In this video, Joel Tadman runs through the nine warning signs that demonstrate you might need to upgrade your wedges!
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00:00Whoa, whoa, whoa.
00:07Now, that is one of the biggest signs that you need new wedges.
00:11Chip shots like this releasing a lot more than you are accustomed to, and that's obviously
00:16because of the reduction in the friction that you're getting on the face.
00:19Remember, when you're chipping around the greens, you're not activating other layers
00:23of the golf ball.
00:24It's all about the friction from the cover of the golf ball against the face of the wedge.
00:28You can see there, when the friction wears away, your chip shots are releasing.
00:32That's fine if you've got a lot of green to work with.
00:35On this particular shot, it wasn't necessarily a concern, but if you leave yourself short-sighted,
00:39you've got a bad line in the rough, you've got to chip over the bunker.
00:41If you're not getting as much friction, you're not getting as much stopping power, that means
00:45you're not going to be able to get the ball close from those different positions.
00:48The likelihood of you getting up and down is reduced significantly.
00:52If you do have less friction on the face, your chipping game does become a little bit
00:55one-dimensional.
00:57If you've got a brand new wedge, it's going to give you more spin control.
00:59It means you can get up and down from more different situations around the green.
01:03That should obviously help your scoring.
01:06One of the first signs that you need new wedges, certainly from a visual perspective, is the
01:10fact that the finish might be wearing off.
01:11You can see on this wedge, the finish is starting to wear off on the sole.
01:15You might also see it on the face as well, whether it's been chrome-plated or whatever
01:20finish you've got on there, it's wearing off.
01:22This isn't necessarily going to affect performance, but it definitely will affect the durability
01:27of the wedge, especially if you've got the finish wearing off.
01:30That means the raw metal is left exposed underneath.
01:33That could lead to it rusting.
01:35It could lead to it degrading over time.
01:36Generally speaking, look out for a wedge that's got the finish wearing off.
01:40That's generally a sign it needs replacing.
01:43Another sign you need new wedges comes down to your grooves.
01:46Specifically, if they are appearing to be a lot shallower than they used to be, or if
01:50the edges of the grooves aren't as straight as they used to be, that's a tell-tale sign
01:54they've deteriorated, the integrity isn't there, and you're not going to get the consistency
01:58of performance that you expect from a wedge, especially into and around the greens.
02:01We know grooves are there to channel away moisture and debris when you're hitting shots
02:07from different lies, and therefore, if the grooves aren't performing as effectively as
02:11they need to be, you're going to get inconsistent performance.
02:13You're not going to be able to control and predict the shots that you're hitting, and
02:17that's going to obviously hurt your scoring.
02:19If the grooves are looking tired, the chances are you need to upgrade your wedges.
02:23The next sign that you might need new wedges comes down to the feel of the face.
02:27A wedge that needs replacing will often have a very smooth-feeling face, and that means
02:31it's not going to give you the friction that's going to generate the spin on those shorter
02:35shots around the greens.
02:36Generally speaking, new wedges have some sort of technology in between the grooves, whether
02:42it's micro-grooves, extra milling, different channels, whatever it might be on the face,
02:47that makes it have a coarser texture to it.
02:50That's going to help, along with the grooves, generate spin around the greens.
02:54Worn-out grooves, worn-out faces have quite a smooth sensation to them, and that's going
02:58to cause the ball to slide up the face and not generate as much spin versus if there
03:03was a lot of friction there, it would be gripped by the face, and that would generate more
03:06backspin.
03:07Just do a little feel test, really simple.
03:09Just run your thumb along the face of your wedge, and if it feels smooth versus what
03:13a new wedge offers, it might be time to upgrade your wedges.
03:18Another area to think about when it comes to potentially upgrading your wedges is turf
03:21interaction.
03:22It's really important to get the right sole geometry, the correct shaping, and the right
03:27bounce to suit the technique that you employ around the greens and also the turf conditions
03:31you typically play.
03:32When you're chipping around the greens, especially from tight lines like this, you want to really
03:35be bruising the top of the ground.
03:37You're not taking big divots, the club is kind of gliding along the top of the turf,
03:42picking the ball up along the way, striking it nice and cleanly.
03:45If the sole grind isn't correctly matched to your technique or the turf you play, you
03:49can get those inconsistent contacts, those contacts that can be quite fat, the leading
03:53edge can get quite diggy and sharp, and therefore sometimes you get those horrible bouncy shots.
03:59You maybe take slightly bigger divots than you probably should do, and that's because
04:03you haven't got correctly fitted wedges, and that's obviously a sign that you need new
04:06wedges.
04:07Now, I'm not saying this necessarily applies to people who've got old wedges.
04:10I think even golfers with new wedges that have either not been custom fitted and they've
04:15bought off the rack, or maybe your technique has changed and therefore the shape of the
04:19wedge isn't suitable for your play anymore, it's really important to get the right bounce,
04:24the right grind, obviously the right loft gapping as well, to be able to execute the
04:28shots that you feel most comfortable around the greens, and that's going to give you the
04:31best chance to do that by new wedges properly fitted.
04:34Now, another sign that you need new wedges comes down to the grip, and what we typically
04:38see with players that use their wedges for too long are grips that are worn down, they
04:44may be quite shiny, and they don't offer that tacky feel that a new grip is supposed to.
04:48It's going to give you that kind of feedback and control that you need to have, not only
04:51on full shots, but also more control, finesse shots around the green.
04:55If the club is slipping in your hands, you're not going to get that confidence about being
04:58able to return the club face to square, have control of the way you're delivering it, and
05:03obviously a worn out grip is a sign that you've probably used this club for too long.
05:06Yes, you could put new grips on your wedges that would reinvigorate the feel and the control
05:11you get, but the chances are the wedge head is also degraded to a point where you possibly
05:17need to upgrade, depending on how much you play and practice.
05:20By all means, if your grip is still giving you a relatively soft, tacky feel, it's probably
05:24okay, but if it's got that shiny, sheeny look to it, and it's not giving you that tacky
05:28feel, it's probably time to replace the wedge.
05:31Whether it's the grip or the whole club, it's up to you.
05:34Another telltale sign you need new wedges is the false shots that you hit with them
05:38fly too high.
05:40Generally speaking, your flight window or your peak height with your clubs through the
05:44bag in terms of your irons and your wedges should be relatively similar.
05:48There shouldn't be a lot of deviation there, even if those high lofted wedges shouldn't
05:51be ballooning up too high, but a common thing that you see with wedges that are worn out
05:55or need replacing, obviously we've talked about friction before, how you're not getting
05:59the amount of friction off the face there before the ball's sliding up it, it's launching
06:02higher and you're going to see it noticeably on false shots into greens.
06:06The result of that is you're not going to get as much distance as you would be accustomed
06:10to typically with a brand new wedge in the same loft.
06:13Shots are going to be falling short, you're going to have a big distance gap, it's going
06:16to be incredibly frustrating when you're hitting false shots into greens trying to attack flags.
06:21You're not exactly sure what distance you're going to get.
06:23It's probably worth upgrading to a new set of wedges because it's going to give you more
06:25predictable results.
06:28Common tell-tale sign you need new wedges is you experiencing more flyers from the rough.
06:34We see with wedges that have tied grooves, they're not able to channel out the moisture
06:39and the dirt that gets in between the face and the ball on shots like this when the ball's
06:43sitting down from the rough.
06:45You need your grooves to really get you out of trouble and provide an element of control
06:50when you're hitting shots into the greens.
06:51If you've got tied grooves, worn out wedges, you're going to get a lot of flyers, going
06:55to be really unpredictable, shots are going to balloon over the green, they're going to
06:58have no spin on them, it's going to be impossible to predict exactly where they're going to
07:02fly.
07:03Generally speaking, if you're seeing inconsistent results in terms of ball speed, launch and
07:08spin with your wedge shots, that is a really big tell-tale sign you need new wedges because
07:13if you're trying to hit shots out of this sort of lie and you're getting unpredictable
07:17results, it's going to be impossible to hit the ball close.
07:23The last sign you need new wedges refers to your habits in terms of practice.
07:27If you practice a lot of golf, especially on the short game area, it sounds obvious,
07:31but you're going to wear your wedges out quicker, you're going to need to replace them more
07:34frequently.
07:35You think about every practice session you do on the range, it probably starts with a
07:38few wedge shots just to loosen up the body and get a feel for the swing.
07:41Then, obviously, if you're moving to the short game area, hitting different shots, that's
07:45going to wear away the grooves a bit more quickly.
07:48Obviously, if you're also using the practice bunker a lot to hit a lot of different bunker
07:52shots when you're practicing, that is going to really accelerate the wear and tear on
07:56the face of your wedges.
07:58It's a lot more aggressive in terms of how it affects the geometry of the wedge, the
08:02finish of the wedge, the condition of the face, it's going to accelerate that process.
08:07If you do a lot of practice in the short game area, it's probably worth thinking about upgrading
08:11to some new wedges, but alternatively, you could reserve the practice for an old wedge
08:18and then just save your new current wedges for rounds on the actual golf course.
08:22That's one way you can preserve the integrity and the spin control you get on your current
08:26wedges from the course and then around the greens in the practice area on the range,
08:30you could just switch to an old wedge and it doesn't matter if you're wearing out those
08:33grooves so much.
08:34That's an alternative you could do, but think about how often you practice, tightly say,
08:39every 75 rounds or so you want to think about upgrading your wedges, but if you practice
08:42a lot more, that number is going to be significantly lower.
08:45That concludes our look at the nine telltale signs that you need new wedges.
08:49I don't think they're all going to apply to you, but I reckon there might be one or
08:51two warning signs that if you look at your own wedges, might be ringing some alarm bells
08:56and get you thinking about whether you need, not necessarily a whole new set of wedges,
09:00but maybe one or two new wedges in particular lofts, depending on how much you use those
09:04clubs on the course and in the practice area as well.
09:07I think you'll agree that the benefit of new wedges in terms of the spin control and the
09:11consistency they offer and the performance in different conditions, whether it's wet,
09:15dry, different heights of rough, is really important.
09:18That feedback that you get is going to help you hopefully produce more predictable results.
09:23The benefits of new wedges are there to be seen.
09:25I know a lot of players out there are quite reluctant to upgrade their wedges.
09:29It is an expensive investment, but I do think it's worth the money, especially if your wedges
09:33are looking particularly tired.
09:35That's all from me from Peterborough Milton Golf Club.
09:38I'll see you next time.