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If you don't have a pw or a sw clubs, and had to buy some wedges to fill in these clubs, would you buy them or look at buying wedges like 56 *, 58* and a 60* ?

The very first I would buy would be a PW. This is a pretty essential distance in the short game. My next acquisition would be a 56° SW with medium bounce, a very versatile club that with practice will give you lots of help scoring in close to the flag.

Cheers,
Bob

What other wedges would you recomend to carry in my bag ?

I would actually flip the order of these two. The SW is a specialty club today, the only one completely designed to hit the ball out of sand traps. It is specially designed to glide under a layer of sand so that it can throw up the sand which throws the ball up and out of the trap. To me, it is far more important than a modern PW which is little more than a 10 iron by today's standards.

If money is tight, a good SW can actually do almost every single short-game shot.

There are two competing schools of thought on this issue.

1) There is the "same swing, different club" method where you perfect 1 or 2 or 3 different swings and then use different clubs to get the different distances, spin rates, trajectories, etc. This is the Dave Pelz method. Specifically, he advocates mastering what he calls a 7:30, a 9:00, and a 10:30 backswing (your arms go back like the arms on a clock face), and then learning the distance the ball flies when you make those swings with a 64* wedge, 60* wedge, 56* wedge, and 52* wedge.

Same sort of thing with chipping -- he advocates learning 1 chipping motion, and then using any clubs from 64* wedge to 3 iron to chip width depending on how much roll out you want.

2) The other idea is to master a single club and learn to hit all types of shots with it. Today, this is the method advocated by Stan Utley, and he prefers a 56* wedge for this task. Specifically, he prefers a more feel-based system wherein your instinct learns (through lots of practice) just how far to take the club back, how much to open or close the face, whether to move the ball forward or backward in your stance, etc.

I have personally chosen to go with the master one club method -- I use my 52* wedge for almost all my short game shots. I do carry a 56* wedge for the sand and carry a 60* wedge for when I feel like I have really short-sided myself. That said, I almost never use the 60* wedge anymore -- it is probably less than once a round.

However, either method can work. The truly important piece is the practice time. It doesn't matter if you carry 4 wedges if you can't hit them in the direction you want and at the distance you want. Whichever method you chose (or even both -- the best players know how to use all their wedges for all different types of shots), the really important thing is practice. Almost every amateur doesn't practice the short game enough.

In terms of what clubs to buy: You probably want to look at at least 4* gaps between wedges. Anything smaller and you've probably got clubs that overlap too much. However, several people play with much larger than 4* gaps. 6* gaps are playable: 60*, 54* SW, and 48* PW. Or 62* LW, 56* SW, 50* PW.

And, going all the way to the top, a 60* wedge certainly isn't a necessity. Many people find that once they have mastered a SW, they just don't need wedges with any more loft. Which can be really nice, because then you can put another hybrid or fairway wood at the top of the bag. There are a lot of different choices, and it really just takes some trial and error to find which bag setup works best for you.

When I found my old 11 iron & started asking questions of some old-timers, they explained it like this: You have the primary set of #'d irons which in today's vernacular and with all the hybrid clubs in the mix, are the 6-9 irons, with the 10 iron being the PW & 11 iron the SW.

I think the loft on my 11 iron is between my PW & SW, but I carry it for the novelty and use it as a very short range chipper. It's a nice lightweight club that I can easily use a putting motion with & chip when I'm close (up to 7-10 yds) from the green. I'll pull it out when I get to the stage where I need to look into more fairway woods. As it is, I have the 3W, a 23° hybrid & now the 2,4 & 5 Wilson Staff irons to handle fairway shots that don't fit into my 6-9 iron ranges.

"d recommend buying a PW and a Gap wedge and then a SW. The loft of the Gap Wedge should be half way between the PW and SW so the yardage gaps are pretty much even.

If you play golf long enough there will come a time when you will want a lob wedge and possibly a gap wedge, in addition to your pitching and sand wedges. If you bought 54* and 58* wedges, instead of the more common 56* and 60* degree wedges, you could more easily skip the gap wedge.
I play 56 and 60 degree wedges, but don't need a GW because I use mid 70's irons and my PW has the loft of the modern day GW.
If I had only one wedge, it would be a sand wedge.

If you don't have either I recommend about a 45 to 48 degree PW, then a 54 or 56 degree SW. The SW should have at least 11 degrees of bounce on the sole. Those 2 clubs will offer you more usefulness and more versatility than the higher lofted clubs.

As you gain more experience, then you can decide for yourself where you need to add to or change the setup. For now just pick up those 2 clubs and get comfortable with using them.

Thanks for all the info. It sure is nice to get good help.

I'd get up a pitching wedge and a sand wedge, especially if I were just starting or over a 15 handicap. My wedges have 4 degrees difference. About 10 years ago I carried three wedges (PW, SW & LW), but never was able to use all of them effectively, even when my handicap was below scratch.

Just for comparison, here's a loft chart for the various wedges:

PW = 45* - 49*
GW = 49* - 54* (sometimes called an AW)
SW = 54* - 57*
LW = 57* - 60*

I think every set needs a PW and a SW because they address most of the situations requiring a wedge. To me, the GW and LW aren't necessary until your game is advanced, or you have a specific need... For example, when my back stiffens up I can have trouble elevating the ball from close in, so I added a lob wedge to my bag. This club really helped address that specific issue, so was a worthwhile addition.

SoCal' you left off the 62* and 64* lob wedges. Sometimes called High lob wedges

I'll also DIS-AGREE with Fourputts advice on buying a SW with at least 11*'s of bounce. It depends on what type of sand you have in the bunkers where you play. If you have nice soft sand, especially if it's been raked before you get there, then a high bounce wedge is fine. BUT, if you play from bunkers with firm sand that wasn't raked in the morning 11*'s of bounce is WAY TOO MUCH. With the firm sand where I play, I find my 8* bounce SW to be much better than the 12* SW I had been using. Especially when the bunkers have not be raked since the last time the course was watered or it rained. Not only is the bounce only 8*. the sole is also Tour Grind design, which reduces the bounce even more when I open the club face in the bunkers. With the face open the effective bounce is only 6*'s.

IF I RAKE the bunkers first, then the 12* bounce SW works FINE.

but IF I DON'T RAKE the bunkers first, the 12* bounce SW is very difficult to use well.

I just spent an hour in the practice bunker where the sand was firm. Raking the sand before playing the shot made a HUGE difference.

Oneput, correct me if I am wrong, but, I was under the impression that a tour grind afforded less bounce if you rolled it open and played it a little flatter (toward the heel). If you roll it open and play it level (a little upright) doesn't the bounce increase slightly?
Bob

I honestly can't tell you what happens if you were to play the shot with the shaft more vertical/more upright. But were I play the shot with the sole parralell to the ground, in the normal lie angle, the tour grind REDUCES the bounce when I open the face, which I believe is what we both are saying.

I don't consider 11° to be high bounce. Even 14 degrees is just a medium bounce for a SW, at least if you go by Cleveland's dot rating system. My 11° bounce SW does just fine in the very firm bunkers I play here at Foothills. I used to use a mid bounce Cleveland with 14°, but I went to the Vokey with 11° for more versatility when I'm not in a bunker. I find it much harder to play a low bounce SW because you have to be much more precise in your ball striking. If jdmgolf18 is a fairly new player, as his question would seem to indicate, then the higher bounce is going to be an easier club for him to use.

I feel that 8° of bounce or less is more appropriate for a utility wedge, not for a beginner's sand wedge.. Not spoken as a techie, just from many years of personal experience at trying all sorts of different things.