Wedge Fitting
So many choices in wedges. So many designs, So many lofts, So many bounce options.
Wedges are scoring tools just like your putter and your driver and they need to be fitted to your swing, your style and your ability to allow you to score better!
How do you use your wedges? How many wedges do you have? Just a pitching wedge and a sand wedge? Do you have a Gap wedge and a Lob Wedge too? For those with more than minimal wedges in your bag, are they simply your 10, 11, and 12 irons, or are they several distinctly different tools used for several distinctly different golf shots on the golf course?
I will look at your overall game and how you play wedge and more importantly how you should play wedges. Once I analyze your wedge game we can make a decision on what you need in your bag to improve your scoring on the golf course and go about fitting those tools for your game.
Most golfer will fall into a few categories based on how they swing at wedge shots. The basic categories are as described below but there are tweeners too, or golfers who are hybrids of more than one category.
Diggers: Tend to have a very steep angle of attack and take a deep divot. They usually need more bounce on their sole angles to help get the club head back out of the ground after impact. Diggers will usually hit the ball fat and the additional bounce also helps bounce the club into the ball.
Swingers: Most golfers might be swingers if anything. With an average angle of attack they tend to trap the ball between the clubface and ground. They leave a fairly shallow, even divot that is not very deep. Swingers usually need a modest or average bounce angle on their wedges. Drivers will tend to miss both thin and fat. Those golfers who are not swingers might be swing/diggers or swinger/sweepers.
Sweeper: A Sweeper will have a shallow angle of attack and take little to no divot, sweepers seem to pick the ball off the turf cleanly with almost no divot at all. Their swing typically requires a low bounce angle, which helps combat the thin miss-hit, but some prefer a little bounce to help keep the club from digging if they get too steep with a swing.
I fit wedges based on some questions about your wedge game based on the above swing types, or hybrids of the basic swing types, and the basic questions below. The purpose of my wedge fittings is to determine what clubs and what type of clubs you can put in your bag to help you save par and lower your score from 100 yards or less. The goal is to give you the scoring tools to allow you to get the ball up and down from inside 100 yards. Some wedge shots are approach shots to try and get you close enough for a birdie and some are when you miss the green and you are trying to salvage a par. Regardless, if you have the right tools fitted to your swing and game you have a much better chance of success.
How do you use your wedges?
- I use them as #10, #11, #12 iron just like and extension of my iron set. More loft as I get closer to the green.
- I use them as separate tools for different type lies and different shots, not as a set to extend my irons.
How do you hit your wedge shots?
- Big Divot and lots of earth
Medium divot with small piece of grass and a little earth
Scrape the grass but no divot leaves the ground
How do you hit your misses when you hit a bad shot?
- Fat or chunky
- thin or skull
- could be fat or skinny
How do you try to hit wedges when you hit them right?
- Deep divot with great downward strike
- Good smooth swing and modest divot
- Sweep the ball off the turf with little or no divot
What kind of course and grass do you play on?
- Lush, well watered and well manicured turf
- thin closely cut grass with tight lies and minimal watering
- A little of both of the above on my course
We will delve into this and more during you fitting if you want to get your wedges fitted.