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The Ace Series: Your complete, in-depth guide to golf wedges

How much do you know about golf wedges, how they’re made, what their history is, or which one to use when? Your golf wedge (or wedges) are an essential part of your golf club set, and with four types to choose from, picking the right wedge to suit not only your game but also the course you’re playing on can be confusing. Fear not, as our Ace Series this month is dedicated to everything you need to know about the golf wedge.

(Our Ace Series covers every club from drivers through to utilities, fairways and irons, so make sure you check the whole lot out!).

Wedges: the absolute basics

Let’s start right at the beginning and explain what the purpose of a golf wedge is. In a nutshell, your wedge is used for shorter shots where accuracy is important (more so than distance). Whereas, when teeing off, you’d prioritise distance over accuracy (to an extent at least), further into your shot it becomes all about precision to get you as close to the hole as possible. But, given that golf courses are full of hazards like bunkers and water features, you’ll need a different wedge for different scenarios, which is why there are a few types to choose from.

Shots where you could use a wedge include pitch shots, approach shots, chip shots, lob shots and bunker shots, and there are different types of wedges available depending on their loft height, which is measured in degrees.

Learn more about loft and lie.

Wedges are typically used as ‘scoring clubs’, with a focus on accuracy and distance control. That means they come out of the bag when you are less than around 100 yards from the green or the flag. A professional golfer will assess a yardage chart (and/or take advice from their caddy) before deciding on which wedge to use. Let’s get to know the wedge family to see what’s what.

Types of golf wedge

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However, it’s important to know that not all golf brands subscribe to this school of wedge naming. Specialist wedge brands like Cleveland and Titleist Vokey identify each wedge simply by the amount of loft on the face (so you might hear a golfer talking about a 46-degree wedge, as opposed to a pitching wedge). In these cases, the wedge range will go up in two-degree lofted increments, starting as low as 46 degrees and going all the way up to 64 degrees. More advanced golfers will always pay more attention to the degree of loft than they will to the ‘name’ of the wedge when they are making their selection.

As you can see from this diagram, the lob wedge has the highest loft and therefore offers the most height, and the pitching wedge with the lowest degree of loft covers the most distance.

Height vs distance when it comes to the four different wedge types

The evolution of the golf wedge

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Part of the iron family of golf clubs, specialist wedges came into existence around the mid-1990s, and the reason for this is that golf course design was evolving, especially in North America. A lot of newer courses were being designed with more undulation and more sophisticated agronomy and architecture, with steeper sand traps and bunkers. It was becoming more important to hit the ball higher so that it stopped more quickly when it hit the green. And using varying degrees of loft was the way to do it.

Before then, as a golfer your wedges were simply part of your overall golf iron set configuration (e.g., 3 ,4 ,5, 6, 7, 8, 9, PW, SW). And prior to that, a wedge was called a ‘jigger’ as you can see from the diagram below!

An iron set will tend to have a sand wedge (SW) with 56 degrees of loft and a pitching wedge (PW) with 46 degrees of loft. But with this golf course evolution, it became apparent that a more specialist approach to wedge play was necessary. A higher loft (a lob wedge is closer to 60 degrees) would be useful to get more height and more spin, and therefore stop the ball more quickly on the green. These days it’s common to see most brands offering a wedge with as much as 64 degrees of loft.

Demand for a gap wedge came about quite literally to fill the gap between the sand wedge and the pitching wedge. Typically, the increment in loft in an iron set is around 4 degrees. Also typically, the increment in length is about half an inch. When you combine loft and length (the two variables that dictate distance), that equates to around 12-15 yards. The gap between pitching wedge (46 degrees) and sand wedge (56 degrees) is significantly large. That means that when you’re close enough to the green, the pitching wedge will hit the ball too far, and the sand wedge won’t hit it far enough. So a gap wedge with 48-52 degrees of loft quite literally plugs the gap.

How many wedges should I carry?

In theory, as long as you have 14 clubs in your golf bag you can carry as many wedges as you want. It’s not uncommon for the game’s elite players to carry up to four wedges. As we mentioned earlier, a pro golfer would typically focus on loft, rather than the ‘name’ of the wedge, opting for the shortest shafts with the most loft, and they would likely choose a 46, 50, 54 and 58 wedge (going up in 4-degree increments). Or, they might select a 48, 52, 56, 60 (PW, GW, SW, LW) set-up, again using 4-degree increments.

Golf wedge technique

Golf wedge technique focuses primarily on accuracy and distance control, and it’s worth practising your technique for whenever you need a chipping shot or pitching shot, as well as a bunker or sand shot (it’s fairly common to find bunkers or sand traps around the green and close to the hole).

We’ve talked about accuracy, distance control and loft, but there is one critical consideration of wedge play that many golfers overlook, and that is bounce.

What is bounce?

Take a good look at a golf club and put the sole on the ground. Measure the angle between the ground line and the plain of the clubface. That measurement is the angle of loft on the club face.

But when you put the sole of the club on the ground, it doesn’t sit flush. There is an angle that is created between the trailing edge of the sole and the leading edge of the sole. That angle can be 14 degrees at the extreme end, and 4 degrees at the lower end. This is the angle of bounce.

Simply put, a higher angle of bounce means that the leading edge of the sole sits more off the groundline. A lower angle of bounce means it sits closer to the ground line.
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How do I decide whether to play with a low-bounce or high-bounce wedge?

Deciding whether to use more or less bounce depends on the turf or ground conditions that you’re playing in - firm or soft.

If it’s a bunker or a sand shot, the ground you’re playing off will be soft. You won’t want the leading edge of the sole to dig into the sand, so you’d benefit from using a wedge with more bounce. Additionally, if you’re playing in wet conditions, again not wanting the leading edge to dig in, a wedge with more bounce will be helpful. For example, at the Masters, which is played every April at Augusta, there is lots of thick grass and rough. These conditions lend themselves to wedges with more bounce.

Conversely, if you’re playing in really firm conditions, the grass is very short, or you’ve even found your ball has come to rest on a piece of tarmac, you’ll need less bounce to get the ball into the air. For example, at the British Open which is played on links turf, the ground is non-arable and typically dry with not a lot of grass on the fairways, so golfers will opt for low-bounce wedges.

How is bounce measured?

Bounce is mainly a consideration for advanced players, but at golfclubs4cash we still advocate for considering bounce, not just loft, regardless of your playing ability. The bounce of a golf wedge will usually be indicated by ‘low/mid/high’ bounce, but some brands are more specific and will give a bounce measurement, e.g. 4 degrees. You can search by bounce and loft, along with a number of other options, on the golfclubs4cash online golf club store.

Select the ‘bounce’ filter to search golf wedges by bounce.

Choosing a wedge as a beginner

If you’re a novice golfer, we always recommend keeping things as simple as possible. You’ll only need two wedges, whether they are part of an iron set (PW and SW), or two specialist wedges that are identified by loft rather than name

Technical considerations of the golf wedge

As with all golf clubs, there are various things to bear in mind when you’re choosing the best second-hand golf wedge for you, and we’ll run you through the key considerations here.

Wedge shafts

Most wedges are made of graphite and steel, and are supplied with a steel shaft for men. Ladies’ wedges tend to have graphite shafts because slower swing speeds require lighter shaft options.

Shaft length tends to be fairly standard, and although custom fitting is an option if you’re looking for something in particular and you’re buying new, it’s not an option for pre-owned golf equipment from golfclubs4cash.

Shop for replacement wedge shafts today

Wedge grips

Just like every other golf club, there is a standard golf club grip size, but you can customise your wedge grips depending on your needs. At golfclubs4cash we now have a button on every product page where you can change to a custom grip to suit you.

Wedge finish

Quite often wedges are available in multiple finishes. The three typical finishes have little (if no) effect on performance, but it’s useful to know the difference even so:

  • Traditional satin or chrome - with a brushed stainless steel that allows the look of the wedge to match irons and therefore seem more unified in appearance.
  • Black or darker finish - the name of this changes depending on the brand; Cleveland calls it Black Satin, Mizuno calls it Black Nickel etc. This finish is often preferred by golfers playing in sunnier climates because the black finish reduces glare and reflection. A black wedge also helps frame the ball optically a little better when playing with a white ball.
  • Raw/rusty/unfinished - these wedges are made available to tour pros by brands. It costs more money to plate the wedge with a finish, so brands give them ‘unfinished’ to pros to save costs (a pro will go through a lot of wedges). Because they are unplated, they are exposed to the elements and start to rust, and golf brands say that rusty wedges create more friction between the ball and the club face to give more spin and control. This rusty appearance has become aspirational over time.

How much should I spend on a second-hand golf wedge?

At golfclubs4cash we pride ourselves on having a second-hand wedge to suit every budget. Our second-hand wedges start from as little as £19.99, going through to £100s. An average selling price for a preowned wedge on our site would be around £50.

Find a used wedge for under £50
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Who is a golfer that’s famous for their choice of wedge?

A pro golfer that immediately comes to mind when thinking about golf wedges is famous left-hander Phil Mickelson. He’s renowned for being one of the world’s best short-game players (even now as a veteran), and has been known over the years to carry a 64-degree wedge (which is an extremely lofted lob wedge). Regarded as one of, if not the best lob shot player in the world, he does a trick shot where he asks a celebrity to stand in front of him 3 or 4 yards away, and then he’ll pull out his lob wedge and hit a ball over their head. This is a) pretty risky and b) requires skill, confidence and the right equipment. So don’t try it at home, kids!

Which wedges are bestsellers at golfclubs4cash?

The most popular wedges always tend to be from the specialist brands where we see a lot of brand affinity. This is likely due to the brand legacy and heritage, and also because they’re widely played by the professionals so there is lots of brand advocacy there. The Titleist Vokey 8, 9 and 10 are enduringly sought after, as are Callaway Jaws (e.g. the Jaws 5), Cleveland’s RTX 4, 5 or 6. PING’s Glide Wedge range is also in high demand, along with TaylorMade’s milled grind wedge range.

More resources

Cleveland Golf’s wedge selector is a highly notable tool for finding the best wedge for you. And then of course you can head over to golfclubs4cash and buy the model you’re best suited to for a fraction of the price of new!

If you’ve still got questions and you’re not sure which wedge is right for you, you’ll find our buyers’ guide to wedges useful. Or, get in touch and we’ll be happy to advise you further.

Grab a bargain used wedge today

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