00:00 - Hello everyone, Neil Tappan here from Golf Monthly
00:02 and welcome to the London Club.
00:03 In this video, looking at how many wedges
00:07 different types of golfer should carry.
00:10 It's all part of the big kind of puzzle
00:12 that every golfer needs to work out.
00:14 So how many fairway woods hybrids,
00:16 utility irons do you carry at the top end of the bag?
00:18 And then how many wedges should you have
00:20 at the bottom end of the bag?
00:21 And in this video, we're gonna take a look
00:23 at some of the factors you should consider.
00:25 Right, let's get started.
00:26 Okay, so the first thing to say is
00:28 if you really want to find out exactly
00:30 the best wedge lineup for your game,
00:32 then I would recommend going through a wedge fitting
00:34 with somebody who really knows what they're doing.
00:36 It's something that I did probably three years ago now
00:39 and I found that it benefited me really a lot
00:42 in two different ways.
00:43 One, working out my pitching distances
00:45 and then two, providing me with a chipping club.
00:49 So my most lofted wedge had a loft bound sole configuration
00:53 that helped me hit those bunker shots
00:55 and lofted chip shots around the green
00:57 that little bit better.
00:58 So there we go, I've said it.
01:00 I know that a lot of people watching this
01:02 won't want to go through a wedge fitting.
01:03 And if you don't, then we're gonna talk through
01:05 some of the kind of basic principles to think about.
01:08 The first is, and it's probably a bit of a generalization,
01:10 but there's some truth behind it,
01:12 is that longer hitters will probably require
01:14 more wedges than shorter hitters.
01:16 It stands to reason that if you're hitting your driver
01:19 consistently 300 yards,
01:21 then you're probably able to hit your wedge,
01:24 let's say 140 yards.
01:25 If you've got 140 yards into the green
01:27 with your pitching wedge,
01:29 then you've got a lot of ground to cover
01:31 with your other wedges.
01:32 So you're likely to need more wedges than a shorter hitter
01:34 who, let's say, only hits their pitching wedge 90 yards,
01:37 they've got less ground to cover.
01:39 Now, the other thing to consider is to make sure
01:41 that you have even loft gaps between your wedges.
01:44 This will mean that you have even distance gaps.
01:47 Now, the thing that you absolutely have to avoid
01:50 anywhere in your golf club set
01:52 is to have two clubs that go the same distance.
01:54 That's such a waste and it does happen.
01:56 So just be mindful of that.
01:58 If your lofts are too close to each other,
01:59 you might end up hitting two wedges,
02:01 I don't know, only five yards apart from each other,
02:05 as I say, which is a waste.
02:06 So I think the first thing that I would do
02:08 would be probably to figure out
02:09 how far I hit my set pitching wedge.
02:11 I think a lot of golf club sets,
02:12 they're getting stronger in lofts.
02:15 I looked at one yesterday,
02:16 I think it was the Callaway ST Rogue Max,
02:19 which has a pitching wedge of 41 degrees,
02:21 which is quite strong, really.
02:22 Mine's 46 degrees.
02:24 So that's something to bear in mind,
02:25 but I would figure out how far you carry
02:28 your set pitching wedge as a kind of good starting point,
02:31 which is something I'm gonna do here.
02:32 So I've got the Garmin Approach R10
02:35 launch monitor on the ground.
02:36 I've got the app running opposite me.
02:37 I've got a green that's about 40 yards in length
02:41 from front to back.
02:42 So it's a good green to give me a gauge
02:44 on how far I'm hitting it.
02:45 So I'm gonna hit one with my 46 degree
02:48 pitching wedge to start with.
02:52 Okay, I've hit that up in the air a bit.
02:55 So it's maybe not gone as...
02:56 Okay, that's right in the back of the green.
02:59 But good, so that gives us an idea.
03:00 The launch monitor is telling me that's carried 132.
03:03 So from there, I think my next thing would be
03:05 to think about the most lofted wedge I'd want in my bag.
03:10 So let's say there's a few different things here.
03:11 You're gonna need a lofted wedge
03:13 to help you hit bunker shots
03:14 and lofted chip shots around the green.
03:16 So how much is the most amount of loft
03:18 that you want in your hands at the bottom end of the bag?
03:20 So for a lot of golfers,
03:21 I think a lob wedge is quite intimidating.
03:23 Looking down on that much loft
03:25 leads to kind of thin shots and chunked chip shots a lot.
03:29 If you fall into that category,
03:30 then maybe a Sam wedge, a sort of 56 degree wedge,
03:33 is your most lofted wedge in your bag.
03:35 So once you've worked out
03:36 kind of how much loft you want to carry,
03:38 hit a pitch shot with that club.
03:39 For me, it's 58 degree
03:41 and I don't tend to hit this flat out.
03:43 So I think on the golf course,
03:45 I'd only ever probably hit this at sort of 80% max
03:49 'cause otherwise it just sort of spirals up
03:51 into the air a bit.
03:52 Okay, so I've hit that fairly well
03:57 and that has carried 84 yards.
04:02 And therefore, I would have a decision to make
04:03 as to whether I'd want to hit my pitching wedge
04:07 and hit half shots with my pitching wedge to fill that gap
04:10 or whether I'd want to fill that with other wedges,
04:12 one or two other wedges.
04:13 Now, it's important point to make here would be,
04:16 part of this depends on
04:18 where your strengths and weaknesses lie.
04:19 If you're really good at those half pitch shots,
04:21 then maybe you don't need to carry an awful lot of wedges.
04:23 Maybe you can carry more fairway woods or hybrids
04:25 at the top end of the bag.
04:27 Me, I'm not great at half pitch shots sort of naturally
04:30 and B, I don't really get the time
04:32 to practice them as much as I'd like.
04:34 So I would rather fill that gap with wedges.
04:36 I've got two and they're all in at even loft gap.
04:40 So they go four degrees.
04:41 So I go 46, 50, 54, 58.
04:46 So I'm gonna hit one with my 50
04:48 and see how far that carries.
04:50 And if we've got this right,
04:51 there should be a fairly even kind of spread
04:54 of distance gaps between the different wedges in my bag.
04:58 So I'm gonna hit my 50.
04:59 I've hit that really well.
05:04 And that has gone 117.
05:08 That's got 117.
05:10 And then my 54, 54 degree wedge,
05:15 which is here.
05:16 I'll hit with this.
05:19 (club thuds)
05:21 It's gone up quite high in the air.
05:24 That's gone up 99 yards.
05:26 Hopefully that gives you an idea
05:27 of the sort of thing that you're looking for.
05:29 For me, being a longer hitter,
05:31 I get a lot of shots in this kind of area.
05:33 A lot of shots from the kind of 100 yards, 140 yard mark.
05:37 So having clubs that I don't have to manipulate too much,
05:40 that I can make a nice normal swing
05:41 and hit those yardages is really important.
05:43 So there you have it.
05:44 That's our look at how many wedges
05:46 you should think about carrying.
05:47 I think for most people,
05:48 it's a choice between two, three, and four wedges.
05:51 And I think the most popular setup is three wedges.
05:56 But there's so many individual factors here
05:58 that you'll need to consider for yourself.
06:00 Things like how far you hit the ball
06:01 and your strengths and weaknesses as well.
06:03 I hope you found that helpful.
06:05 But that's it for now from the London Club.
06:06 Thanks for watching.
06:07 We'll see you next time.
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