How Many Wedges Should You Carry?
In this video, Neil Tappin looks at some of the factors to consider when thinking about how many wedges you should carry. He goes through a series of factors that are well worth keeping in mind - especially if you don't want to get fitted for your wedges. He offers some basic rules of thumb and some insights into his own game which should help you understand this area of your own bag line-up that little bit better.
Transcript
00:00Hello everyone, Neil Tappan here from Golf Monthly, and welcome to the London Club.
00:03In this video, looking at how many wedges different types of golfer should carry.
00:09It's all part of the big kind of puzzle that every golfer needs to work out.
00:13So how many fairway woods, hybrids, utility irons do you carry at the top end of the bag?
00:18And then how many wedges should you have at the bottom end of the bag?
00:21And in this video, we're going to take a look at some of the factors you should consider.
00:25Right, let's get started.
00:26Okay, so the first thing to say is if you really want to find out exactly
00:30the best wedge lineup for your game, then I would recommend going through
00:33a wedge fitting with somebody who really knows what they're doing.
00:36It's something that I did probably three years ago now,
00:39and I found that it benefited me really a lot in two different ways.
00:43One, working out my pitching distances.
00:45And then two, providing me with a chipping club.
00:49So my most lofted wedge had a loft bound sole configuration that helped me hit those
00:55bunker shots and lofted chip shots around the green that little bit better.
00:58So there we go. I've said it.
01:00I know that a lot of people watching this won't want to go through a wedge fitting.
01:03And if you don't, then we're going to talk through
01:05some of the kind of basic principles to think about.
01:08The first is, and it's probably a bit of a generalization,
01:10but there's some truth behind it, is that longer hitters will probably
01:14require more wedges than short hitters.
01:16It stands to reason that if you're hitting your driver consistently 300 yards,
01:21then you're probably able to hit your wedge, let's say 140 yards.
01:25And if you've got 140 yards into the green with your pitching wedge,
01:29then you've got a lot of ground to cover with your other wedges.
01:31So you're likely to need more wedges than a shorter hitter who,
01:34let's say, only hits their pitching wedge 90 yards.
01:37They've got less ground to cover.
01:39Now, the other thing to consider is to make sure that you have even
01:42loft gaps between your wedges.
01:44This will mean that you have even distance gaps.
01:47Now, the thing that you absolutely have to avoid anywhere in your golf club set
01:52is to have two clubs that go the same distance.
01:54That's such a waste, and it does happen.
01:56So just be mindful of that.
01:58If your lofts are too close to each other, you might end up hitting two wedges,
02:01I don't know, only five yards apart from each other, as I say, which is a waste.
02:06So I think the first thing that I would do would be probably to figure out
02:09how far I hit my set pitching wedge.
02:11I think a lot of golf club sets, they're getting stronger in lofts.
02:15I looked at one yesterday, I think it was the Callaway ST Rogue Max,
02:18which has a pitching wedge of 41 degrees, which is quite strong, really.
02:22Mine's 46 degrees.
02:24So that's something to bear in mind.
02:25But I would figure out how far you carry your set pitching wedge
02:29as a kind of good starting point, which is something I'm going to do here.
02:32So I've got the Garmin Approach R10 launch monitor on the ground.
02:36I've got the app running opposite me.
02:37I've got a green that's about 40 yards in length from front to back.
02:42So it's a good green to give me a gauge on how far I'm hitting it.
02:45I'm going to hit one with my 46 degree pitching wedge to start with.
02:52OK, I've hit that up in the air a bit, so it's maybe not gone as...
02:57OK, that's right at the back of the green.
02:59Good, so that gives us an idea.
03:00The launch monitor is telling me that's carried 132.
03:03So from there, I think my next thing would be to think about
03:07the most lofted wedge I'd want in my bag.
03:09So let's say there's a few different things here.
03:11You're going to need a lofted wedge to help you hit bunker shots
03:14and lofted chip shots around the green.
03:15So how much is the most amount of loft that you want in your hands
03:19at the bottom end of the bag?
03:20So for a lot of golfers, I think a lob wedge is quite intimidating.
03:23Looking down on that much loft leads to kind of thin shots
03:27and chunked chip shots a lot.
03:29If you fall into that category, then maybe a Sam wedge,
03:31a sort of 56 degree wedge, is your most lofted wedge in your bag.
03:35So once you've worked out kind of how much loft you want to carry,
03:38hitting a pitch shot with that club, for me, it's 58 degree.
03:40And I don't tend to hit this flat out.
03:43So I think on the golf course,
03:45I'd only ever probably hit this at sort of 80% max,
03:49because otherwise it just sort of spirals up into the air a bit.
03:56OK, so I've hit that fairly well, and that has carried 84 yards.
04:01And therefore, I would have a decision to make
04:03as to whether I'd want to hit my pitching wedge
04:06and hit half shots with my pitching wedge to fill that gap,
04:10or whether I'd want to fill that with other wedges, one or two other wedges.
04:13Now, it's important point to make here would be
04:16part of this depends on where your strengths and weaknesses lie.
04:19If you're really good at those half pitch shots,
04:21then maybe you don't need to carry an awful lot of wedges.
04:23Maybe you can carry more fairway woods or hybrids at the top end of the bag.
04:26For me, I'm not great at half pitch shots sort of naturally,
04:30and I don't really get the time to practice them as much as I'd like.
04:34So I would rather fill that gap with wedges.
04:36I've got two, and they're all in an even loft gap, so they go four degrees.
04:41So I go 46, 50, 54, 58.
04:46So I'm going to hit one with my 50 and see how far that carries.
04:50And if we've got this right, there should be a fairly even
04:53kind of spread of distance gaps between the different wedges in my bag.
04:57So I'm going to hit my 50.
05:02I've hit that really well, and that has gone.
05:06117.
05:08That's gone 117.
05:10And then my 54, 54 degree wedge, which is here.
05:16I'll hit with this.
05:22It's gone up quite high in the air.
05:24That's gone up 99 yards.
05:26Hopefully that gives you an idea of the sort of thing that you're looking for.
05:29For me, being a longer hitter, I get a lot of shots in this kind of area.
05:33A lot of shots from the kind of 100 yards, 140 yard mark.
05:37So having clubs that I don't have to manipulate too much,
05:39that I can make a nice normal swing and hit those yardages is really important.
05:43So there you have it.
05:44That's our look at how many wedges you should think about carrying.
05:47I think for most people, it's a choice between two, three and four wedges.
05:51And I think the most popular, I think the most popular setup is three wedges.
05:56But there's so many individual factors here that you'll need to consider for yourself.
06:00Things like how far you hit the ball and your strengths and weaknesses as well.
06:03I hope you found that helpful.
06:05But that's it for now from the London Club.
06:06Thanks for watching.
06:07We'll see you next time.