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Hey everyone (1st time poster), i have a question in regards to wedges. I was looking to buy my first "expensive" wedge as i have been using some ****** dunlop lob wedge ($19.99). My question is, what degree should i go with, 60 or 56? I was leaning towards 60 for high loft, especially around the green, but all my buddies say they are tough to hit. What would you suggest? Thanks!

1) any store worth anything should let you demo any club before you buy so the biggest thing is to try them out before you buy

2) 4 degrees may not seem like a big difference, but the typical 56 degree wedge and 60 degree wedge are made for very different purposes. Most 56 degree wedges are sand wedges, and are built for sand. They will have a large lump of metal under the leading edge -- this is termed the "bounce" of the club -- and it there so that the club doesn't dig too deep into the sand when hitting sand shots. This lump acts fairly similarly to an airplane wing and helps the club just slide through the top layer of the sand. Comparatively, most 60 degree "lob" wedges will be built with very low bounce so that the clubhead can slip between the ball and the ground. If it had high bounce like the SW, the bottom of the club may strike the ground and bounce up and the ball gets hit with the leading edge ("skulling" or "blading" it) instead of the lofted part.

So, this kind of comes down to what the course(s) you usually play are like. If you are in the sand a lot, and especially if it is light and fluffy sand, this isn't really a question, you need a SW. On the flip side, if your home course doesn't have many or any bunkers, or the sand is usually hard and compacted, you may like a LW better because you can usually pick the ball off the sand in those conditions.

3) 60 degree wedges were not common until recently (15 years or so). For a very long time, the highest lofted wedge anybody carried was 56 degrees. You can always open the SW face up to increase the loft and hit those same high shots that you can with a LW.

4) There are compromise clubs out there -- like a 58 degree wedge. You can choose to get a 58 degree in high bounce or low bounce. Or even with grinds that are high bounce on one side of the club and low bounce on the other.

(Probably didn't think it was this complicated, did ya?)

5) This is a big one in my opinion. How many degrees of loft is your PW? Because what may ultimately be the best is to get a wedge between your PW and your cheapie LW.

6) Lastly, is there something wrong with your LW? You don't necessarily have to replace it just to replace it. Especially if you don't have a SW already. Having a club for the sand is pretty much 100% a necessity, especially if you start playing course with lots of traps.

How many wedges should one have?
PW- Wedge in between- SW is enough?

My sandwedge has high bounce, what effect does that have on the fairway/rough big nose?

its your decision how many wedges you want. phil plays 3 wedges, but i think most people have 2 wedges.

Actually Phil uses either 4 or 5 wedges. Your SW, if you have one, is more than likely 56*. Your PW is probably about 48*(mine is). What you should get is a Gap Wedge(GW) - and that should be 52* or 53*. Somewhere inbetween your other two. I carry 3 wedges: 48* PW, 54*GW, and 60*LW - which I also use in the greenside bunkers and around the green if I need pop it up and stop it quickly.

You need to check the loft of the wedges and not go by the PW, SW, LW, GW, or DW that might be stamped on the sole of the club because those letters don't mean anything. The loft varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. I have about a dozen different wedges that run from 47* to 65*. I have 3 or 4 "PWs" that are 47, 50, 52* and the same number of "SWs" that are 54, 55, 56*.

When I play, I generally carry the 52, 56, 60, and 65*, but I prefer a high lofted shot on to the green. Given the choice, I'd rather have red hot needles stuck in my eyes than try a bump and run with an 8 iron from 40 yards.

I agree with everyone saying loft is of major importance, as well as being able to demo them. IF you can demo, by all means, hit all kinds--cheap and expensive--exhaust your options.

So my question to you is, is one enough? You could go with a 54* like my Cleveland CG14 (12* bounce), and a 60*--leaving out your typical SW/56* wedge.

And to your buddies who say 60* wedges are tough to hit. . .It def. took me loads of practice to get comfortable and to find the zone with the 60*. I was either skulling/topping or completely spooning right underneath the ball.

As far as how many to carry, I don't really use my PW as a wedge. Its my 120 to 130 club. If I have a chip shot from 15 yards I might hood my 56 a little and run it on. If I have a 50yd shot, I've found a 1/3 backswing with my 54* works nicely. And then if I'm on the short side with hardly no green to work with, I'll flop my 60* for a soft landing and hopefully minimal roll. Probably too many shots for someone close to a 20 handicap, but I like playing the short game and practice all of these shots.

I went for the Adams Tom Watson 3 wedge set, because I figured it was cheaper, and I could drop and change clubs as I got better (been playing about 14 months). I have to say I did not find the lob wedge as hard to hit as it appears other people do, at least not for a 21 hc player. The hard part, I found at least, is knowing when to use what club. Eg, my home course usually has a lot of wind. So I have found that a lob wedge, well, really lobs it, and can get blown around A LOT in a short distance, in fact sometimes into a breeze it feels like oyu have to run for cover as it blows back into your face! I found that one week the 60 wedge works well, the next week for the same spot, the 52 gap wedge worked better as it seems to just push the ball a bit better into the breeze. The trajectory looks almost the same, but it felt like it just punched a bit better into the wind - more of feeling then backed up by hard facts.