- 25/05/2025
In this video, Joel Tadman runs through the nine warning signs that demonstrate you might need to upgrade your wedges!
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00:00whoa whoa whoa now that is one of the biggest signs that you need new wedges chip shots like
00:12this releasing a lot more than you are accustomed to and that's obviously because of the reduction
00:18in the friction that you're getting on the face remember when you're chipping around the greens
00:22you're not activating other layers of the golf ball it's all about the friction from the cover
00:26the golf ball against the face of the wedge and you can see there you know when the friction wears
00:30away your chip shots are releasing and that's fine if you've got a lot of green to work with
00:34you know on this particular shot it wasn't necessarily a concern but if you leave yourself
00:38short-sided you've got a bad line in the rough you've got to chip over the bunker if you're
00:42not getting as much friction you're not getting as much stopping power that means you're not going
00:45to be able to get the ball close from those different positions the likelihood of you getting up and down
00:50is reduced significantly so if you do have less friction on the face your chipping game does
00:55become a little bit one-dimensional if you've got a brand new wedge it's going to give you more
00:58spin control it means you can get up and down from more different situations around the green
01:03and that should obviously help your scoring now one of the first signs that you need new wedges
01:08certainly from a visual perspective is the fact the finish might be wearing off so you can see on
01:12this wedge the finish is starting to wear off on the sole you might also see it on the face as well
01:17the the whether it's been chrome plated or whatever finish you've got on there it's wearing off now
01:22this isn't necessarily going to affect performance but it definitely will affect the durability of
01:27the wedge especially you know if you've got the finish wearing off that means the raw metal is left
01:31exposed underneath and that could lead to it rusting it could lead to it degrading over time
01:36generally speaking look out for a wedge that's got the finish wearing off that's generally a sign
01:41it needs replacing now another sign you need new wedges comes down to your grooves and specifically
01:47if they are appearing to be a lot shallower than they used to be or if the edges of the grooves
01:51aren't as straight as they used to be that's a telltale sign they've deteriorated the integrity isn't
01:56there and you're not going to get the consistency of performance that you expect from a wedge especially
02:00into and around the greens we know grooves are there to channel away moisture and debris when you're
02:06hitting shots from different lies and therefore if the grooves aren't performing as effectively as they
02:11need to be you're going to get inconsistent performance you're not going to be able to
02:14control and predict the shots that you're hitting and that's going to obviously hurt your scoring so
02:19if the grooves are looking tired the chances are you need to upgrade your wedges and the next sign
02:24that you might need new wedges comes down to the feel of the face and a wedge that needs replacing
02:28will often have a very smooth feeling face and that means it's not going to give you the friction
02:33that's going to generate the spin on those shorter shots around the greens generally speaking new
02:38wedges have some sort of technology in between the grooves whether it's micro grooves extra milling
02:44different channels whatever it might be on the face that makes it have a coarser texture to it
02:49and that's going to help along with the grooves generate spin around the greens worn out grooves
02:55worn out faces have quite a smooth sensation to them and that's going to cause the ball to slide up the
03:00face and not generate as much spin versus if there was a lot of friction there it would be gripped by
03:04the face and that would generate more backspin so just do a little feel test really simple just run your
03:09thumb along the face of your wedge and if it feels smooth versus what a new wedge offers
03:14it might be time to upgrade your wedges now another area to think about when it comes to
03:19potentially upgrading your wedges is turf interaction and it's really important to get
03:23the right sole geometry the the correct shaping and the right bounce to suit the technique that
03:29you employ around the greens and also the turf conditions you typically play when you're chipping
03:32around the greens especially from tight lies like this you want to really be bruising the top of
03:37the ground so you're not taking big divots the club is kind of sliding along the top of the turf
03:41picking the ball up along the way striking it nice and cleanly but if the if the sole grind isn't
03:47correctly matched to your technique or the turf you play you can get kind of those inconsistent contacts
03:51those contacts that can be quite fat the leading edge can get quite diggy and sharp and therefore
03:56sometimes you get those horrible kind of bouncy shots you maybe take slightly bigger divots than you
04:01probably should do and that's because you haven't got correctly fitted wedges and that's obviously a sign
04:05that you need new wedges now i'm not saying this necessarily applies to people who've got old
04:10wedges i think even golfers with new wedges that have either been not been custom fitted they've
04:15bought off the rack or maybe your technique has changed and therefore the shape of the wedge isn't
04:20suitable for your play anymore it's very important to get the right bounce the right grind obviously the
04:25right loft gapping as well to be able to execute the shots that you feel most comfortable around the
04:30greens and that's going to give you the best chance to do that by new wedges properly fitted
04:34now another sign that you need new wedges comes down to the grip and what we typically see with
04:39players that use their wedges for too long are grips that are worn down they may be quite shiny and they
04:45don't offer that tacky feel that a new grip is supposed to it's going to give you that kind of
04:49feedback and control that you need to have not only on full shots but also more control finesse shots
04:54around the green if the club is slipping in your hands you're not going to get that confidence about
04:58being able to return the clubface to square having control of the way you're delivering it and obviously a
05:03worn out grip is a sign that you've probably used this club for too long yes you could put new grips
05:08on your wedges that would reinvigorate the feel and the control you get but the chances are the wedge
05:14head is also degraded to a point where you possibly need to upgrade depending on how much you play in
05:19practice so by all means if your grip is still giving you a relatively soft tacky feel it's probably
05:24okay but if it's got that shiny sheeny look to it and it's not giving you that tacky feel it's probably
05:29time to replace the wedge whether it's the grip or the whole club it's up to you another telltale
05:35sign you need new wedges is the full shots that you hit with them fly too high generally speaking
05:40your flight window or your peak height with your clubs through the bag in terms of your irons and
05:45your wedges should be relatively similar there shouldn't be a lot of deviation there even with
05:50those high lofted wedges shouldn't be ballooning up too high but a common thing that you see with
05:54wedges that are worn out and need replacing obviously we've talked about friction before how you're not
05:58getting the amount of friction off the face there before the ball sliding up it is launching higher
06:03and it's you're going to see it noticeably on full shots into greens and the result of that is you're
06:07not going to get as much distance as you would be accustomed to typically with a brand new wedge in
06:11the same loft so shots are going to be falling short you have big distance gap it's going to be
06:16incredibly frustrating when you're hitting full shots into greens trying to attack flags you're not
06:21exactly sure what distance you're going to get it's probably worth upgrading to a new set of wedges
06:25it's going to give you more predictable results another telltale sign you need new wedges is you
06:31experiencing more flyers from the rough we see with wedges that have tired grooves they're not able
06:36to channel out the moisture and the dirt that gets in between the face and the ball on shots like
06:42this when the ball's sitting down from the rough you need your grooves to really get you out of
06:46trouble and provide an element of control when you're hitting shots into the greens if you've got
06:51tired grooves worn out wedges you're going to get a lot of flies going to be really unpredictable
06:56shots are going to balloon over the green they're going to have no spin on them it's going to be
07:00impossible to predict exactly where they're going to fly and generally speaking you know if you're
07:04seeing inconsistent results in terms of ball speed launch and spin with your wedge shots that is a
07:11really big telltale sign you need new wedges because if you're trying to hit shots out of this sort of lie
07:16and you're getting unpredictable results it's going to be impossible to hit the ball close
07:23now the last sign you need new wedges refers to your habits in terms of practice if you practice
07:28a lot of golf especially on the short game area sounds obvious but you're going to wear your wedges
07:32out quicker you're going to need to replace them more frequently you think about every practice
07:36session you do on the range it probably starts with a few wedge shots just to loosen up the body
07:40and get a feel for the swing and then obviously if you're moving to the short game area hitting
07:44different shots that's going to wear away the grooves a bit more quickly and obviously if
07:49you're also using the practice bunker a lot to hit a lot of different bunker shots
07:53when you're practicing that is going to really accelerate the wear and tear on the face of your
07:57wedges it's going to it's a lot more aggressive in terms of how it affects the geometry of the wedge
08:02the finish of the wedge the condition of the face it's going to accelerate that process so if you do
08:07a lot of practice in the short game area it's probably worth thinking about upgrading to some new wedges
08:12but alternatively you could reserve the practice for an old wedge and then just save your new
08:19current wedges for rounds on the actual golf course and that's one where you can kind of preserve the
08:23integrity of and the spin control you get on your current wedges from the course and then around the
08:28greens in the practice area on the range you could just switch to an old wedge and it doesn't matter
08:32if you're wearing out those grooves so much so that's an alternative you could do but think about
08:36how often you practice kind of tightly say every 75 rounds or so you want to think about upgrading your
08:41wedges but if you practice a lot more that number is going to be significantly lower so that concludes
08:46our look at the nine telltale signs that you need new wedges i don't think they're all going to apply
08:50to you but i reckon there might be one or two warning signs that if you look at your own wedges
08:55might be ringing some alarm bells and get you thinking about whether you need not necessarily a
08:58whole new set of wedges but maybe one or two new wedges in particular lofts depending on how much you
09:03use those clubs on the course and in the practice area as well i think you'll agree that the benefit of new
09:09wedges in terms of the spin control and the consistency they offer and the performance
09:13in different conditions whether it's wet dry different heights of rough is really important
09:18that feedback that you get is going to help you hopefully produce more predictable results so the
09:23benefits of new wedges are there to be seen i know a lot of players out there are quite
09:28reluctant to upgrade their wedges it is an expensive investment but i do think it's worth the money
09:32especially if your wedges are looking particularly tired that's all for me from peterborough milton golf club
09:37i'll see you next time
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