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When is a sand wedge not a sand wedge??

SuperStroke
tdinbr

tdinbr

Water hazards are tough!
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Went and visited my Dad last week and got to play a couple of rounds with him and my uncle. Was telling my Dad how much I struggle with bunker shots and he takes a look at my sand wedge and tells me "That's not a sand wedge".
I have a TM XFt 58 degree with an 8 bounce that I "thought" was my sand wedge. However, according to Dad that's not near enough bounce, and its digging in on me. I also have a 54 degree with a 12 bounce, but hardly ever use it in the sand.
I tried his Rocketballz sand wedge and did have a much easier time getting out of the practice bunker we were using. Bounce on that thing was huge!
Not sure what to make of this so I thought I'd ask my fellow THP'ers....do I have a sand wedge or is is just a lob wedge??
 
58* is a lob wedge
 
There is no such thing as a "sand wedge" you can use whatever you would like to get out of the sand. I don't have a lot of bounce on my 58 and I get out nice and soft most of the time. It's technique that gets you out not just the bounce of the club. The bounce helps but not necessary.

I think most companies market the sand wedge, lob wedge, and gap wedge as such for that reason, marketing. Use what you are comfortable with and what gets you out if the bunkers. Don't worry about labels and titles, they are simply that.
 
Loft has nothing to do with it for me. I play my 54* out of bunkers with lower lips. I play my 60* out of bunkers with high lips. Bounce also has nothing to do with it. Some people believe that different kinds of sand require different bounces. The combination of technique and equipment is causing your problem. Not name of your wedge.
 
I could care less about the name on the club, and I know its mostly my technique because he helped me alot on that. Just thought it may also have something to do with the small bounce on the club.
 
thetopdogg said:
There is no such thing as a "sand wedge" you can use whatever you would like to get out of the sand. I don't have a lot of bounce on my 58 and I get out nice and soft most of the time. It's technique that gets you out not just the bounce of the club. The bounce helps but not necessary.

I think most companies market the sand wedge, lob wedge, and gap wedge as such for that reason, marketing. Use what you are comfortable with and what gets you out if the bunkers. Don't worry about labels and titles, they are simply that.
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While this is true, the bounce is there for a reason, and traditional "sand wedges" have more than a typical "lob wedge". If you are having difficulty, definitely work with your 54 some. There's a big difference in performance through the sand between 8 degrees and 12 degrees (or more) bounce. That 12 degrees is definitely more typical of what's recommended out of the sand.

As topdogg says, however, what works for some will be different than others. I use different wedges (54 sand, 58 lob, even 50 gap) with different bounce angles based on the type of sand I'm in and the shot I need to hit. But the "easiest" (least thinking, most margin for error) for me to use is definitely my 54 with more bounce than the others.
 
You have a 58* wedge. Bounce will help get you out of most sand but without technique your not going to get your desired results. I mainly use my 54 with 12 degrees of bounce out of the trap if the sand is firm I will use my 58 and it has zero bounce. Try using your 54 and open it up and see what happens.
 
A lot of pros will use their 60* for the majority of their sand shots. The extra loft allows them to swing harder which allows them to impart more spin.

I use all my wedges out of the sand - 52, 56 and 60. I'll even use a pitching wedge or 9-iron if the shot is long enough and the lip low enough. If the sand is particularly fluffy, I will use my wedge with the highest bounce (my 56) if I can. Or, in the case of my last two rounds, it had been raining for several days solid and the sand was wet and hard packed, so I used my 60 which has less bounce.

It's all about the sand conditions and imagination and practice.
 
I think it's basically course specific on what wedge you should use. The one I play are regularly has shallow bunkers and all are near the green so a 56* is more than sufficient for me.
For deeper bunkers you would more than likely need to wedge up and for far bunkers wedge down. Lie is also a factor, is it resting right on top of the sand, or did it dig into the sand? Is the ball on a slope or is right in the flat stuff? How wet is the sand, or how dry is the sand? Is it freshly raked, or did some dirtbag leave footprints all over the place and your ball fell in one? Now I'm getting too technical.
 
blugold said:
Loft has nothing to do with it for me. I play my 54* out of bunkers with lower lips. I play my 60* out of bunkers with high lips. Bounce also has nothing to do with it. Some people believe that different kinds of sand require different bounces. The combination of technique and equipment is causing your problem. Not name of your wedge.
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What is the loft of your PW? I am debating a 49/54 hopkins or 50/55 hopkins setup (already have a 60 hopkins)
 
jlukes said:
What is the loft of your PW? I am debating a 49/54 hopkins or 50/55 hopkins setup (already have a 60 hopkins)
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47*. It's a big gap. But am trying to work with in that
 
So really you want to build some flexibility into your wedge game buy having clubs with various lofts and bounce combinations AND you want to match bounce to playing conditions.

If you play in the middle of the prairie and its hard and dry - less bounce.

If you play where conditions are soft - lots of bounce.

So what if you go back and forth between the two and or you play munis that water as little as needed and have river sand in the bunkers and you play resort style courses with tight and well watered conditions with fluffy silica sand in the bunkers?

Does anybody have more than one 60* wedge? One with say 8* bounce and the other with 14?
 
There is Nothing wrong with using a 58 degree wedge with 8 bounce out of the sand.

Every wedge is as good as the next wedge regardless of loft/bounce as long as your playing the correct technique for that wedge. If you are wanting to play a big splash with soft sand with a very descending blow, a low bounce wedge is not ideal as it will most likely dive down below the ball.

It seems whatever type of bunker shot it is that you like to hit is just not meshing up with your wedge choice, so there are a few routes you can go:

Try using your other wedges to get the desired result with your current favorite swing from the sand.
Trying a different approach to Sand shots with your desired club being the 58*.

The Best thing to do though would be to learn what shots your good at with each wedge, and then adjust accordingly to the course conditions (long shot, hard pan, wet sand) to what you think will work. It's also amazing how little things like opening the club face 3 degrees, or swinging more outside in can help your Sand game.

Hopefully This video of Phil's can give you a few ideas of what you want to do from the sand and when to try it. I've always found it to be helpful.

 
Tedfroop said:
So really you want to build some flexibility into your wedge game buy having clubs with various lofts and bounce combinations AND you want to match bounce to playing conditions.

If you play in the middle of the prairie and its hard and dry - less bounce.

If you play where conditions are soft - lots of bounce.

So what if you go back and forth between the two and or you play munis that water as little as needed and have river sand in the bunkers and you play resort style courses with tight and well watered conditions with fluffy silica sand in the bunkers?

Does anybody have more than one 60* wedge? One with say 8* bounce and the other with 14?
Click to expand...

You buy SCOR wedges and all will be good.
 
blugold said:
Loft has nothing to do with it for me. I play my 54* out of bunkers with lower lips. I play my 60* out of bunkers with high lips. Bounce also has nothing to do with it. Some people believe that different kinds of sand require different bounces. The combination of technique and equipment is causing your problem. Not name of your wedge.
Click to expand...
This. I play my bunker shots with from 6* to 12* bounce its all technique. Hard sand swing hard and steep softer sand more shallow and fast.
 
No offense, but does the name really matter?
 
TMAdidas said:
No offense, but does the name really matter?
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I'm not sure, but that may be pointed to my reference to SCOR clubs. Yes and no. There is a lot of technology built into the SCOR wedges. I'm not smart enough to go into detail so I will tell you to refer to the reviews on here and got to the SCOR web site for details. There are a lot of guys on here that have tested many other wedges and they keep coming back to their SCOR clubs time after time.

That being said, you still have to have some prowess at hitting out of the sand. The clubs don't swing themselves.

No offense taken at all if that is what you were referring to.
 
I know by looking at my handicap, you'd never guess it but I'm pretty good out of the sand.

For 9 out of 10 greenside bunker shots, I'm using my 58* wedge, which I believe has 10-12* of bounce. I can't remember what the exact number is, but it's a high bounce wedge. I just feel comfortable with that club in hand in the bunker and know that no matter what, it's getting the ball out of the bunker.
 
There are a lot of variables that determine what wedges will help you get out of bunkers the most/best, including bounce, loft, sole and leading edge. Get fitted to find out the combo that works best for you.
 
When it's a lob wedge.

In all seriousness, it doesn't matter what you call it. Seve once used a 3 iron in a one-club tournament and got out of the sand with that.
 
I consider anything you play out of the sand with 54-60* of loft a sand wedge. I believe Justin Rise carries and plays a58* sand wedge. This thought that anything of 56* is a lob wedge is such an old concept.
 
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