How Many Wedges Should You Carry? | Golf Monthly
In this video, Neil Tappin looks at some of the factors to consider when thinking about how many wedges you should carry. He goes through a series of factors that are well worth keeping in mind - especially if you don't want to get fitted for your wedges. He offers some basic rules of thumb and some insights into his own game which should help you understand this area of your own bag line-up that little bit better.
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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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