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Wedge Setup and Why?

SuperStroke
45, 50 (bent to 49) matches the set, 52, 56, 60... I'm fairly long off the tee, so I like options in the shorter end of the bag.
 
I've dropped down to just 2 wedges. I have a 46* PW and a 54* SW. I can pretty much hit any distance I need by choking up, using a half swing, or both.

By carrying just two wedges, it really forced me to learn how versatile a good wedge can be. When I used to carry a PW, GW, SW, and LW, they were pretty much uni-taskers. Now my 54* wedge is my absolute favorite club because I've learned to use it in so many ways.
 
I put the 73* back in the bag and it saved me some strokes today. Left the 80* out for good. I am using it to chase off the racoons from the porch.
 
The only change I plan to make this year will be the grips on my GW, SW, and LW. Going to try to build out the lower portion of the grip so it's not as tapered so it doesn't feel so different when I have the need to choke down on a wedge shot. Thinking about using the black widow grips.
 
I currently only have a 54* and 60* Taylormade Xft wedges. I need/want to go PW-52-56-60.. But I need to start with getting a new a PW for my set. My current 54* I bought used and is ridiculously long for a 54*. If I play it at full length, I can easily get an extra 8 years.

If callaway/cleveland/nike/mizuno made a 47* wedge in lefty, I would outfit my set with them. It looks like I'm either going to have to go with Vokeys or Ping Tour-S wedges
 
PW, 52*, 56*, 60*. I don't use my 52* all that often. I am thinking about dropping it and choking up on the PW and hitting 3/4 shots for those 120ish distances. My 56* maxes out around 110. I use it for all shots inside of that as well. I have 1/2 and 3/4 swings dialed in pretty good for distance control. I do most of my chipping/pitching around the green with my 60*. I know most people say to get the ball rolling, but I like flopping. I have been working on some low running chips here lately though.
 
tacotruck said:
I've dropped down to just 2 wedges. I have a 46* PW and a 54* SW. I can pretty much hit any distance I need by choking up, using a half swing, or both.

By carrying just two wedges, it really forced me to learn how versatile a good wedge can be. When I used to carry a PW, GW, SW, and LW, they were pretty much uni-taskers. Now my 54* wedge is my absolute favorite club because I've learned to use it in so many ways.
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Exactly what I'm going to do but with a 49* niblick in between. I played all 54* shots today and really feel the 60* is just too much for me right now.


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Nike VR Full Cavity PW 45* - in the garage
Nike VR Full Cavity AW 50 *, Nike SV Tour 56*, Nike SV Tour 60*

I like the 60* around the green, and the 56* from about 60 yards and in. I plan to figure out how to use this set of tools better this year. I have a gap between the 9I (42*) and the 50* wedge, but I like having the 60* in the bag, and don't want to carry 4 wedges which was confusing me.
 
I've been playing 47* PW for a decade and have carried just a 54* and 60*. I have always been comfortable with 1/2 and 3/4 wedge shots so I've never felt a need for a GAP wedge, though I have considered bending my 60* down to a 58* but never have pulled the trigger.

My new R9 TPs have the same PW loft but in all of my fitting/testing the ball speed is much higher off the face of the R9TP than my older blades, so I may very well need to get a GW of some sort if I get much more distance out of the new PW. If not I'll still with my current setup. I don't wind up in bunkers much so I like the extra bit of distance from the 54* and the lower bounce since most of the time I'm playing it from the fairway or around the greens, not in sand.
 
My current wedge setup is now:

PW 47*
SW 54*
LW 60*

With the new Taylormade MCs I don't think I need a gap wedge anymore. I haven't missed it the first 2 rounds. The new PW is more versatile than my old one and its easy to take 10 - 20 yards off when needed.

Also, the 60* club is what I use out of the sand 80% of the time. The 54* is used more for chipping and full shots from over 100 yards.
 
Im set up as follows:

PW 47°
SW 54°
LW 58°

I've found the 54°/58° setup to be a bit more versatile for my game. For years I carried a PW along with a 52°, 56° and 60°. I've found it helps my game to bridge the gap better with the 54° and leave room for a longer club in the bag.
 
My wedge setup has changed.

47* 52* 55* 60*


This is not the greatest post in the world, this is just a tribute.
 
littlepingman said:
Im set up as follows:

PW 47°
SW 54°
LW 58°

I've found the 54°/58° setup to be a bit more versatile for my game. For years I carried a PW along with a 52°, 56° and 60°. I've found it helps my game to bridge the gap better with the 54° and leave room for a longer club in the bag.
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Me too. pw 46 gw 52 sw 58. I went to a 3 wedge system to make room for an extra hybrid.
BTW the funny part that my friend pointed out to me is that ever since I switched to this wedge setup, I've essentially been plahying with a 13 club set and whatever Ebay reject I recently found coming along for a ride.
 
Changed my wedge set up this season.

Gone from PW (47/48ish :wink:) 52/60 to PW (47), 54 and 58.

Couple of reasons - I got the wedges with the set of irons. But, the biggest reason was that I felt 52 was too strong to use unless I had an exact yardage. I struggled to hit 3/4 shots effectively with it without pushing them. The opposite with my 60. I couldn't convince myself to hit it hard enough to get to the stick.

Hoping the new setup will inspire a bit more confidence in my short game.
 
Also toying with changing my wedge setup.

Been playing the standard 46, 50, 54, 58 last season, and though it's been working out fine I find that I only really use the 50* for one specific shot, namely from around 90 yards. As it turns out thats maybe once or twice every other round. I find that's not really enough to warrant a slot in the bag. Having recently acquired a set of MP53's I'm madly in love with my new PW, and I reckon I could save a club by learning to play it with a little more feel. Hence the plan for 2011 is to go 46, 52, 58.

Have my eye on the new MPT 11's, and I'd have taken the plunge had it not been for the Spring Outing. Not about to get any new stuff with the mother of all demo days on the horizon!
 
I'm at 4 degree gaps all the way thru the bag and it works well for me.
 
I play scratch AR-1s and my PW is 48*. I play a two wedge setup that works nice for me. 53* and 58*.
 
just realizing that my new irons set finishes the PW at 44 deg. With the my GW(52), SW(56), LW(60), that leaves an 8 degree gap between my GW and PW. Crap. We'll see how they do this season.... trying to find a 50 degree left handed wedge can get challenging.
 
muddlermike said:
just realizing that my new irons set finishes the PW at 44 deg. With the my GW(52), SW(56), LW(60), that leaves an 8 degree gap between my GW and PW. Crap. We'll see how they do this season.... trying to find a 50 degree left handed wedge can get challenging.
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Depending what kind of wedge your 52 is, you may be able to bend it to 50, or at least 51 degrees.
 
9-Iron Man said:
So by my reasoning, every club has it's use. My current setup takes me to 14 clubs.

As I said, I went with an extra wedge instead of a longer club to fill the gap between my 3 wood (15*) and hybrid (21*). What should the amateur golfer be focusing on? Long clubs (woods and hybrids) or short wedges? Surely personal preference comes into the equation. Or should they just carry 13 clubs?
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I think it's more important to learn what is possible with each club before you add another one. Maybe I was lucky to start playing before there was such a thing as a lob wedge. Sets didn't even come with a sand wedge. At most you got a pitching wedge, and all of your irons were forged blades. I started with a starter half set which ended at the 9I. I played sporadically with those for 10 years. Then I bought my first real set of clubs (Golden Ram blades and maple woods), and played with those (no SW) for nearly 10 more years.

I learned a lot about what a club could do during that period. I loved to watch film clips of Chi Chi Rodriguez making some of his specialty shots, and tried to imitate him, with some small degree of success. When I finally did buy a SW, I almost never needed it for anything but bunker play, that holds true right through to today. I can mostly find no use whatsoever for a LW ( I have three - one 60° and two 58° and all three live in the garage). The highest lofted club in my bag is a 56° CG15, and even that one is rarely used. More than 95% of my greenside work is done with 8I, PW, and 51° GW.

So I'll go with JB on this and say that you are much better served to learn a variety of shots with one or two clubs than you are to learn just one shot each with four or five clubs. That gives you more options in unusual situations. Once you learn what you can actually accomplish with a couple of wedges, then you can make a better decision as to what, if anything, you still need. There is no law that says you MUST carry 14 clubs.
 
My wedges are:
PW - 45
AW - 51
SW - 56
 
Fourputt said:
I think it's more important to learn what is possible with each club before you add another one. Maybe I was lucky to start playing before there was such a thing as a lob wedge. Sets didn't even come with a sand wedge. At most you got a pitching wedge, and all of your irons were forged blades. I started with a starter half set which ended at the 9I. I played sporadically with those for 10 years. Then I bought my first real set of clubs (Golden Ram blades and maple woods), and played with those (no SW) for nearly 10 more years.

I learned a lot about what a club could do during that period. I loved to watch film clips of Chi Chi Rodriguez making some of his specialty shots, and tried to imitate him, with some small degree of success. When I finally did buy a SW, I almost never needed it for anything but bunker play, that holds true right through to today. I can mostly find no use whatsoever for a LW ( I have three - one 60° and two 58° and all three live in the garage). The highest lofted club in my bag is a 56° CG15, and even that one is rarely used. More than 95% of my greenside work is done with 8I, PW, and 51° GW.

So I'll go with JB on this and say that you are much better served to learn a variety of shots with one or two clubs than you are to learn just one shot each with four or five clubs. That gives you more options in unusual situations. Once you learn what you can actually accomplish with a couple of wedges, then you can make a better decision as to what, if anything, you still need. There is no law that says you MUST carry 14 clubs.
Click to expand...

Thanks Fourputt, that makes a lot of sense. While those certain clubs do have a specific purpose for the most part, I do change it up as needed. I know there is no law that says a SW must only be used for the sand for example. And while I don't often use my LW I do like to carry it just in case. To me, it serves a better purpose than another long club. I could be wrong here, but that's what makes sense to me. I know there is no rule saying we can't carry less than 14 clubs, but I think I'd be doing myself a diservice by carrying less. This is a tough game at the best of times so I want to carry as many as I can so I can be prepared for whatever circumstance comes my way on the course. I could be wrong though, just my thinking.
 
Mine are:
PW - 45
AW - 50
SW - 55

Thinking about new wedges this year that will be 50 and 56 if I get them. I have a 60 that I took out to put my 5 iron back in the bag to fill the gap between my 5 hybrid and 6 iron. I never used the 60 and don't miss it at all.
 
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