Golf Wedges
This article is meant to be a guide for golf club wedges. The wedge is designed to have the following performance characteristics: high and short trajectory, maximum backspin, and easy penetration into sand or grass. These characteristics make wedges useful for high-accuracy “utility” shots like chipping onto the green, escaping a sand trap, or getting around obstacles in the rough.
To achieve these performance characteristics, golf club wedge designers focus on the following design characteristics:
Loft angle - this is simply the angle at which it hits the ball off the ground. Wedges have loft angles in the range of 45 to 64 degrees. Pitching wedges (PW) range from 45-50 degrees, Gap wedges (GW) range from 50 - 54 degrees, Sand wedges (SW) range from 54 to 58, and Lob wedges range from 58 - 64 degrees.
More loft obviously means higher ball flight and shorter distance. This chart shows how many yards each wedge will travel for a good golfer:
Bounce angle - The angle formed by the leading edge of the clubhead and the ground. This allows the bottom of the club to “bounce” through the ball as it hits the sand or grass turf. A low bounce angle creates a sharper contact and a shallow divot (better for firmer turf). A high bounce angle creates a deeper divot to pass cleanly under the ball (especially in soft turf). Sand wedges have the most bounce to get you of the sand trap and reduce “dig”.
Sand wedges thus usually have 10 all the way up to 16 degrees of bounce. Gap wedges range from 8 to 10 degrees. Pitching wedges range from 6 to 8. And lob wedges range from 2 to 6.
Camber - The heel-toe camber is the curved portion of the sole between the leading and trailing edges of the wedge. (see the picture above). More camber means more rounding of the sole. And more rounding means less bounce than clubs with little camber.
Sole Width - A wider sole means more bounce. A more narrow sole means less bounce. Sole width, along with bounce angle and camber, determine the entire amount of bounce that these wedges produce. In general, beginner players should seek as much overall bounce as possible to reduce the risk of “digging in”
The club head and face itself are also important factors in wedge performance. Wedge clubheads are usually made of softer material, like copper or beryllium alloy, to increase feel and touch (you’re near the green and want extremely high-accuracy after all!). Carbon steel is among the softest metals. But the tradeoff with carbon steel is that it rusts. So wedge manufacturers use chrome-plating which has its own tradeoff of taking away some of the softness of carbon steel.
Scoring or sandblasting of the face gives wedge shots a large amount of spin, which is needed to prevent rolling upon landing. Other tactics for the face are CNC-milling, reverse-milling, U-shaped grooves, and face inserts that use a different material all together. All these manufacturing techniques strive to make the face super-conducive to spinning.
Most golfers have a sand and pitching wedge in their bags. More and more are also including a lob and gap wedge. How many wedges are in your bag?