What Wedges Should You Play?

“What Wedges Should I Play?” It’s a simple question, but with so many wedges in golf shops — and things like loft, bounce, and sole grinds to consider — finding your ideal wedges can be confusing. Let me explain to you a simple method to real what wedges you should play and what wedges you might want to avoid.

00:00 What Wedges Should I Play?
00:21 Three or Four?
01:34 Iron Set Pitching Wedges?
02:03 Loft Gapping
02:41 Bounce and Bounce Angle
04:04 Sole Grinds
05:14 Rust: Here’s the Deal
05:45 The Decision Tree

what wedges should I play it sounds like
the easiest question in the world to
answer but with so many different wedges
out there on the market today for
manufacturers like Titleist and tailor
made ping and Callaway and Muno Wilson
from Cleveland all these different
options plus you have to consider all
the different things like Loft like
bounce like Soul grind configurations
like gapping how are you supposed to
figure out what wedges you should be
playing the first thing you need to do
before you decide exactly what wedges
you’re going to play is you need to be
really honest about what kind of player
you are if you a highly skilled player
then chances are good you were going be
looking at a four wedge system meaning a
pitching wedge a gap wedge a sand wedge
and a lob wedge if you’re the type of
player who wants to make sure that you
have lots of full Swings with your
wedges and with your scoring clubs you
don’t want to be between clubs whether
you’re from the Fairway or someplace
close to the green the more wedges you
have the more versatility you’re going
to have the more you’re probably looking
at a four- wedge system but if you were
somebody who struggles to shoot say
anywhere below 90 or 95 if you’re
somebody who has got a 20 handicap or
higher you should probably in a three
wedge system which means you’re going to
have a pitching wedge and a gap wedge
and a sand wedge you’re not in my
opinion going to be a candidate for a
lob wedge why is that lob wedges are
really hard to hit and more often than
not they can get you in trouble if
you’re not a skilled enough player to
use them a sand wedge which might have
54 to 56 degrees of loft is plenty of
Loft for players who are shooting in the
90s hundreds and above it’ll give you
all the Loft you need from the sand
around the green and such I highly
recommend you stay away from lav wedges
58° and 60° until you’re skilled enough
to really use them consistently the next
thing you need to decide is whether
you’re going to use the pitching wedge
that would come with your irons or if
you’re going to get a true pitching
wedge and not use the one that would
come with your iron this is going to be
a really important decision because the
lofs of the pitching wedges that often
come with modern iron sets can be very
different than what you might think and
for example this tailor made p790 has a
standard pitching wedge Loft that comes
at 45 degrees however many pitching
wedges that come standard with game
improvement and certainly Max game
improvement iron sets may have lost as
low as say 41 or 40° even so if I go
into my store and just take off the rack
a 52 degree Gap wch I could have a
massive Gap say 10 11 maybe even 12
degrees of Loft between the pitching
wedge that I’m going to be using and the
gap wedge you don’t want to have massive
gaps in The Loft between your scoring
clubs your shortest irons and your
wedges you want to be able to make full
swings whenever you can having a 10° Gap
Loft between your pitching wedge and
your gap wedge is a recipe for disaster
so if you’re going to be somebody who
wants to go with a true pitching wedge
then you need to take a look at your
nine iron find out exactly how much loft
your nine iron has and then make your
purchases accordingly when it comes to a
pitching wedge gap wedge and so on once
you know the number of wedges you’re
going to have in your bag and what the
Lofts of those wedges are going to be
the next thing you think about is Bounce
now a lot of people get confused when it
comes to bounce because bounce is
actually used to describe two different
things the first is the actual back
flange on the bottom of your wedge now
every iron and wedge in your bag is
going to have some bounce and is
measured in degrees
what you’re really measuring is the
bounce angle which unfortunately is
often referred to just simply as bounce
bounce angle is Created from taking a
look at where the lowest point is on the
bounce here and going up to the Leading
Edge now how abruptly or how much that
goes up determines the bounce angle a
high bounce wedge is going to have about
say 12 to 14 degrees of Bounce and
that’s going to make it really good in
sand and in thick rough because that
bounce is going to act almost like a
Rudder and keep the Leading Edge up so
the wedge isn’t going to dig into the
sand it’s going to be really helpful a
low bounce wedge might have say between
four and 6° of Bounce and that’s going
to be really good when you’re playing on
especially firm Turf link style golf
courses or in bunkers where there is
almost no sand or perhaps very very wet
sand because a high bounce wedge when it
hits firm Turf it actually might strike
it and bounce up Skip and that will
cause the Leading Edge to go into the
ball and you’re going to Blade it I
think for most recreational golfers it’s
a really good idea to have one high
bounce option and one low bounce option
in your set that way no matter where you
are on the golf course you’ll have an
option you can play the final thing to
think about when it comes to wedges is
going to be Soul grind and soul
configuration now when you’re talking
about pitching wedges and GAP wedges
those are going to have a relatively
straight so grind because again they’re
a continuation of your iron set you can
almost think about a pitching wedgees
being a 10 iron and a gap wedgees being
an 11 iron and back in the day many
different sets did come with for example
a 10 iron but once you get into The Sand
Wedge and the lob wedge and you’re going
to be opening up the faces to be able to
hit different shots having a little bit
of a different soul grind configuration
can really be helpful so what are some
things you want to look for wedges that
have a little bit of material ground out
of the heel section oftentimes make it
easier for players to play delicate
shots both from the bunker as well as
from the Fairway and the rough because
you can open up the face exposing more
of the Loft creating a higher amount of
Loft but still get the Leading Edge
underneath the golf ball if you at
Material we still in the heel it’s going
to elevate the Leading Edge and it’s
going to make it more difficult to hit a
high shot with a lot of Loft also by
taking out material in the toe section
it’s going to again add more versatility
exactly what kind of soulle grind and
soulle configuration you’re going to
need is going to vary on what shots you
play most often so at this point I want
to talk to you really quick about rust a
lot of players may be under the
impression that a rusty wedge will
create more friction and therefore more
spin that’s not the case there’s nothing
about rust that adds spin rust can make
wedges look really cool rust can help to
reduce glare on sunny days when you’re
both playing shots from the rough and
certainly from bunkers because that rust
will disperse the light but Rusty wedges
do not create more spin than standard
wedges if you’re looking for more spin
make sure you keep the grooves in your
wedges clean and make sure you replace
your sand wedges and your lob wedges
often so that the grooves stay sharp
look there’s no way for me to tell you
exactly what wedges you should have in
your bag through video I haven’t seen
your game I don’t know what golf courses
you’re going to be playing a good custom
fitter however should be able to help
you get into the right clubs when you’re
thinking about wedges broadly and you’re
trying to answer the question what
wedges should I play again think about
that decision tree how many wedges
should I be playing three or four what
should the loss of those wedges be once
I get that those questions answered then
I want to think about bounce and make
sure that I’ve got a high bounce and a
low bounce option or bounce options that
are appropriate for me and the region
where I’m playing then start thinking
about Soul grind when it gets into your
sand wedge and your lobed to increase
the amount of Versatility that you’ve
got around the greens do those things
and you’ll be able to answer the
question what wedges should I play