop shot for everything inside 25 yards of the green. Sure the 1 time in 20 (or less) that it comes off perfectly it's a spectacular shot, but I'd say if they played the club that got the ball rolling quickest on the green more often their scoring would come down significantly.

I'm actually really strongly looking at my bag to try determine if there is a gap I could fill by dropping the 60 degree from my bag because it pretty much never gets used.

brick tamland

I've taken the 60deg out of my bag and just use 56 or 52 around the green depending on shot. Too many shots dropped with the 60. 56 deg is loads to get out of almost any bunker.

I've also seen GMAC say that unless you are a very low handicapper he wouldnt recommend anything more than 56.

tritriagain

I Play ping clubs with 54 deg loft and a pw with 46 loft. Just wondering would any 50 deg gap wedge fill the gap or will different brands go different distances.

brady23

I started back and was the first thing I found that the 60 is redundant, I'd be far better off putting the 4 Iron back in and trying to use that than trying to flop a 60.

I use the 52 alot. Mizuno s5 Blue, unbelievable club, well worth considering

kieran.

On the other side of this I use a 60 tm atv wedge for all bunker shots as I find it much easier for distance control also use it for full shots of 85-105 yards but never for chipping greenside. Most reliable club in my bag

Jawgap

spacecoyote wrote: »

I think that general concensus would be that it's a very low percentage club, and is not really necessary for 99% of shots.

I've played rounds with mates who are obsessed with their lob wedge. They're trying to play a flop shot for everything inside 25 yards of the green. Sure the 1 time in 20 (or less) that it comes off perfectly it's a spectacular shot, but I'd say if they played the club that got the ball rolling quickest on the green more often their scoring would come down significantly.

I'm actually really strongly looking at my bag to try determine if there is a gap I could fill by dropping the 60 degree from my bag because it pretty much never gets used.

It's only a low percentage club if you don't practice with it.

I like hitting my lob wedge and use it pretty much most of the time I'm inside about 30m - even when others are bumping and running I'll use my Trusty Rusty 54o to knock one up and drop it dead. But I practice with it all the time. It's a club and a shot you have to really commit to hitting in an assertive almost aggressive fashion - which can be very counter-intuitive if you are in close to a green, especially if there's not much putting surface to play with.

Russman

Honestly I think a 60 degree wedge costs way more shots than it saves for your average amateur. I take one out a couple of times a year just for sh1ts and giggles and always realise that 99% of shots with it can be played with a 56 if you have any degree of skill at all.
Funnily enough I think they're like legal cheating out of bunkers, but I still don't think I can justify a spot in the bag for one based on that alone.

Russman

Jawgap wrote: »

It's only a low percentage club if you don't practice with it.

I like hitting my lob wedge and use it pretty much most of the time I'm inside about 30m - even when others are bumping and running I'll use my Trusty Rusty 54o to knock one up and drop it dead. But I practice with it all the time. It's a club and a shot you have to really commit to hitting in an assertive almost aggressive fashion - which can be very counter-intuitive if you are in close to a green, especially if there's not much putting surface to play with.

There's a massive difference between a 54 and a 60 though in terms of margin for error on the strike and spin.

dr.kenneth noisewater

Thanks for all the advice everyone! Getting an old SW from an uncle and will see how I go with it! Maybe look at a LW in the future!

Jawgap

Russman wrote: »

There's a massive difference between a 54 and a 60 though in terms of margin for error on the strike and spin.

Absolutely. And in my experience I've nothing to gain by going beyond 54o - or rather the marginal gain simply doesn't justify putting anything else in my bag at the expense of another club.

That also doesn't mean that with practice a 60o lob / u-lob wedge can't be mastered but I'd wonder how many times you'd have to use it, so, in my case, I'd not waste the time on it.

Russman

Jawgap wrote: »

Absolutely. And in my experience I've nothing to gain by going beyond 54o - or rather the marginal gain simply doesn't justify putting anything else in my bag at the expense of another club.

That also doesn't mean that with practice a 60o lob / u-lob wedge can't be mastered but I'd wonder how many times you'd have to use it, so, in my case, I'd not waste the time on it.

Completely agree.

bmay529

dr.kenneth noisewater wrote: »

Thanks for all the advice everyone! Getting an old SW from an uncle and will see how I go with it! Maybe look at a LW in the future!

I think that is an excellent idea. I also use a 52deg gap wedge quite a lot for approach shots of about 75m to greens and for chip shots around the green where I want a little more run, especially in winter. I find this club much more flexible than a lob wedge other than as said earlier I would carry a lob wedge if I were playing a course that had very little sand in bunkers or it is compacted.

slingerz

spacecoyote wrote: »

I think that general concensus would be that it's a very low percentage club, and is not really necessary for 99% of shots.

I've played rounds with mates who are obsessed with their lob wedge. They're trying to play a flop shot for everything inside 25 yards of the green. Sure the 1 time in 20 (or less) that it comes off perfectly it's a spectacular shot, but I'd say if they played the club that got the ball rolling quickest on the green more often their scoring would come down significantly.

I'm actually really strongly looking at my bag to try determine if there is a gap I could fill by dropping the 60 degree from my bag because it pretty much never gets used.

Interesting enough assessment really. I suppose it all depends on the course really. I use my 60' quite a bit on my home course as i find i am often close to the greens and they are either elevated or have some hazard you need to get over. I find i dont need the longer clubs really so wouldnt benefit from taking it out either

BigChap1759

In fairness, whilst I agree that 60 degree is often not the %age shot around the greens I carry 4 wedges for the full shots distances they provide as I'm far better on a full shot than trying to take something off.........but that's probably for another discussion!