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Bend or Buy? Help me choose.

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DonJuan

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When it comes to clubs I've always been an off the rack guy. Still am. With that said, I'm fairly green on figuring this kind of stuff out. I recently upgraded my irons and because of stronger lofts, my current 52/56/60 isn't optimal for my gaps. I need a 50/54/58 setup. All of them are Cleveland RTC-3 CBs . I have a 54, but I still need a 50 and 58. I know that bending affects bounce and I tend to play mid bounce (my LW is low though) because I think it's more versatile. If you had these wedges:

52/10
56/11
60/6

Would you bend the 52/10 down to 50/8 and the 56/11 up to 58/13 (or perhaps the 60/6 down to 58/4)?

Or would you just buy a 50/10 GW and 58/9 LW, considering the change of bounce could have on playability, ?

Budget is the reason I'm considering bending rather than buying, but the RTX-3 CBs aren't terribly expensive so I probably could sell what I have and buy the wedges. That is a lot of numbers
 
Personally, I would buy new ones if possible. That reduces the number of variables that can go wrong.
 
Will you be happy moving to a lob wedge with twice as much bounce as the one you're currently playing?
 
JohnSinVA said:
Will you be happy moving to a lob wedge with twice as much bounce as the one you're currently playing?
Click to expand...

I hit the LW very well on full shots, and well enough on partial shots. I don't think the bounce would hurt. My logic for having the low bounce would that it would be better on tight lies. I don't even know if that's true, but it seemed reasonable.
 
I went through this recently, I chose to bend my 50 to 48 and 56 to 54. However, I also had new ones picked out and ready to pull the trigger on IF the club blew up during bending. In the end, the bend worked out for me.
 
NullNomad said:
I went through this recently, I chose to bend my 50 to 48 and 56 to 54. However, I also had new ones picked out and ready to pull the trigger on IF the club blew up during bending. In the end, the bend worked out for me.
Click to expand...

Did you notice any effects from the change in bounce (Or were you bending them to get a certain bounce)? How much did it cost?
 
DonJuan said:
Did you notice any effects from the change in bounce (Or were you bending them to get a certain bounce)? How much did it cost?
Click to expand...

Bounce is dictated by the sole, no change there. I didn't grind anything off.

I was bending them +2 stronger to fill the gap under my PW from my new set. I also had them adjusted +2 toe up as well since my swing has changed a bit and I also wanted that to match my new Apex set.
 
NullNomad said:
Bounce is dictated by the sole, no change there. I didn't grind anything off.

I was bending them +2 stronger to fill the gap under my PW from my new set. I also had them adjusted +2 toe up as well since my swing has changed a bit and I also wanted that to match my new Apex set.
Click to expand...

I've always heard that for every degree you bend the club, the bounce would change proportionally.
 
DonJuan said:
I've always heard that for every degree you bend the club, the bounce would change proportionally.
Click to expand...

Yea there is a component to that, but where my game is at, I haven't felt the 2 deg impacting the bounce. Especially to the point of trying to grind off or add to compensate.
 
DonJuan said:
I've always heard that for every degree you bend the club, the bounce would change proportionally.
Click to expand...

That is correct. Getting clubs bent is cheap. Go that route with both clubs and do some testing. If it doesn't work out, you are only out a few bucks.

Your thinking on the 60/6 helping with ties lies is correct assuming you don't get too steep, but going to 58/4 is really cutting things close and doesn't leave much room for error. You'd probably find better results from going 58/13 with the other club.
 
Could buy a 48, and go 48-52-56, which I think would gap reasonably well with the F8s.
 
mpeterson said:
Could buy a 48, and go 48-52-56, which I think would gap reasonably well with the F8s.
Click to expand...

I'm using the set GW, which is 49*. The set has 5* gaps from 8-GW. I only use GW for full shots. I don't chip or anything with it.
 
I would try bending them and if you didn't like the results, you can always buy new.

Good luck!
 
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