Find Out How To Pick the Best Golf Wedge for You

How good would you say your wedge game is?

Statistically, wedge play is an area many amateurs struggle with. To back this point up, a study was carried out several years ago measuring how far from the hole the ball would be on average from a 100-yard shot from the fairway.

The average for an 8-handicapper was 34 feet; for a 20-handicap golfer, it goes to 48 feet.

By comparison, the PGA Tour average for the 2024 season is 18 feet.

These stats tell us that dialling in our golf wedge play can create more opportunities to score better.

One way to create more opportunities is to have the right golf wedge set up in our golf bags.

If you are considering changing your wedges, our guide will help you make some key decisions by helping you understand:

• What Each Golf Wedge In The Bag Is
• Choosing The Correct Loft For Your Wedges
• What Does Bounce and Grind Mean?
• The Benefits Of A Golf Wedge Fitting

What Each Golf Wedge In The Bag Is

Golf wedges are generally referred to collectively as the scoring clubs within your bag.

The term comes from the fact that you generally use your wedges anywhere from 140 yards to around the greens. Hitting a wedge can set up a birdie putt on a short par four or long par five.

Wedges can also save you shots. If you have hit an errant tee shot, you might want to consider playing your following shot to a good wedge distance to allow yourself the chance to hit it close and save par.

A good short game can also help you save shots by chipping or playing a bunker shot that leaves you with a short putt for your next shot.

We can already see the versatility we need with our golf wedges and how these clubs can create or maintain momentum during a round of golf.

When we are talking about wedges, we are referring to four golf clubs in particular within our golf bags:

• Pitching Wedge
• Gap Wedge
• Sand Wedge
• Lob Wedge

Pitching Wedge

Generally considered to have between 43 and 48 degrees of loft. If you look at extreme game improvement clubs, the pitching wedge might even have a stronger loft than 43 degrees.

Golfers have the choice of opting for a pitching wedge that is part of their existing golf iron set or a specialised pitching wedge.

Going with the specialised pitching wedge can create better spin and a better trajectory, but golfers need to be wary of how different the feel and looks of a specialist wedge can be compared to the rest of their iron set.

Gap Wedge

As the name might suggest, gap wedges cover the gap between pitching wedges and sand wedges. Gap wedges have come more into play due to lofts getting much stronger in pitching wedges in recent years. Expect a gap wedge to have between 49 and 53 degrees of loft.

Sand Wedge

Contrary to the name, the sand wedge isn’t exclusively for use out of the bunkers. Sand wedges are among the most versatile wedges in your bag, as they can be used for full approach shots, chipping and pitching around the green, and bunker play.

Sand wedge lofts are generally within the range of 54 to 56 degrees.

Lob Wedge

The lob wedge is a reasonably new innovation, created partly to deal with the ever-quicker greens professionals encounter on tour and the need to create more control. It has the most loft, generally between 57 and 60 degrees.

The lob wedge is ideal for delicate shots around the green and escaping bunkers. Still, it can be used for full approach shots into a green, where the added loft offers a higher trajectory and a softer landing compared to other wedges.

Choosing The Correct Loft For Your Wedges

With the ability to carry up to four golf wedges in our bag, getting the loft gapping right between each wedge is essential to creating a consistent wedge game.

Wedge expert Bob Vokey believes that the ideal loft gapping between each wedge should be 4 to 6 degrees, which creates a 10-15 yard gap between each wedge.

Distance gapping is vitally important to a consistent wedge game. Let’s take an example where you are faced with 115 yards into the green. The conditions are flat and calm, and you are in the fairway. Your pitching wedge goes 125 yards, and your sand wedge goes 100 yards. You can hit a softer pitching wedge, which will have less spin, or smash your sand iron, which will create more spin. In both scenarios, you compromise the strike quality and trajectory control, making getting the ball close to the hole harder.

This is a situation where having a gap wedge in your bag makes perfect sense, as the typical loft on a gap wedge means you can cover the required 115 yards with a normal swing.

We’ve already touched on the idea that lofts on pitching wedges have gotten stronger over time, and we see this, particularly in more of the game improvement iron sets where gaining more distance is a key selling point for these golf clubs.

Getting the distance gaps right is best identified through the custom fitting process, which we’ll cover in more detail shortly.

Understanding loft is just one critical element of golf wedges. Understanding what bounce and grind are on wedges will also help us choose the right wedges for our game.

What Does Bounce and Grind Mean?

Using Bob Vokey as our point of reference again, he defines bounce as the angle created between the leading and trail edge and the area on the sole that hits through the ground at contact with the ball.

The greater the angle, the more bounce is on the wedge.

Wedges that have been 4 to 6 degrees are deemed to be low-bounce wedges. Medium-bounce wedges will have between 7 and 10 degrees, and high-bounce wedges will have between 10 and 14 degrees.

Choosing the correct type of bounce for your wedges usually comes down to two critical elements:

• Style of Golf Course You Play
• Your Angle of Attack Into The Ball

Style of Golf Course You Play

If you play most of your golf on links-style courses where the ground can be hard and the golf ball sits tight on the turf, opting for a golf wedge with lower bounce can help you make cleaner contact and nip the ball effectively off the ground.

Playing on more parkland-style courses that are softer underfoot and with denser rough, players are likely to favour golf wedges with more bounce as they will likely glide through the turf more effectively.

Higher bounce wedges are also likely to be better when playing sand shots, where the leading edge is less likely to dig into the sand.

Your Angle of Attack Into The Ball

When we consider their angle of attack, golfers tend to fall into two brackets. Some bring the golf club into the ball at a steep angle, which can produce impressive divots on the course.

Other golfers have shallower angles of attack and will create hardly any divot after contact with the ball.

For golfers with a steep angle of attack, wedges with less bounce could be problematic as the leading edge of a low-bounce wedge would dig more into the ground.

Golfers with a shallower angle of attack could potentially be better suited to lower bounce wedges.

The benefit of having the right bounce in your golf wedge is better and more consistent ball striking.

Grinds

Grinds also relate to how effectively the wedge’s sole travels through the ground and refers to the manipulation or removal of material from the wedge’s sole.

Choosing the correct grind also comes down to the types of courses you play and your swing characteristics. But grind is also dictated by the kind of shots you like to play, especially around the greens.

You might like to play a lot of pitch and chip shots with the face more open, presenting more loft, which means the ideal grind for you might be one where material is removed from the heel and toe areas, allowing the face to be opened more easily.

If you prefer using the wedge’s loft and keeping the face more square on your shots, a wedge with material removed from the trailing edge could be effective.

If you look at the range of golf wedges from the likes of Vokey, Cleveland, TaylorMade, or Mizuno as examples, they will have a variety of bounces and grinds for each loft option, which, on the surface, could make choosing the correct set of wedges difficult. However, if you are custom-fitted for your wedges, you will have the correct loft, bounce, and grind for your needs.

The Benefits Of A Golf Wedge Fitting

Choosing the correct wedges for your game is a valuable investment in your ability to score more effectively on the golf course.

If you are committed to purchasing new golf wedges, your best route to success is via custom fitting.

During a custom fitting session, it is important to get some baseline numbers to understand how far you hit each of your existing wedges. This can be useful for determining any distance gaps we need to address.

Using launch monitor technology like GC Quad, we can also understand how you deliver the clubhead into the ball. For wedges, we look to see if you have a steep or shallow angle of attack into the ball, which is helpful for understanding the type of bounce and grind that would best suit your swing.

The fitting isn’t solely based on launch monitor technology; an experienced fitter will also ask you questions about your game to help them understand how you approach certain shots and where you feel you have any weaknesses.

The marriage of the data from the launch monitor and the feedback you provide will allow the fitter to start to make recommendations to improve your wedge game.

Ultimately, the recommendations are designed to offer four key improvements in your wedge game:

• Give you consistent distance gapping in your wedges
• Improve ball striking through the correct bounce and grind
• Give you flexibility to play the shots you like to play
• Increase your confidence and scoring opportunities on the course

Having agreed upon the ideal wedge makeup, you can then explore the many personalisation options available to you. Manufacturers will offer a variety of finishes, such as Vokey’s chrome or nickel finishes. If you are looking for something that stands out more in your golf bag, PXG, TaylorMade, and Callaway offer striking matt black finishes on some of their wedges.

Along with the difference in aesthetics, the varying finishes can provide different feels off the face, so understanding how the golf ball comes off the clubface is important feedback to share with the fitter.

Choosing the right shaft also plays an important role in the custom-fitting session. Shaft favourites such as True Temper, Project X, and KBS all offer specialised golf wedge shafts that promote enhanced spin characteristics and control trajectory while keeping shot dispersion tight in standard or black finish in the case of True Temper if you are looking for something a little different.

If you are interested in taking the next step to improve your golf game, take the opportunity to book a custom wedge fitting session with one of our experienced fitters at Nine By Nine Golf. Being custom-fitted for your wedges will help you understand more about what you need for your game, which in turn will give you added confidence on the course.

You can also look at our full range of customisable wedge options on the Nine by Nine Golf Website. The many loft, shaft, and grip options allow you to build your ideal wedge setup.

If you have any other questions about building your ideal wedge setup or custom-fit golf clubs, please contact us. We’ll be happy to assist.