How many of you carry 5 wedges?

[cgasucks]

I've never found the need for more than a PW, GW, SW. If I need more loft, I open the face of my SW which I find much easier to hit than a LW.

 

Word. For years since I started golfing my usual wedge setup was PW, SW, and LW. As I got better, I started to have more approach shots from under 120 yards and was sick and tired of choking down on my PW to compensate for the in-between distances. All is good when I got my first GW and took out my LW as compensation.

 

Don't miss my LW at all. I just have to open the face of my SW.

[DShark1]

I have a set PW at 43* then Vokey 48F-52F-56F-60s grind. I don’t ever go for par 5’s over 215 yds so I dropped the 3W which I had no confidence in off the deck. Play Titleist t200 5-PW - 7 wood- 5 wood - Driver. I find the 7 wood goes the same as a 4I but much higher and less off line. If I need a shot into the wind I play the 5i back a ball and hit a draw. I play at 6600 to 6800 yds. 5.8 handicap. The 5 wedges are great to cover various shots inside 120 yds. Anything lower than a 7 iron for me or 160yds is in the bag to strictly cover distance. Since working more on my short game and taking that approach my handicap dropped by 7 strokes. It comes down to are you playing golf to post a score or feed an ego. I consistently take money from guys who out drive me by 50 yards. Play your game. 

[Honeybadger]

On 1/10/2019 at 1:56 AM, Double Gee said:

The way lofts are getting silly, we will all be carrying 6 wedges soon !

Right. My Apex combo set’s PW loft is what my old 9 iron was, so I have the A wedge a gap wedge, sand wedge and 60 degree. It’s irrelevant what’s stamped on the club, so I don’t really think I’m carrying 4 wedges, despite what’s stamped on it. 

[kiwihacker]

On 12/5/2020 at 7:21 AM, DShark1 said:

I have a set PW at 43* then Vokey 48F-52F-56F-60s grind. I don’t ever go for par 5’s over 215 yds so I dropped the 3W which I had no confidence in off the deck. Play Titleist t200 5-PW - 7 wood- 5 wood - Driver. I find the 7 wood goes the same as a 4I but much higher and less off line. If I need a shot into the wind I play the 5i back a ball and hit a draw. I play at 6600 to 6800 yds. 5.8 handicap. The 5 wedges are great to cover various shots inside 120 yds. Anything lower than a 7 iron for me or 160yds is in the bag to strictly cover distance. Since working more on my short game and taking that approach my handicap dropped by 7 strokes. It comes down to are you playing golf to post a score or feed an ego. I consistently take money from guys who out drive me by 50 yards. Play your game. 

Your 5 wedges was 4 wedges not that long ago when the 43° was a 9 iron and a few years earlier it was 3 wedges when the 52° was a pitching wedge. At least in the titleist range the gaps are still sensible at 4° for most clubs. Other OEMS are needing 6° gapping to get from a 44° PW to a 50° GW. 

[Moonlightgrm]

9-iron at 43*, PW at 48*, GW at 52*, and SW at 56* work great for me. I love my 2-iron and 3-iron too much to add another wedge or two.

[B.W.]

I had a PW (AP3), 48, 52, 56, 60 setup for a bit last summer. It was nice from a gapping perspective, but having so many options overcomplicated things for me. Especially around the green I found myself overthinking things at times. I’ve since gone to PW, 50, 56, 60 and am much happier with that setup as well as having my 3 wood back in the bag. 

[KARL M]

60

56

52

49

45

max yardages

65

86

100

113

125

 

[596]

44, 48, 52, 56, 60

The 44* pitching wedge is really the old 9 iron loft. So lots of people now a days can say they have 5 wedges.  But it's really comparable to 4 from just a few years ago. 

I'm 65 years old and the gaps work better at the low end then at the high end as you get older.  I go driver, 4 wood, 7 wood at the top.  Much better to carry more scoring clubs then long clubs.

[cardoustie]

D-4-7 at top and 5 wedges at bottom is getting more popular

[SwingMan]

On 1/9/2019 at 12:00 AM, rxk9fan said:

If you do, I would love to hear what they are and how you justify that bag makeup.

I am questioning my decision to reduce the long end of the bag to Driver/3W/4i in order to bag a 48/52/56/60/64.

In my mind at least for now, partial wedge shots have cost me more than giving up my 3i. Half wedges from soggy winter/spring conditions cost me more shots than they should!

You've got almost half your bag in wedges -- BUT I only consider 48+ lofts as wedges and only 54+ wedges as coming with a grind that help your creativity. I think you have too many there - you can go 48, 53, 58, 63 by bending one degree on some wedges - and realistically, you don't need to carry a 63 except in summer when it's dry on crowned greens. You can open the 58 to increase loft.

[Striker Ace]

Nope, just four. 46, 50, 56, and 60.

[David Esquibel]

Dudes think that chicks dig the long ball but actually it's that dudes luvv the long ball. Truly though; low scores luvvv the short game. 

So it's 5 wedges in the bag:

47° Ping Isi high bounce pw

52° Cleveland RTX 4 mid

56° Vokey jet black SM8 S grind(samurai sword whoaa)

And yes 2 lobs 

60° Legendary Cleveland 588 mid

64° Cleveland RTX 4 low( for the 2-3 funnest shots of the day)   🙂

 

 

[buckethat72]

Yes AP3s - PW - 43, GW - 48 then vokeys - 50, 54, 58

My 50/54/58 vokeys we still pretty new when I got the irons, and I stuck with it because the 48 in the AP3 goes so far that the 50 vokey works well for gapping.

Ive thought of ditching the 50 and bending the 54 to 53, but really my long clubs (D, 2H, 4i) get everything done.  I crush my 2H and the 4i is also really long so I really dont need to drop a wedge.

I figure the PW is really a 9 iron anyway.

[Woodridge]

Yes. PW, AW, 54*, 60* and Cleveland Smart Sole chipper.

[iNeedMoreGolf]

My game wouldnt require that many wedges because im not a power hitter.  I think carrying more wedges has to do more with full shots more then approach shot type stuff. Pw 52 56 60 drives me crazy enough on descion making. I like to simplify short game lately. Lower lofts seem better most of the time.

[setter02]

Have tried a 62* a couple of times to make a 5 wedge set with my 46/50/54/58 usual set up.  just find I have no use for it and because I don't practice it enough, actually costs me shots during the round when I do have it in the bag.

[BallerNate]

Just dropped from 4 to 3 wedges...we’ll see how it goes! Went from 47, 52, 56, 60 to 47, 52 @ 53.5, 60. 
 

Prefer to carry Driver, 3W, Hybrid, 3-9 and work on 1/2-3/4 swings with the wedges. Almost never used my 56 when I had 4.

[new2g0lf]

Some set like the Mavrix or Epic Forged make it almost impossible to not carry 5 wedges unless you don't need a lob wedge.  

[cardoustie]

I think I saw a Yonex set with a 38* PW, that could be a 6 "wedge" scenario it seems

[uglande]

A few years ago I had a whole lineup of SM7s in the bag: 46, 50, 54, 58 and 62. 

 

I didn't regret it. But it proved to be overkill. I have actually gone the opposite direction lately, playing my set wedge and two specialty wedges.

 

But if you have a couple of clubs at the top of your bag that are super versatile, allowing you to play them from a lot of different conditions and to different distances, then this can work. 

[Mr_Wolfe]

5 wedges here.

 

46˚ PW (.5" short) - 130-135 yards (PXG Gen3T)

47˚ (1.5" short) - 120 yards (Scor)

51˚ (1.5" short) - 110 yards (Scor)

54˚ (1.5" short) - 100 yards (Scor)

57˚ (1.5" short) - 90 yards (Scor)

 

I like to have my scoring clubs shorter in length. I also play them on the heavy side (D4.5). I only hit my 57˚ if I need to get up over something or I am right at 80-90 yards. 90% of my chipping is with my 47˚ or 51˚.

 

Mr. Wolfe

[jbrunk]

15 minutes ago, Mr_Wolfe said:

5 wedges here.

 

46˚ PW (.5" short) - 130-135 yards (PXG Gen3T)

47˚ (1.5" short) - 120 yards (Scor)

51˚ (1.5" short) - 110 yards (Scor)

54˚ (1.5" short) - 100 yards (Scor)

57˚ (1.5" short) - 90 yards (Scor)

 

I like to have my scoring clubs shorter in length. I also play them on the heavy side (D4.5). I only hit my 57˚ if I need to get up over something or I am right at 80-90 yards. 90% of my chipping is with my 47˚ or 51˚.

 

Mr. Wolfe

Haha, another SCOR fan!  I have a similar setup that I built around the 43° SCOR wedge (which “kinda” replaces the 9-iron) and singleton Hogan irons.

 

PTx 21-25-29

FW15 33-38

SCOR 43-47-51-56-60

This set hasn’t seen a lot off play, though, because I favor my Apex MB combo set during the Spring and Summer months.

[Mr_Wolfe]

40 minutes ago, jbrunk said:

Haha, another SCOR fan!  I have a similar setup that I built around the 43° SCOR wedge (which “kinda” replaces the 9-iron) and singleton Hogan irons.

 

PTx 21-25-29

FW15 33-38

SCOR 43-47-51-56-60

This set hasn’t seen a lot off play, though, because I favor my Apex MB combo set during the Spring and Summer months.

Nice! Yes, I love my Scor wedges. This past year, I bought 43, 45, 47, 48, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, and 57.

 

I too replaced my 9i for a while with the 43˚. Right now I am playing a factory 9i and wedge, but I still leave room for 4 Scor wedges. They are small and deadly.

 

Mr. Wolfe

[Ri_Redneck]

If you count my set PW, then I carry 4 (46, 52, 56 & 60) I also have a 64*, but I haven't had the opportunity to practice enough with it to put it in the bag. I really only got it in case I have to play some course with stupid firm/fast greens.

 

I can see someone playing 5 wedges if they have issues playing partial shots. I was in this boat years ago and just played to full club distance to avoid the partial shots. I was finally convinced that I was leaving strokes on the table because of it and decided to start using the "clock method" to fix the problem. I took PW through LW out to a short game practice area and started plotting my shots from 130 (Full PW) in to greenside. I documented everything in several small notebooks that I keep in every bag. The clock position relates to my left arm, not the shaft and I have distances for each club from 10 to 6:30, pinch, pitch and flop. It has really made a huge difference getting my score lower. However, it takes continuous practice on these shots, with playing balls. I also have to remind myself to check my book

 

BT

[Rapidcat]

To maximize (minimize) your scoring, we all have to bag a combination of clubs to get the job done for our individual games.

 

So what's right depends on the individual.

 

That being said, 5 wedges + putter leaves only 8 spots. which may be comprised of driver, a long fairway club (fairway metal or hybrid?) then 6 other clubs - maybe another higher loft hybrid or 4 iron then 5I to 9I.

 

I guess it can work but sparse at the bag's long end.

 

Is it really worth it? I guess it is a balancing act for you.

 

For my game....5 wedges is 1 wedge too many.

[jmkenn0]

I have a PW (Ping BP) and 4 Vokey SM6's - 52, 56, 60, 64 (the 64 is a 60* bent).  But the 52/56 to me are just extensions of my iron set.  I also use the 60 & 64 for full swings, but they get the majority of the chipping duties as well.

 

I go D/3W/2H/5-PW, then the 4 wedges.  Give me more options at the top, because really how good am I going to be with a 4 iron anyway?

[kiwihacker]

I guess it all depends what club you start calling a wedge. My PW is 47° and I carry 52° and 58°. So three wedges. However my 43° is my 9 iron but in a lot of modern sets that would be a PW so suddenly I have four wedges. Perhaps it's better to talk about how many speciality wedges you carry after the set PW. The set PW is usually just a progression of the 7, 8, 9 irons so could be termed a 10 iron. Ideally I'd like to play a 46° club as my highest lofted iron then play 50/54/58. So 3 or 4 wedges depending on your interpretation. 5 wedges seems like overkill to me. 

[Poor Mans Ty Webb]

Rather than starting a new thread, I’m hoping to revive this one to get insight from 5 wedge players, specifically those who run a 5th past 60* (basically, two lob wedges).

 

In my quest to push down into mid single digits, I simply need to start hitting more greens and more consistently close from 100 and in (and putting better!). I play a 13 club bag with Dr, 5w, 4i at the top and can comfortably get my way around courses under 6800, so I’m not missing anything there. I play quite often at closer to 6-6400 yards (with my playing partners), and my average approach distance in these rounds is very frequently less than a full 50* wedge, with several approaches around or inside 50-100 yards per round. I have 4 wedges, currently - 46, 50, 54, 58, and I’m thinking about adding a 62.

 

My current confidence with the 58 is dicey beyond maybe 50-60 yards, although I do use it fairly confidently inside 50 yards, depending on the situation. I’m in decent shape taking 3/4 swings with my higher bounce, fuller soled 50 and 54, which I play out to around 90-105 at 3/4 swings. But 60-90 is a messy zone, and 3/4 swings with a lower bounce lob wedge demand a level of precision (on soft to medium turf) that I can only deliver on inconsistently. I’m also working on adding a sort of 2/3 swing, but it needs refining this winter.

 

I’m interested in replacing my current 58 with a lower bounce/more relief 62. I’d use this in all current applications that I use my 58 - firm bunkers, tight lies, and high lobs inside 50 yards - narrow usage, but certainly not a one trick pony. This would free me up to play a relatively higher bounce/fuller soled 58, which I feel like would give me more margin for error on swings between 1/2 and 3/4 speed. In theory, I could always continue to practice the 2/3 to 3/4 swing with the 62, as well, and maybe have that shot more comfortably in the arsenal down the road. I’m very intrigued by developing the option to play different trajectories in at similar yardages, and feel like another tool at the bottom gives me more options. 
 

One of the conventional wisdoms is a higher bounce SW and a lower bounce LW, but when you add a 5th (beyond 60*), what does that do for the bounce/grind makeup of your two wedges beyond 58*? Do you play two lower bounce wedges? One high, one low? Any masochists that play two low bounce lob wedges?? And how frequently are you making longer (60+yard) pitches with both of these lob wedges?

 

I don’t really think I’d be much worse with a similar 62 vs. my current 58, but I feel like I could be much stronger with a 58 that’s more like my current 54. I just don’t want to totally give up a low bounce/high relief option…I’m thinking about something like a 50S, 54S, 58D or V, and 62M or L. 
 

Sort of paging @Dan Drake (looks like I’m out on the ‘Bag is Set’ Challenge), but all insights would be appreciated. 

[Pnwpingi210]

26 minutes ago, Poor Mans Ty Webb said:

Rather than starting a new thread, I’m hoping to revive this one to get insight from 5 wedge players, specifically those who run a 5th past 60* (basically, two lob wedges).

 

In my quest to push down into mid single digits, I simply need to start hitting more greens and more consistently close from 100 and in (and putting better!). I play a 13 club bag with Dr, 5w, 4i at the top and can comfortably get my way around courses under 6800, so I’m not missing anything there. I play quite often at closer to 6-6400 yards (with my playing partners), and my average approach distance in these rounds is very frequently less than a full 50* wedge, with several approaches around or inside 50-100 yards per round. I have 4 wedges, currently - 46, 50, 54, 58, and I’m thinking about adding a 62.

 

My current confidence with the 58 is dicey beyond maybe 50-60 yards, although I do use it fairly confidently inside 50 yards, depending on the situation. I’m in decent shape taking 3/4 swings with my higher bounce, fuller soled 50 and 54, which I play out to around 90-105 at 3/4 swings. But 60-90 is a messy zone, and 3/4 swings with a lower bounce lob wedge demand a level of precision (on soft to medium turf) that I can only deliver on inconsistently. I’m also working on adding a sort of 2/3 swing, but it needs refining this winter.

 

I’m interested in replacing my current 58 with a lower bounce/more relief 62. I’d use this in all current applications that I use my 58 - firm bunkers, tight lies, and high lobs inside 50 yards - narrow usage, but certainly not a one trick pony. This would free me up to play a relatively higher bounce/fuller soled 58, which I feel like would give me more margin for error on swings between 1/2 and 3/4 speed. In theory, I could always continue to practice the 2/3 to 3/4 swing with the 62, as well, and maybe have that shot more comfortably in the arsenal down the road. I’m very intrigued by developing the option to play different trajectories in at similar yardages, and feel like another tool at the bottom gives me more options. 
 

One of the conventional wisdoms is a higher bounce SW and a lower bounce LW, but when you add a 5th (beyond 60*), what does that do for the bounce/grind makeup of your two wedges beyond 58*? Do you play two lower bounce wedges? One high, one low? Any masochists that play two low bounce lob wedges?? And how frequently are you making longer (60+yard) pitches with both of these lob wedges?

 

I don’t really think I’d be much worse with a similar 62 vs. my current 58, but I feel like I could be much stronger with a 58 that’s more like my current 54. I just don’t want to totally give up a low bounce/high relief option…I’m thinking about something like a 50S, 54S, 58D or V, and 62M or L. 
 

Sort of paging @Dan Drake (looks like I’m out on the ‘Bag is Set’ Challenge), but all insights would be appreciated. 

Sharing an experience.

 

I played 4-5 speciality wedges (46-62) with various grinds to do essentially what you are mentioning above.  My short game was the worst part of my game (I could be within 40 yards of a green on a par 4 and still bogey).  I played that way till the better part of 3 years.  Practiced a lot, never improved and my short game always killed my scores.

 

What changed my game was actually going from 4-5 specialty wedges down to 2.  I now have a 56 f grind and 60d grind and then go to my set pw at 49 degrees.  This has dramatically simplified my game four a couple reasons.  For starters, I can spend more time getting better with 2 wedges I have vs 4-5 all with various grinds.  Learning how to hit shots with those clubs gave me confidence I could step up to the ball and execute without overthinking.  

[Pepperturbo]

Talking about the number of wedges carried, is IMO not the best informed subject.  Maybe the better question is: Who carries 4 or 5 Wedges, and actually practices and scores with them?  Don't theorize about your equipment, as what you chose is your reality on the course.  The more clubs you add, the more practice is needed.

 

The average golfer doesn't put in the needed time to practice with his irons, let alone adding 2–3 more wedges.  I know at least five people with 4 wedges, yet none of them practice.  Sounds great to talk about it, except coming up short is the common result.   Seasoned golfers are not the best examples, mostly because they practice. 

 

Since taking up golf, in the "90s", I have practiced nearly every day in my office, using PW, SW and LW to hit ProV1x balls though the door, down the hallway to a net in an empty office, and back.  I vary the length from 30-40yds.  Three "3" wedges, sometimes 9i, handles all yardages inside 118 yds.  A golfer's opinion.