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You’ve all heard the expression, “Drive for show, and chip for dough,” right? Well, OK, that’s not really the way the saying actually goes, but perhaps it should. It’s pretty hard to argue with the facts: in a round of golf, up to 60 - 65% of your shots are made within 100 yards of the hole. And, other than the ones hit on the green with the flat stick, it is likely that every one of those short shots is hit with a wedge of one kind or another.
Whether we use a pitching wedge, a gap wedge, a sand wedge, or a lob wedge, these are the clubs that we need to rely on to get us close to the hole from short distances and to eliminate wasted shots as we approach the green. So, therefore, if so much is riding on these particular clubs, it stands to reason that you should make sure you are going into battle armed with the wedges best suited to your individual swing.
Our goal with this article is to help you understand the important and unique attributes of the wedge, and to help you as you go on your search for the best golf wedges you can buy.
As mentioned above, there are four different types of wedges. The selection of which of these four you would use for a given shot is dependent upon your distance from the hole, the condition of your lie, and the kind of shot you are trying to hit. Let’s briefly review each of these wedge types:
The Pitching Wedge is the shortest and most lofted club that comes standard in a full set of golf clubs. The PW is generally used for one of two purposes, either for a full-swing approach shot to the green, or for a running chip shot near the green.
Based on the manufacturer, PW’s usually have between 45 - 48 degrees of loft. With a full swing, a PW shot will travel on a higher trajectory than with all of your other irons and will go, on average, about 10 - 15 yards shorter than your 9-iron.
Before the Gap Wedge was introduced, most players had a rather large space between the loft of their Pitching Wedge and the next highest lofted club that they carried in their bag, the Sand Wedge. If their PW, for example, had 48 degrees of loft, and their Sand Wedge had 56 degrees, that left a large gap of 8 degrees of loft between those clubs.
If a particular shot called for a distance that fell somewhere in between these two clubs, the player had to “manufacture” a less-than-full-swing shot using the PW.
The Gap Wedge was eventually developed, as its name suggests, to fill that “gap” between your Pitching Wedge and your Sand Wedge. Gap Wedges typically have between 50 - 54 degrees of loft.
The Sand Wedge has been around since the 1930’s and, historically, has been the club golfers used most often when hitting short shots around the green or in a sand trap.
The reason for the popularity of the Sand Wedge for these shots is the incorporation of several distinctive features, such as “bounce,” that we’ll briefly discuss momentarily. Sand Wedge lofts typically run between 54 - 58 degrees of loft.
The Lob Wedge is the most lofted club available, and is a relatively recent introduction, compared to the venerable Sand Wedge.
Lob Wedges are usually employed around the green when very high trajectories are needed. Lob Wedges have lofts of anywhere from 59 - 64 degrees.
Well, technically, no. However, most golfers will benefit from having all four in their bag. The reason for this lies in a term called “gapping.”
If you were to analyze the other (non-wedge) irons in your set, you would learn that the loft separation between each iron is generally about 4 - 5 degrees.
So, for instance, your 5-iron will have approximately 28 degrees of loft and your 6-iron will have about 32 degrees. The various iron degrees of loft are not official or mandated in any way, but have come into common use over time. This explains why the lofts of the same irons from different manufacturers may vary slightly. This between-club separation remains consistent through your entire set, insuring that you will have the right club for any length of shot that you might face.
The exact same philosophy now applies to your wedges.
It is vitally important to have precise wedge gapping, so that you eliminate any large separations between the lofts of the different wedges. You wouldn’t want one wedge in your bag to be able to fly the ball 80 yards, while the next wedge in your bag maxes out at 60 yards. That leaves a 20-yard gap that can invite an unreliable too-hard swing with one wedge, or a slowed-down swing with the other. Unless you practice these types of shots a lot, full swings with the appropriate club are usually much more dependable.
To pick your wedge set, start with the loft of the pitching wedge that you already have. This loft varies depending on the manufacturer of your clubs, but for example, let’s say that the pitching wedge in your current set has 48 degrees of loft. Your goal would be to then fill out your set with wedges having 4 - 5 degree separations between them.
Your resulting wedge complement might then look like this: a pitching wedge with 48 degrees, a gap wedge with 52 degrees, a sand wedge with 56 degrees, and a lob wedge with 60 degrees.
By doing this, you have eliminated any unwanted distance gaps and have gained the ability to consistently hit full-swing short distance shots with quantifiable yardage differences of about 10 yards between clubs.
As with most of the other clubs in your set, wedges have been designed with some unique features that enhance their playability. One such feature is known as “bounce.”
What is bounce?
The bounce on a wedge is the protruding bulge or curve on the bottom, or sole, of the club head.
This bulge effectively creates a design feature in which the leading edge of the club is actually raised off the ground slightly. The angle measured from the bottom of this bulge up to the leading edge is referred to as the bounce angle.
The purpose of having bounce on a sand wedge is to enable the club head to skim through the sand on a bunker shot without having the leading edge dig into the sand behind the ball.
As an analogy, think of the difference between skimming a spoon off of a small, rounded pile of sugar versus using a knife. Compare how the rounded bottom of the spoon will help it to easily “bounce” off of the sugar, while the knife’s sharper edge will cause it to dig into the sugar. Bounce is an important aid to golfers in executing successful sand shots.
Similarly, in hitting shots off of the turf with a sand wedge, added bounce could help if you are a player that routinely takes a substantial divot with your wedges.
By adding additional bounce angle to your wedge, steep swingers can lessen or eliminate the amount of turf taken out on their divots. Conversely, by opting for less of a bounce angle on their wedge, players who have a shallower angle of attack will be able to more easily deliver the leading edge of the wedge underneath the golf ball.
*Rule of thumb: steep angle of attack = more bounce; shallower angle of attack = less bounce.
Now that you are equipped with a little knowledge about the different types of wedges and some of the important wedge features, the next step is searching for the ones that will give you the biggest advantage.
We have reviewed all of models currently available, and have determined that the following four represent the best wedges you can buy. Options are available with all of these models, including a choice of loft, sole grind, exterior finish and, in some cases, even the shaft:
Titleist Vokey wedges have dominated the PGA Tour for many years. It looks like that dominance will continue with the SM7. Its predecessor model, the SM6, was one of Titleist’s best-ever wedges. The SM7 is even better.
They have made slight design changes that improve its playability. There is a massive selection of available options, with lofts ranging from 46 – 62 degrees, coupled with several different bounce angles.
The SM7’s “spin milled grooves” provide great stopping power with its enhanced spin control, and they have varied the location of the center of gravity based on which loft you choose.
With this wedge, you can hit virtually any type of shot. We highly recommend the Titleist Vokey SM7.
The Callaway Mack Daddy 4 was the beneficiary of a lot of PGA Tour input, resulting in modifications that impacted the shaping of the club, as well as its sole grind options.
The big story is something they call “Groove-in-Groove” technology. This consists of 3 raised micro-ridges, with micro-grooves between the ridges. What does this give you? Incredible Tour-caliber spin. There is also a tremendous selection of loft-bounce combinations, with the lofts ranging from 46 degrees to 64 degrees.
The Cleveland CBX has a somewhat revolutionary design for a modern wedge. As Cleveland explains, most people play irons that are cavity-back in design because they are more forgiving and easier to hit. And yet, if you look at the wedges they buy, they are usually a pure blade style in design.
The CBX wedge was designed to eliminate this disconnect by incorporating a cavity back design, offering a similar promise of forgiveness and ease of use. It doesn’t lack for any of the other important playability features we’ve talked about, with numerous loft, bounce, and shaft options available.
The TaylorMade Milled Grind family of wedges are unique from other wedges we are reviewing based upon their use of advanced surface milling techniques to insure exacting face, sole and leading edge characteristics.
The result is a wonderfully soft feel at impact, a new and improved groove configuration, and optimal turf interaction. Like the others, there is a wide variety of loft options (48 degrees – 60 degrees), and several finishes that you can choose from.
Considering the number of times you hit a wedge during the course of a round, it is advisable that you make an investment into this critically important part of your game. New technologies and optional configurations are available to add an element to your game that you may not now have.
The four wedges profiled above are among the best golf wedges available on the market. They are all excellent clubs that will allow you to shoot lower scores.
