GAP WEDGE COMPARISON | Should You Play Traditional Or Set Gap Wedge?

This gap wedge comparison video focuses on a common discussion that takes place in many 2nd Swing golf club fittings. Should you play a traditional or set gap wedge? Ideally, this gap wedge comparison video will help golfers dial in their short games and hit better shots with the gap wedge they choose.

2nd Swing’s Drew Mahowald is joined by master club fitter Kevin Kraft to test and review four different types of gap wedges for this gap wedge comparison. Featured is a Titleist SM9 gap wedge, Cleveland CBX ZipCore gap wedge, Mizuno JPX 921 Hot Metal gap wedge, and TaylorMade Stealth HD gap wedge. How do the numbers compare between these different gap wedges?

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Hey there golfers I’m Drew Maher second Swing Golf joined today by Mr Kevin Craft here in the tour vent at second swing at motanka and today is a fun discussion on Gap wedges and so I think a popular question that we get all the time uh both on the YouTube channel I’m

Sure you guys do and fittings is is it better to have the gap wedge with the iron set or a gap wedge that’s with your specialty wedge set such as a vm9 and so um today we’re going to hope to answer some of those questions for those golfers so

Um today we’ve got four different wedges here uh roughly about 48 49 50° yep so all Gap wedges right but they’re all very different in their builds so first we have the you know Voki SM 9 48° traditional wedge this is a yeah you call this a traditional wedge you know

There’s not necessarily forgiveness on this wedge it’s more about the feel and the control all right and then moving along we have another closer to a you know a traditional wedge but there are some forgiveness properties in there the CL Cleveland excuse me cbx zip core so

Some extra weight in there a little bit of a cavity so a little bit more forgiving little bigger little bigger Soul correct yeah so that’s a little bit more forgiving but still kind of a traditional quote unquote wedge now we get into Gap wedges with iron sets and

So I think from that point we go to the mauno jpx 921 hot metal gap wedge so built like the irons in the hot metal set um but just more Loft as it was a gap wedge and then lastly here we have a for sure the most forgiving Club here in

The set the stealth HD um a wedger or gap wedge here in this set so very large Club head lots of weight dropped low very forgiving um definitely built for players that might need a little bit more speed or height so absolutely um Mr craft now we’ve kind of summarized the

Different clubs here but generally what do you kind of tell golfers if they have this question for you in the fitting B so it definitely depends on the individual um you know better players do tend to like to go into aftermarket wedges uh with their sets if you look at

The guys on tour most of those guys are going through pitching wedge and then going Gap sand lob except for the vogi guys they might stop at nine iron and put in a you know yeah like a 40 46 de ex so um yeah most of those guys are

Going to go for for you know the aftermarket wedges most people I feel will benefit from going to a set gap wedge just so that it flows really nicely through gap wedge is typically a full swing club uh it’s not something that we manipulate a lot so you know

You’re not going to find much of a grind on any of these things right so uh because of that just sticking with that through the set tends to make the the the the right decision um where it can get a little dicey I guess is if you are a

You know if you’re playing a game improvement club and you really like to chip around the greens with your with your gap wedge uh some of these faces get pretty hot and it could be a little hard to control those shots so you know listening when when we’re

Talking to our our customers about the way they play their shots is very important so that we can then make the right recommendations based on you know what’s what’s good and what’s going to work for their game right so that’s one of the things I would watch out for is

You know if if this player you has stealth HD irons and they like to hit the bump and run with a gap wedge from off the green that shot in particular probably is going to be a lot better with a say a vogi or a traditional wedge

Versus this could Two Step stealth HD we can be very bumpy and very runny with that potentially cor correct but if they’re using this only for full swings yeah you know you probably want the performance of that kind of right ex if we’re trying to get that trajectory in

There you know that’s that’s what that club’s designed to do correct so for today’s purposes we’re going to hit just a few full Swings with each of these and sort of maybe kind of dial in the the trackman numbers on those full swings because my I guess hypothesis is that

The clubs that are larger or more distance oriented are going to be maybe further or maybe launch higher but they might also be a little bit of a bigger dispersion Circle a little bit more unpredictable distinctly possible and then uh meanwhile the Voki here which is

A traditional wedge um will be a little bit more consistent but that’s mostly just a theory based on what I know about the clubs so I think the next part is that we got to find out what happens absolutely all right so Mr craft we’re starting with the most forgiving Club at

Least we think we it should be the most forgiving Club she big the stealth HD I believe that’s at uh 49 degrees 49 degrees 49 degrees um I imagine you see kind of a a lot there uh at a dress yeah there’s there’s a lot down there yeah

It’s this is designed as a very forgiving golf club and it has the size to give you that that sense of yeah security MH yeah all right very high well honestly for for a gap wedge that did go pretty high yeah yeah that first one Might Have Been Just a

Touch heavy okay I kind of thought So based on the spin but we can one of those top of the face ones I mean you are relatively consistent on the distance with this thing so far yeah that’s good is that is that my standard issue push to the right yeah just just slightly

Push to the right is one way to describe that I describe it as a slight slight slight Miss to yeah but okay um how’ that I mean that we can kind of go through it but the feel of that thing obviously it feels more like a you improving iron I imagine felt pretty

Good yeah like I I was a little surprised I mean it felt better than it looks uh definitely has a unique look to it this is we’re talking about yeah it’s not my shape of choice for sure for for a wedge but um you know sits down it’s

Pretty easy to square I love the the white line on the bottom helps with with that getting that face angle just right and I mean felt pretty good overall yeah so we’ve got our our shots up here I know this first one was the one we

Thought was maybe a little bit of a m hit we can remove yeah that was really the only one that was out of out of bounds other what I’m noticing here and I I I feel like the big thing is going to I mean I mean you these are pretty

Darn good consistent carry numbers right yeah um I do think as we go down knowing how well you hit the club um these spin numbers are going to get a lot tighter in and I guess the the the variation or the deviation could very well very well

I think 423 it’s a good number but I think you’re going to get a lot better as we go down the line yeah so but um I mean a good I mean a good start I mean you’re you’re swinging the club obviously very well here so I’ve been swinging all day so it’s

About time I’m hitting it good that’s a fair point so now we got the Muno jpx 921 and um this is where you sort of get to some of these brands that do sort of build the Gap wedges with the set kind of more like wedges like there’s still

Obviously look at the back of the club you see the forgiving elements you see the cavity in there similar to the entire set of the hot metal irons um I know on the face they have the Quad Cut grooves like all of their wedges so there’s a combination of wedge

Technology and and game approvement iron technology here I like I like it when company dedicate a little more effort and design time to their wedges CU there’s a lot of people out there that just play everything with a straight face and a set wedge can be absolutely perfect right

But you know you get that shot where you’ve got 30 yards and you got a bunker between you and the the pin guess what probably want to open that club up try to get try to get a little more Loft in there try to send it up nice and high

And soft so uh having some some grind having some dedicated M grooves anything that makes it play in a more versatile way yeah I’m all for yeah yeah the uh I think this is going to be interesting now because Loft I believe on this one’s

Also 49 believe that is correct the N so should be the same Loft as the stealth HD so um I’m I’m predicting that spin rate will be more more consistent more consistent yes all right a peeled that one a little bit left a yeah one more here then okay okay okay

So I’m going to do it I’m going to go right to the spin okay so we got our dispersion there um which is a you prob take you take the one pulley guy out it seems larger 16 ft right or left it’s not that bad picking

Here but so even with though I should say even with this one that you didn’t swing as well you kind of pull I don’t want to say pull hooked it with a wedge it wasn’t a pull hook but hope it wasn’t a pull hook it was a draw with with the

Rest of them you’ve been hitting them pretty straight but your consistency Factor was was much you know better yeah and we take this one out here and it gets you know we get that deviation number under 100 so Drew hold with the win right there I yeah yeah winner winner chicken

Dinner so um I I I think we’re going to see that Trend even continue further um I don’t think it’s GNA get tighter than 97 I think it could I think it could bold statements we’re we’re getting into more clubs now built like a traditional wedge so um I mean with because we’re

Not that concerned at this point with the distance right like distance you hit it further that’s I mean with the the hot metal that it did launch a little bit lower which the more traditional wedge will probably launch a little bit lower as we go here um cuz these those

Clubs that are more built for the control and able to knock it down if you need to type of thing so um yeah this is kind of delivered exactly what I what I thought it would at least for the first two clubs yeah so next one is the

Cleveland cbx ZIP core so as we talked about a traditional wedge with some more foress extrating a cavity in there so similar to the club you just hit yeah designed specifically for those who are playing cavity back irons yeah right keep that forgiveness going all the way

Through I personally I love the zip cores uh it’s got a good wide sole but it’s got nice relief across the back so you can you can open that face without the the Leading Edge just popping straight up um they’re nice and forgiving I like the look of a little

Bit bigger wedge yeah when it’s in the right shape um and these are I think the these are great yeah yeah so we should note this one is 50° so yes should see I would imagine it’s going to go not quite as far few yards maybe a little bit more spin we’ll

See that’s more better there you go okay curious because this club is definitely spinning at a lower rate than the last couple that one was just a touch thin spin rate came up let’s do one more it’s about as good as I can hit a wedge right there I

Think yeah turned it just a little bit but okay so here we had the one there at the end that you kind of hit thin you said so we’ll take that out and you I you were right in the sense that the spin consistency did not get

Under 100 again beating beating 97 in consistency with spin is it’s a lot order it’s I I agree um but it’s much still much more consistent than the stealth HD um I mean these dispersion circles are very very small too I also think it’s a little bit funny that none

Of them are really over at all kind of have their own place out there I have no idea what the LIE angles are on these so that could have a lot to do with it that could that could I’m very Li angle sensitive um so yeah I mean I think we’re

Seeing I don’t want to say a trend yet I’m thinking the vogi will maybe confirm some things but it’s it’s a consistency and forgiveness decision I think for a player and then of course as we talked about at the beginning the way you use your gap wedge as well so absolutely um

Last one here is going to be just a Titus vogi sm9 it’s got the F grind 48° so should go a little further than these ones but okay cgl apparently didn’t like this wedge yeah that there is a custom samping on this one this is these were

All by the way from our used inventory here at second swing um in the minona store I love that you did me a solid with the steel Fiber One I know that’s what I did see that one I figured that one had to get in the test so this is this is

Good all right the things you find in the used inventory at second swing yeah there’s there’s treasure in these Hills you just got to just got to find it yep all right there’s about seven times this that are actually a lot more than that in our in our warehouse DC

Goodness boy that felt good yeah oh my look at that I do I do rather love the feel of this shaft I have to say okay terms of feel you can you tell the difference in the feel between this and the other clubs a little bit I mean it’s

Not it’s not huge it’s definitely not huge this feels feels more like a forged Club yeah though it’s cast yeah right but that might go into the shape of the club too good yes for sure one more here okay so now we’ve got the sm9

Shots let’s see here got this guy we can move and then our uh we got our dispersion Circle I got to bring up to which again no overlapping you know taking place here um but these are pretty good wedge dispersions right here yeah I’m I everything’s inside the 15

Foot Zone yeah you’re you’re we’re talking about a gap wedge we’re not talking about a lob wedge so right I’m I’m perfectly happy with 15 ft with a oh with a gap wedge I mean like I’d like better but I’m okay with 15 yeah so uh

Clear I mean the sm9 going the first is not a a surprise given that it is the strongest lofted um again I think we we have some this may have been just this hot M just may have been you putting some really really good swings on the

Club to see how that spin was so consistent I mean we’re talking we’re talking about 88 29 89 81 90 1890 96 pretty good yeah pretty good yeah um but I guess is there anything else here Kevin you see from this test here because we’ve we’ve kind of given the piece on the

Construction of the clubs I know you know hitting the shots here with a full swing is only kind of part of the whole discussion right there’s there’s a bunch of nuance to this so you know height-wise very similar yep Landing angles great on all of them there’s no issues there um distance-wise

You know the stealth HD a little lower could have been by virtue of the shaft yeah this was going to be the heaviest of the group mhm um even though shaft was a little tiny bit lighter than it was on the cbx Vogies are known for a little more weight yeah

There’s a lot of people that swing heavier a little faster so um it could also be slightly longer being a 48 over a 50 but don’t know for sure um but spin’s not really an issue uh with any of these you know even the cbx at 8,000

Was producing a 50 5 2.8 degree landing angle really nothing wrong with that right so um how you’re going to use these wedges around the greens how you play them out of the fairways uh that’s all consideration and what you like looking at yeah um I think

I think I think what this shows is if you’re if you are a player that is using your gap wedge for full swings only yes I think what we’re seeing is it won’t make a humongous difference whether you go with your iron set or whether you go

With a specialty wedge and if it is a costing for you maybe you choose the cheaper option of them which most cases is the set the gap wedge with the set just adding one more Club there umang some of the yeah that’s true it really is some of these new wedges um or

New iron sets are getting expensive by the piece but um but like we mentioned it’s there are some pieces uh you know the more game improvement Club CLS might have some more variation on those full swings but they also going to have some more forgiveness and launch properties

That if you need those you might want those for those shots so um I think that’s what we discovered today yeah so uh not a ton of findings but I think enough that I think a lot of people are going to have questions answered here yeah I think you’re going to find that

The the player that wants a game improvement Club may definitely benefit from either going with The Gap the set gap wedge or something like the CVX M um the you know the little better player that’s really trying to dial in those wedges yeah um going with a a set wedge

That’s designed a little more like a wedge or you know your aftermarket wedge everybody has an aftermarket wedge so and there’s so many good ones out there I love them all yeah they’re all awesome right I just can’t play them all at the same time uh that’s going to be what

They’re going to go after but yeah it was this was good yeah yeah some good shots no losers in this group I mean Spurs circles say it all there’s a lot of consistency to be had regardless of what you choose so Mr Kevin CRA thank you for hitting those wonderful shots

And G the Insight today uh golfers go get fit at second swing make sure your wedges whether it’s a a wedge set with your iron set or um your traditional wedges make sure they’re dialed in for your swing thank you for Watching