golfrewind.com

I will be purchasing new wedges in the near future. I play in a variety of conditions: hard lies, fluffy sand, hard sand, fluffy/sticky rough. I am looking at 50º, 56º and 60º wedges. I currently have the wedges that came with my Big Berthas but am looking for more playability and zip. My current bounces are: 7, 12, 9 respectively. Since I use my current lob wedge mostly around the green, including bunkers, I wonder if more bounce would be helpful. I can order the new Ping Tour-W in any configuration, including whatever bounce I want (I am also 2º upright and plus one-inch in length).

I was thinking of 8, 12, and 10 for my bounces. Problem is, how do I select bounces that will allow me to play from a variety of playing conditions? All the course I play very from hard, soft, to both, with tight lies and not so tight lies.

It's enough to drive a person crazy...

I know you don't want to hear it, but at either end of the spectrum you really need to have choices for a really well rounded set...that is to say a couple of fw options, a hybrid or two, a driving iron perhaps, but definetly in the wedge makeup it is to the benefit of the player (and detriment of his pocketbook) who travels to different conditions often to have a variety of lofts and bounces and interchange as needed...

On courses that I don't know the conditions, I play a medium bounce on the gap, a high bounce on the sw, and a low bounce on the lob (when I use it)...the pw also is low bounce and makes this makeup adaptable for most conditions...

That sounds like my current set. I have 2 FW, 2 hybrids, and my irons are 6-thru PW. I like the bounces you outline and I am leaning in that direction. I just can't afford to have three sets of wedges lying around to play in various conditions.

The LW is my favorite club as I use it a lot around the greens.

You oould get a high bounce SW for soft sand bunkers, and then use a low bounce LW for the hard sand bunkers. Or you might want to check out what is called TOUR GROUND, wedges. Sometimes called PRE-WORN grind. This allows you to open the face of your wedges and not increase the bounce too much. Makes a wedge play like both a high bounce and a mid bounce wedge. I've got a couple like this and they work great for a varieth of conditions. Ask if Ping offers this sole grind in the wedges your looking at getting.

Thanks, OnePutt...never heard of that.

Yeah, check out PING's custom grind options... I believe there's a PDF link from their website.

The only wedge I care to have much bounce in is my SW. I hate a bouncy GW since I use it on tightly-mown, hard fairways. Same for the LW... The SW really only gets used from bunkers or the rough.

I did check that out...thanks! Funny though, I use my LW for all my bunker shots around the green.

I just re-read your post about your LW having 9 degrees of bounce. That's enough bounce to get the club through the sand. Do you feel the high bounce hinders your flop shots?

At any rate, I think you'll marvel in the way the smaller clubhead will work its way through the sand and rough. Those Bertha's aren't very versatile.

The bounces you end up getting should ultimately fit your swing and shotmaking needs. I know you're looking at PING, but check this out...

http://www.titleist.com/images/products/pdfs/Vokey.pdf

... go to page 3 and see what Bob Vokey recommends.

No, the higher bounce hasn't hindered my flop shots. I just feel a lot more comfortable around the greens with a 60º wedge. You're right about the BB wedges. I need some more zip and versatility around the greens.

Interesting what Mr. Vokey had to say. I'm a "slider" not a "digger" so the higher bounce would probably not work as well for me. I'm probably looking at something like this with regard to bounce:
GW: 6º
SW: 11º
LW: 8º

I'm leaning toward the Clevelands. The Vokey's seem to be for the much better player than my HI (9.5) could support.

Going to see a fitter today. It's all very complicated.

If you're referring to the Cleveland CG12 versus the Vokey Spin Milled, they're both muscle back designs. These clubs will play very similarly in terms of forgiveness. Either wedge is very nice and the pick should come down to visual preference, as all other facets are very, very similar.

The 2005/2006 Cleveland CG11's have a small cavity for a little more forgiveness on off-center hits.

I've played Vokeys (Clevelands and Taylor Mades for that matter) over the past 6 years, during which time my handicap bounced from 4 to 12. The Vokeys are definately no more demanding than the CG10's, CG12's or 588DSG's.

I spent in hour with the fitter yesterday and ordered a set of CG14's (an upgraded CG11). They have a tad more forgiveness that the Vokey's and 12's, while providing the benefits of each. He also asked me a lot of questions regarding how I play, etc., and we settled on some bounces, which are very similar to the one's I have now. This will be my first set of "professional" type wedges and I hope my learning curve isn't too long, but I need to be able to stop the ball on the green. I was getting tired of hitting a good pitch and having it roll 20 feet past the hole. I'm not looking for the spin back, just a hop and stop.

I need plus one-inch, and Cleveland will bend a 56 to make it 55 so I'll be getting a 50/6, 55/10, and 60/8.

That looks like a nice set-up. The clubs will look a lot different from address, but I'd say the switch shouldn't take more than a few rounds to accomplish successfully.

Thanks, Martini...I appreciate it.

I just got a set of "real" wedges for the first time. Boy what a difference they make compared to set wedges.

You will love the upgrade...congragulations on the purchase!