Hi fellas,

I have a dilemma.

I hit my PW (45 degree in my set) about 100 metres consistently.

However, many of my approach shots end up being less than 100 metres, rather 80-90 metres. I have a 52 degree gap wedge which I feel that I have to hit very hard to get to 80/90 metres, very often falling short of the mark. On the other hand, the swing and shot often suffer for overcompensating power, and I skull the ball. Now, from this range, my confidence plummets when faced with this shot.

Would it be advisable to carry a 50 deg instead of a 52?

I’m no expert, but the gap between 45 my PW and 52 my current GW in 7 degrees is perhaps a little too great for what I need the GW for. I am really looking for a loft that I can hit from 80-90 metres with a full swing rather than trying to hit a weaker PW and stuff up my distance control completely .

Your thoughts would be much appreciated…........

I have the exact same problem as you my 52* just doesnt seem to be in the middle of my 48* and 56* in terms of length i would say i only hit it maybe 5m longer than my 56*, anyone got any ideas these are all matched clubs same brand, shaft etc.

Generally you may look to keep a 4 degree gap between clubs. 45-52 is too big of a gap without giving yourself a hernia.

Guru, would 50 degrees be a logical replacement for me, or would you bend the 50 to a 49?

Guru, would 50 degrees be a logical replacement for me, or would you bend the 50 to a 49?

Bending wedges for loft sometimes does not give you the results you are expecting.

Longnstraight, I had a similar problem to you a few years back. At that time my PW was flying 115-120 metres, but my 54* gap wedge was only carrying 90-95 metres. I was constantly finding myself in between these distances so I thought I would bend my 54 a little stronger.

I ended up bending all the way to 50* but still only hit the club 95-100 metres. The club was 4 degrees stronger yet I only hit it 5 metres further.

This puzzled me for a long time but I eventually worked out why. By reducing the loft by 4 degrees, I was also reducing the bounce angle by 4 degrees. But bounce angle shouldn’t effect distance – right? Wrong.

All lofted clubs produce a downward glancing contact with the ball. At impact the ball slides a little up the clubface. The more lofted the club, the more glancing the blow and the greater the backspin.

Now, all wedges have bounce angles (angle on the sole of the club). The bounce angle is there, in part, to stop the club digging into the ground. On softer gound especially, the bounce angle will cause the clubhead to slide under the ball rather than continue downwards into the ground. The reason wedges and the more lofted irons have greater bounce than the longer irons is that there is a more downward impact.

So, what was happening in my case was that, by reducing the bounce angle, my club was not sliding under the ball but continuing downward into the ground. This resulted in a more glancing contact than would have been the case with a 50* wedge with normal bounce.

The long and short of it is that bending wedges to stronger loft angles may not give the distance increases you are after. So bending a 50 degree wedge to 49 degrees will probably not have any real noticeable effect.

Mick

longnstraight. Bend your wedge & try it. If it doesn’t work demo a few others. rickbenson. Have you had your lofts checked? They may be out.