- 7 hours ago
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 this
01:12wedge the finish is starting to wear off on the sole you might also see it on the face as well
01:17the whether it's been chrome plated or whatever finish you've got on there it's wearing off now this
01:23isn't necessarily going to affect performance but it definitely will affect the durability of the
01:27wedge 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
01:36and generally speaking look out for a wedge that's got the finish wearing off that's generally
01:40a sign it needs replacing now another sign you need new wedges comes down to your grooves and
01:46specifically if they are appearing to be a lot shallower than they used to be or if the edges of the
01:50grooves aren't as straight as they used to be that's a telltale sign they've deteriorated the
01:55integrity isn't there and you're not going to get the consistency of performance that you expect from
01:59a wedge especially into and around the greens we know grooves are there to channel away moisture and
02:05debris when you're hitting shots from different lies and therefore if the grooves aren't performing
02:10as effectively as they need to be you're going to get inconsistent performance you're not going to
02:14be able to control and predict the shots that you're hitting and that's going to obviously hurt your
02:18scoring so if the grooves are looking tired the chances are you need to upgrade your wedges
02:23and the next sign that you might need new wedges comes down to the feel of the face and a wedge that
02:28needs replacing will often have a very smooth feeling face and that means it's not going to give you the
02:32friction that's going to generate the spin on those shorter shots around the greens generally speaking
02:37new wedges 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 and
02:49that's going to help along with the grooves generate spin around the greens worn out grooves worn out
02:55faces have quite a smooth sensation to them and that's going to cause the ball to slide up the face
03:01and not generate as much spin versus if there was a lot of friction there it would be gripped by the
03:05face and that would generate more backspin so just do a little feel test really simple just run your thumb
03:10along the face of your wedge and if it feels smooth versus what a new wedge offers it might be time
03:15to upgrade your wedges now another area to think about when it comes to potentially upgrading your
03:20wedges is turf interaction and it's really important to get the right sole geometry the the correct
03:26shaping and the right bounce to suit the technique that you employ around the greens and also the turf
03:30conditions you typically play when you're chipping around the greens especially from tight lies like this
03:35you want to really be bruising the top of the ground so you're not taking big divots the club is kind of
03:39sliding along the top of the turf picking the ball up along the way striking it nice and cleanly but
03:44if the if the sole grind isn't correctly matched to your technique or the turf you play you can get
03:49kind of those inconsistent contacts those contacts that can be quite fat the leading edge can get quite
03:54diggy and sharp and therefore sometimes you get those horrible kind of bouncy shots you maybe take
04:00slightly bigger divots than you probably should do and that's because you haven't got correctly fitted wedges
04:04and that's obviously a sign that you need new wedges now i'm not saying this necessarily applies to
04:09people who've got old wedges i think even golfers with new wedges that have either been
04:14not been custom fitted they've bought off the rack or maybe your technique has changed and therefore
04:18the shape of the wedge isn't suitable for your play anymore it's very important to get the right
04:23bounce the right grind obviously the right loft gapping as well to be able to execute the shots that
04:28you feel most comfortable around the greens and that's going to give you the best chance to do that
04:32buy new wedges properly fitted now another sign that you need new wedges comes down to the grip and
04:38what we typically see with players that use their wedges for too long are grips that are worn down
04:43they may be quite shiny and they don't offer that tacky feel that a new grip is supposed to it's going
04:48to give you that kind of feedback and control that you need to have not only on full shots but also more
04:53control finesse shots around the green if the club is slipping in your hands you're not going to get
04:57that confidence about being able to return the club face to square having control of the way you're
05:02delivering it and obviously a worn out grip is a sign that you've probably used this club for too long
05:06yes you could put new grips on your wedges that would reinvigorate the feel and the control you get
05:12but the chances are the wedge head is also degraded to a point where you possibly need to upgrade depending
05:18on how much you play in practice so by all means if your grip is still giving you a relatively soft tacky
05:23feel it's probably okay but if it's got that shiny shiny look to it and it's not giving you that tacky
05:28feel it's probably time to replace the wedge whether it's the grip or the whole club it's up to you
05:34another telltale sign you need new wedges is the full shots that you hit with them fly too high
05:39generally speaking your flight window or your peak height with your clubs through the bag in terms of
05:45your irons and your wedges should be relatively similar there shouldn't be a lot of deviation there
05:49even if those high lofted wedges shouldn't be ballooning up too high but a common thing that
05:54you see with wedges that are worn out and need replacing obviously we've talked about friction
05:57before how you're not getting the amount of friction off the face there before the ball sliding up it
06:02it's launching higher and it's you're going to see it noticeably on full shots into greens and the
06:06result of that is you're not going to get as much distance as you would be accustomed to typically
06:10with a brand new wedge in the same loft so shots are going to be falling short you're going to have big
06:15distance gap it's going to be incredibly frustrating when you're hitting full shots into greens trying to
06:19attack flags you're not exactly sure what distance you're going to get it's probably worth upgrading
06:24to a new set of wedges it's going to give you more predictable results another telltale sign you need
06:29new wedges is you experiencing more flyers from the rough we see with wedges that have tired grooves
06:36they're not able to channel out the moisture and the dirt that gets in between the face and the ball on
06:42shots like this 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
06:51got tired grooves worn out wedges you're going to get a lot of flies it's going to be really
06:55unpredictable shots are going to balloon over the green they're going to have no spin on them it's
06:59going to be impossible to predict exactly where they're going to fly and generally speaking
07:03you know if you're seeing inconsistent results in terms of ball speed launch and spin with your wedge
07:10shots that is a really big telltale sign you need new wedges because if you're trying to hit
07:14shots out of this sort of lie and you're getting unpredictable results
07:20it's going to be impossible to hit the ball close now the last sign you need new wedges refers to
07:25your habits in terms of practice if you practice a lot of golf especially on the short game area
07:30sounds obvious but you're going to wear your wedges out quicker you're going to need to
07:33replace them more frequently you think about every practice session you do on the range it probably
07:37starts with a few wedge shots just to loosen up the body and get a feel for the swing and then
07:42obviously if you're moving to the short game area hitting different shots that's going to wear away
07:46the grooves a bit more quickly and obviously if you're also using the practice bunker a lot to
07:51hit a lot of different bunker shots when you're practicing that is going to really accelerate the
07:55wear and tear on the face of your wedges it's going to it's a lot more aggressive in terms of how it
08:01affects the geometry of the wedge the finish of the wedge the condition of the face it's going to
08:06accelerate that process so if you do a lot of practice in the short game area it's probably worth
08:10thinking about upgrading to some new wedges but alternatively you could reserve the practice
08:16for an old wedge and then just save your new current wedges for rounds on the actual golf course and
08:22that's one way you can kind of preserve the integrity of and the spin control you get on
08:26your current wedges from the course and then around the greens in the practice area on the range you
08:30could just switch to an old wedge and it doesn't matter if you're wearing out those grooves so much
08:34so that's an alternative you could do but think about how often you practice kind of tightly
08:38say every 75 rounds or so you want to think about upgrading your wedges but if you practice a lot
08:42more that number is going to be significantly lower so that concludes our look at the nine telltale
08:47signs that you need new wedges i don't think they're all going to apply to you but i reckon there might
08:51be one or two warning signs that if you look at your own wedges might be ringing some alarm bells and
08:56get you thinking about whether you need not necessarily a whole new set of wedges but maybe one or two
09:00new wedges in particular lofts depending on how much you use those clubs on the course and in the
09:05practice area as well i think you'll agree that the benefit of new wedges in terms of the spin
09:10control and the consistency they offer and the performance in different conditions whether it's
09:15wet dry different heights of rough is really important that feedback that you get is going
09:20to help you hopefully produce more predictable results so the benefits of new wedges are there to
09:24be seen i know a lot of players out there are quite reluctant to upgrade their wedges it is an
09:29expensive investment but i do think it's worth the money especially if your wedges are looking
09:34particularly tired that's all for me from peterborough milton golf club i'll see you next time
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