This is a topic that gets a lot of feedback from our readers. There is so much choice that it’s confusing. Which wedge do I get? How many wedges should I carry? What lofts should I get? What’s bounce? What are the different sole designs for?
Next to the putter, the wedge is the club that most golfers will use the most in a round of golf. Since most amateurs hit precious few greens in regulation, they will wind up using a wedge of some sort or other each time they miss a green. With room for just fourteen clubs in the bag, it can be tough deciding which ones to put in, and which ones to leave out.
This will probably come down to a choice between losing a wedge and adding a fairway wood to improve your chances of hitting more long par 4s and par 5s, or losing a fairway wood and adding a wedge, so you don’t have to hit as many awkward half and three-quarter shots from inside 120 yards.
Your set of irons already comes with a pitching wedge, which has a loft of 44 to 47 degrees. The most common method to determine which wedges you should be carrying is to figure out the loft of your pitching wedge and choose wedges with gaps of 4 to 5 degrees to fill out your bag.
The most important factor to consider is the design and shape of the sole of your wedges. This is vital because the sole design determines how the wedge interacts with the turf. Using the wrong wedge from a tight lie will often result on the ball being bladed across the green just as the wrong wedge played from a wet, spongy lie will result in chunking the ball.
Of vital importance is bounce. Bounce is defined as the angle created by the ground and the sole of the bottom of the club from the trailing edge to the leading edge. You’ll notice that if you place a wedge down in the playing position on top of a table that the leading edge is often a small distance above the table top. The higher it is off the surface, the more bounce the wedge has and the closer it is to the table, then the wedge has a low amount of bounce.
On your wedge, bounce performs exactly the way its name suggests—it makes the club bounce back up into the ball after contact with the ground. On wet, soft turf or in a bunker, bounce is indispensable. On tight lies, you need a wedge with less bounce; typically, less than 10 degrees. On soft turf or in bunkers, you need something on the order of 12 to 14 degrees to be effective. If you come into the ball at a steep angle and take deep divots, then you need wedges with more bounce. Conversely, if you have a shallow angle of attack and like to just brush the grass with the sole of the wedge, you can do with less bounce.
If you like to play short game shots with the clubface open, you’ll need a wedge with some relief in the heel of the clubhead. This will allow you to open the clubface without raising the leading edge of the clubface too much. This helps you get under the ball on a tight lie.
If you have difficulty hitting shots with anything less than a full swing, it will be advantageous to carry an extra wedge to enable you to hit the required distance. If this sums up your wedge play, the best way to achieve your ideal gaps between clubs is to get even loft gaps. In this four-wedge system, starting with your 45-degree pitching wedge, you can then add a gap wedge at 50 degrees, a sand wedge at 55 degrees and a lob wedge at 60 degrees, which should equate to 8 to 12-yard gaps for the average golfer.
The most common choice for club golfers, three wedges leaves you with room for two fairway woods, which is often more important for players who lack the distance tour professionals can muster.
If you do choose a three-wedge system, we recommend something along the lines of a pitching wedge at 46 degrees, a gap wedge at 52-degrees, and a lob wedge at 58 degrees, which gives you even 6-degree gaps between clubs, which should give you the versatility you need.
It might sound complicated but understanding what the requirements of your technique, your preferences and tendencies are and the type of surfaces you play on determines the number and types of wedges you need to have in your bag. Get this right and you’re going to save a lot of strokes during your round.