- 8 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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00:04whoa 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 not
00:42getting 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
01:17well
01:17whether it's been chrome plated or whatever finish you've got on there it's wearing off now this
01:22isn'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 and
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
01:46if they are appearing to be a lot shallower than they used to be or if the edges of the
01:50grooves aren't as
01:51straight as they used to be that's a telltale sign they've deteriorated the integrity isn't there
01:56and 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
02:06you're hitting shots from different lies and therefore if the grooves aren't performing as
02:11effectively as they need to be you're going to get inconsistent performance you're not going
02:14to be able to control and predict the shots that you're hitting and that's going to obviously hurt
02:18your scoring 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
02:27wedge
02:27that needs replacing will often have a very smooth feeling face and that means it's not going to give
02:32you the friction that's going to generate the spin on those shorter shots around the greens
02:36generally speaking new wedges have some sort of technology in between the grooves whether it's micro
02:43grooves extra milling different channels whatever it might be on the face that makes it have a coarser
02:49texture to it and that's going to help along with the grooves generate spin around the greens
02:54worn out grooves worn out faces have quite a smooth sensation to them and that's going to cause the
02:59ball to slide up the face and not generate as much spin versus if there was a lot of friction
03:03there
03:04it would be gripped by the face and that would generate more backspin so just do a little feel
03:08test really simple just run your thumb along the face of your wedge and if it feels smooth
03:12versus what a new wedge offers it might be time to upgrade your wedges now another area to think
03:18about when it comes to potentially upgrading your wedges is turf interaction and it's really important
03:22to get the right sole geometry the the correct shaping and the right bounce to suit the technique
03:28that you 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
03:46isn't correctly matched to your technique or the turf you play you can get kind of those inconsistent
03:50contacts those contacts that can be quite fat the leading edge can get quite diggy and sharp
03:55and therefore sometimes you get those horrible kind of bouncy shots you maybe take slightly bigger
04:00divots than you probably should do and that's because you haven't got correctly fitted wedges and
04:05that's obviously a sign that you need new wedges now i'm not saying this necessarily applies to
04:08people who've got old wedges i think even golfers with new wedges that have either been uh not been
04:14custom fitting they've bought off the rack or maybe your technique has changed and therefore
04:18the the 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 uh to be able to execute the shots
04:28that you 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
04:48going
04:48to give you that kind of feedback and control that you need to have not only on full shots but
04:52also more
04:53control finesse shots around the green if the club is slipping in your hands you're not going to get that
04:57confidence 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
05:22soft 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
05:28tacky
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
06:15have 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
06:42on
06:42shots like this when the ball's sitting down from the rough you need your grooves to really get you out
06:46of trouble and provide an element of control um 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 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
07:10really big telltale sign you need new wedges because if you're trying to hit shots out of this sort of
07:15lie 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 replace them
07:34more frequently you think about every practice session you do on the range it probably starts with
07:38a few wedge shots just to loosen up the body and get a feel for the swing and then obviously
07:42if you're
07:42moving to the short game area hitting different shots that's going to wear away the grooves a bit
07:46a bit more quickly and obviously if you're also using the practice bunker a lot to hit a lot of
07:51different bunker shots when you're practicing that is going to really accelerate the wear and tear
07:56on the face of your wedges it's going to it's a lot more aggressive in terms of how it affects
08:01the
08:01the geometry of the wedge the finish of the wedge the condition of the face it's going to accelerate that
08:06process so if you do a lot of practice in the short game area it's probably worth thinking about
08:10upgrading to some new wedges but alternatively you could reserve the practice for an old wedge and
08:18then just save your new current wedges for rounds on the actual golf course and that's one way you
08:22can kind of preserve the integrity of and the spin control you get on your current wedges from the
08:27course and then around the greens in the practice area on the range you could just switch to an old
08:31wedge and it doesn't matter if you're wearing out those grooves so much so that's an alternative you
08:35could do but think about how often you practice kind of tightly say every 75 rounds or so you want
08:40to think about upgrading your wedges but if you practice a lot more that number is going to be
08:44significantly lower so that concludes our look at the nine telltale signs that you need new wedges i
08:49don't think they're all going to apply to you but i reckon there might be one or two warning signs
08:53that
08:53if you look at your own wedges might be ringing some alarm bells and get you thinking about whether you
08:57need not necessarily a whole new set of wedges but maybe one or two new wedges in particular lofts
09:02depending on how much you use those clubs on the course and in the practice area as well
09:06i think you'll agree that the benefit of new wedges in terms of the spin control and the consistency
09:12they offer and the performance in different conditions whether it's wet dry different heights
09:16of rough is really important that feedback that you get is going to help you hopefully
09:20produce more predictable results so the benefits of new wedges are there to be seen i know a lot of
09:26players out there are quite reluctant to upgrade their wedges it is an expensive investment but
09:31i do think it's worth the money especially if your wedges are looking particularly tired
09:35that's all for me from peterborough milton golf club i'll see you next time
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