The bottom of the set.

[NiftyNiblick]

I've been playing with and without my Wishon 870Ti pitching wedge.

Since the entire set is 2° weak, the 9-iron and PW are bent from 43 and 47° up to 45 and 49°.

(The Wishons are low bounce irons and are thus better to bend weak than bend strong. Bending them strong will result in zero bounce or negative bounce and make them dig. Bending them weak does not result in excessive bounce. High bounce irons, on the other hand, are usually better to bend strong.)

If I leave out the 49° wedge, I have a reasonable 7° gap between my 9-iron and my 52° Nakashima or Spin Doctor wedge.

If I go with the 49, I have a 4° gap between my 49 and one of my 53° 588 Diadics, the latter always paired with a Cleveland 691 fifty-eight. (In my head, the two Clevelands have forever just gone together.)

The loft of my sand wedge is never coordinated with the other wedges that I'm bagging because in my set configuration, the sand iron is a utility club that's not part of the loft progression. This is in contrast to modern practice, but my sand irons are all of a certain style and not intended to be used as fairway clubs.

It all results in the following dynamic: PW, 53, 58 + sand iron means no flop wedge. 9 straight to 52, 58 + sand iron means room for a flop wedge.

Alway four wedges, never five, because at the top, I always overlap (roughly) a long club loft for a fairway wood and a driving iron. That's just how I've always played.

I wouldn't bother with a flop wedge if I carried a 60° lob wedge. Since I carry a 58° wedge, either a 691, a Nak, or a 60° Spin Doctor bent to 58, I do occasionally carry a super loft (64° or more) short- side wedge. These have to be played either off the front foot for a sky lob or the back foot for a short pitch. Played near mid-stance, one has no idea what this type of club is going to do.

What are other GR players doing at the bottom of your sets?

[Lord Helmet]

I play a 46* PW (Mizuno MP53).

51/12 gap wedge. Callaway X Forged. C Grind, MD grooves. Versatile wedge. Can play from sand, rough, tight lies. Can open the face. Plays all the shots.

56/15 sand wedge. Callaway X Forged. See gap wedge description above.

This is all I need and all I carry.

My favorite shot to play around the green is the low trajectory shot with tons of spin that hits, hops, and comes to a dead stop. I can use either the 51 or 56 for this.

[mongrel]

Mizuno MX 20 PW at 46*
Vokey BVM 52/8
Vokey BVM 56/12 (newly added for this coming Sunday)
Mizuno MP Series 58/10
Putter

I have been using both the 52 and 58 from sand bunkers but with mediocre results due to varying conditions of the sand on the different course. So I have decided to give the middle finger to all the "experts" who dictate a certain loft difference between "scoring" clubs be it 4, 5 or 6 degrees or whatever. The 52 and 58 have been performing admirably on full shots from fairway and rough lies lately. And since I am playing solely for score, I have altered my tactics slightly to laying up with short or mid irons rather than automatically pulling out my longest hybrid or fairway wood and hitting them into Snowman territory too frequently. Last Saturday on the longest par 5 on the course we played, I hit a decent drive but was blocked behind a stand of trees at the inside of the doglog so I hit an 8 iron and on the next shot I hit that 8 iron again rather than risk the thick rough or the freaking sand bunkers 20 to 50 yards from the green. My fourth shot was a 65 yarder with the 58* and I made the ten foot putt for par. Lots better than dead-pulling a hybrid and rattling around to salvage 8. And the 56* Vokey and 58* Mizuno are totally different from the sand, rough and fairway so the two degree difference don't mean squat.

[poe4soul]

I've been playing with and without my Wishon 870Ti pitching wedge.

Since the entire set is 2° weak, the 9-iron and PW are bent from 43 and 47° up to 45 and 49°.

(The Wishons are low bounce irons and are thus better to bend weak than bend strong. Bending them strong will result in zero bounce or negative bounce and make them dig. Bending them weak does not result in excessive bounce. High bounce irons, on the other hand, are usually better to bend strong.)

If I leave out the 49° wedge, I have a reasonable 7° gap between my 9-iron and my 52° Nakashima or Spin Doctor wedge.

If I go with the 49, I have a 4° gap between my 49 and one of my 53° 588 Diadics, the latter always paired with a Cleveland 691 fifty-eight. (In my head, the two Clevelands have forever just gone together.)

The loft of my sand wedge is never coordinated with the other wedges that I'm bagging because in my set configuration, the sand iron is a utility club that's not part of the loft progression. This is in contrast to modern practice, but my sand irons are all of a certain style and not intended to be used as fairway clubs.

It all results in the following dynamic: PW, 53, 58 + sand iron means no flop wedge. 9 straight to 52, 58 + sand iron means room for a flop wedge.

Alway four wedges, never five, because at the top, I always overlap (roughly) a long club loft for a fairway wood and a driving iron. That's just how I've always played.

I wouldn't bother with a flop wedge if I carried a 60° lob wedge. Since I carry a 58° wedge, either a 691, a Nak, or a 60° Spin Doctor bent to 58, I do occasionally carry a super loft (64° or more) short- side wedge. These have to be played either off the front foot for a sky lob or the back foot for a short pitch. Played near mid-stance, one has no idea what this type of club is going to do.

What are other GR players doing at the bottom of your sets?

I carry a gap wedge 52* and a 58* sw. I find I'm better using less not more; if I just go with my natural instincts and let my athleticism take over I'll execute good shots. If I think too much, like you are doing here, I hit mediocre shots. Too many options just yield doubt. Once you doubt gets in your head you don't commit to the shot. Just be the ball. Oh, and do drugs daily.

Also by simplifying you can spend more time practicing with a couple of clubs. I find my speed control is much better this way. Everyone is different but this is what works for me.

[Pky6471]

45* PW
50* GW (LaJolla Knife, almost no bounce, get it up to air very quickly)
56* Taylormade SW
60* Turin LW - 45 yds max, Great in rough and at the lip of a bunker

[Horseballs]

52 low bounce gap wedge - I use it primarily on full shots and chips
56 higher bounce wedge - bunkers, full shots, chips, pitches, rarely for half swings
60 low bounce wedge - bunkers, full shots, chips, pitches, flops, half swings

I need to get better at my wedge play, and I think I can do it by using the 52 and 56 more often on shots between 50 - 100 yards. My distance control isn't as good as I'd like it when I use the 60.

[mongrel]

52 low bounce gap wedge - I use it primarily on full shots and chips
56 higher bounce wedge - bunkers, full shots, chips, pitches, rarely for half swings
60 low bounce wedge - bunkers, full shots, chips, pitches, flops, half swings

I need to get better at my wedge play, and I think I can do it by using the 52 and 56 more often on shots between 50 - 100 yards. My distance control isn't as good as I'd like it when I use the 60.

As Poe described above, sometimes less is more with the wedges. Recently I've been practicing taking yardage off partial shots by opening the wedge faces, altering ball positions for various trajectories and distances, and stuff like that. Anything over 58* has always been a crap shoot for me. Also I have dumped several chip and pitch swings and simplified those to two basic pitches and two basic chip shot.

[Horseballs]

As Poe described above, sometimes less is more with the wedges. Recently I've been practicing taking yardage off partial shots by opening the wedge faces, altering ball positions for various trajectories and distances, and stuff like that. Anything over 58* has always been a crap shoot for me. Also I have dumped several chip and pitch swings and simplified those to two basic pitches and two basic chip shot.

I played 54/58 for a very long time. I never felt like I could hit bunker shots well with the 54. I'm pretty good with the 60 from full shot range and around the greens. It's just that 30 - 80 yard range that is a weak link. I feel like I should be hitting those within 15 or so feet on good swings, but I'm not doing that regularly. I usually go long, but right at the stick. Maybe it's just a matter of practice.

[mongrel]

I played 54/58 for a very long time. I never felt like I could hit bunker shots well with the 54. I'm pretty good with the 60 from full shot range and around the greens. It's just that 30 - 80 yard range that is a weak link. I feel like I should be hitting those within 15 or so feet on good swings, but I'm not doing that regularly. I usually go long, but right at the stick. Maybe it's just a matter of practice.

Yes, it is a matter of practice and there comes a time when you are confident over that 30-80 yard shot and you pull it off more than half the time to within 15 feet. I've got that range now with my 58* Mizuno which I've had long enough to play four rounds with. And since I'm not hitting a whole lot of greens in reg, I've got a lot of practice with that club on the course. I had a 54* but could neither hit it reliably out of sand nor hit a satisfactory full shot off fairway or out of rough so it has been closeted. I find that I can vary the full swing distance of my 52* from about 75 to 110 yards just be opening or closing the face and address and holding it throughout the swing. I have been finding devious pins tucked into bunker-protected green corners with that club lately and hitting it to 5-10 feet and making the putts. Sometimes that sh*t scares me.

[NiftyNiblick]

If I think too much, like you are doing here, I hit mediocre shots. Too many options just yield doubt.

It comes across that way, but I'm actually reducing options.

I have a club for sand or greenside rough that's not even a part of my set's loft progression. Like a putter, the club is designed for where the ball is, not how far it must go, and in the bunker or high rough circumstance, I go to it immediately with no second thoughts. It's automatic.

At 52 / 53 and 58, I have two pitching clubs. Not even a set matching PW to go with them, most of the time. This is entirely dependent on distance. Nothing to think about.

The flop wedge is for short sided misses. Very specific. I have no reason to use it for anything else.

It seems like a lot of options if one is thinking inside the box where clubs are meant for a certain distance in a continuous loft progression.

Remember, my nine iron is 45°. The 52/53 and the 58 are my ten and eleven irons, just like any other iron, except they also have clock dial backswing positions for less than full shots. They also have flagrantly non-conforming grooves, but that's our secret.

The sand iron and flop wedge are, like the putter, for specific shots; they're not used as all-purpose clubs. They're shot-specific utilities. Nothing to think about, although most modern players won't take up a club space for a shot specific utility. I take up several (including a driving iron that I don't hit from the deck) and make do with fewer conventional clubs.

It's a different way to play that works for me.

[famousdavis]

Today I played with the new Ping i5 irons I picked up. My wedges consisted of the 47 degree Ping i5 pitching wedge and then a Titleist Vokey Spin Milled Oil Can 56 wedge. That's it for the wedges. I shot 78 today at a very tough course. The short game is finally coming around.

[Not a hacker]

52 low bounce gap wedge - I use it primarily on full shots and chips
56 higher bounce wedge - bunkers, full shots, chips, pitches, rarely for half swings
60 low bounce wedge - bunkers, full shots, chips, pitches, flops, half swings

I need to get better at my wedge play, and I think I can do it by using the 52 and 56 more often on shots between 50 - 100 yards. My distance control isn't as good as I'd like it when I use the 60.

Im a 52/56/60 man and couldnt feel comfortable without all 3 in the bag. I hate the stupid 14 club rule but will go without at the top end so I can stack the wedges. Having modern jacked up lofts on my irons necessitates the 52.

[poe4soul]

It comes across that way, but I'm actually reducing options.

I have a club for sand or greenside rough that's not even a part of my set's loft progression. Like a putter, the club is designed for where the ball is, not how far it must go, and in the bunker or high rough circumstance, I go to it immediately with no second thoughts. It's automatic.

At 52 / 53 and 58, I have two pitching clubs. Not even a set matching PW to go with them, most of the time. This is entirely dependent on distance. Nothing to think about.

The flop wedge is for short sided misses. Very specific. I have no reason to use it for anything else.

It seems like a lot of options if one is thinking inside the box where clubs are meant for a certain distance in a continuous loft progression.

Remember, my nine iron is 45°. The 52/53 and the 58 are my ten and eleven irons, just like any other iron, except they also have clock dial backswing positions for less than full shots. They also have flagrantly non-conforming grooves, but that's our secret.

The sand iron and flop wedge are, like the putter, for specific shots; they're not used as all-purpose clubs. They're shot-specific utilities. Nothing to think about, although most modern players won't take up a club space for a shot specific utility. I take up several (including a driving iron that I don't hit from the deck) and make do with fewer conventional clubs.

It's a different way to play that works for me.

Different strokes for different folks I guess. I guess you're more like a tactician with your assortment of clubs; I'm more like an artist. I just imagine the shot I want to play and pick one of two clubs and execute. You say it's all black and white but I know you have gray areas when you have to decide between two or three clubs/shots.

[Fluffy]

If I can sort out my driver I can have a 28,32,36,40,44,48,40,52,54,56,58,60 degree in the bag...

[oldplayer]

52 low bounce gap wedge - I use it primarily on full shots and chips
56 higher bounce wedge - bunkers, full shots, chips, pitches, rarely for half swings
60 low bounce wedge - bunkers, full shots, chips, pitches, flops, half swings

I need to get better at my wedge play, and I think I can do it by using the 52 and 56 more often on shots between 50 - 100 yards. My distance control isn't as good as I'd like it when I use the 60.

Ditto. This is my set up. Minor difference is my gap wedge is bent to 51 from 52 which gives 7* of bounce and is 5 degrees gap to my 46* pw and the same to my sw. SW is 10* bounce. Lob is 5*.

[NiftyNiblick]

Different strokes for different folks I guess. I guess you're more like a tactician with your assortment of clubs; I'm more like an artist. I just imagine the shot I want to play and pick one of two clubs and execute. You say it's all black and white but I know you have gray areas when you have to decide between two or three clubs/shots.

Actually, the flop wedge is out right now because I'm using my new Wedgewoods, and there are four of them because they made the lofts too close together.

16, 19, 22, 25° fwy woods (1" long)
driving iron
5-9 (bent to 27, 31, 35, 40, 45°)
52, 58°
sand iron
putter.

The flop wedge was overkill, I think. In any case, with the Wedgewood set, I don't have room for it.

I've got a game at 1.

[Kiwi Player]

Actually, the flop wedge is out right now because I'm using my new Wedgewoods, and there are four of them because they made the lofts too close together.

16, 19, 22, 25° fwy woods (1" long)
driving iron
5-9 (bent to 27, 31, 35, 40, 45°)
52, 58°
sand iron
putter.

The flop wedge was overkill, I think. In any case, with the Wedgewood set, I don't have room for it.

I've got a game at 1.

Always figured those Wedgewoods were hybrid woods in wedge lofts like from 45-60° which seemed ridiculous. But you have them in normal fairway woods/hybrid lofts. So what's special/different about them?

[NiftyNiblick]

Always figured those Wedgewoods were hybrid woods in wedge lofts like from 45-60° which seemed ridiculous. But you have them in normal fairway woods/hybrid lofts. So what's special/different about them?

Well, we can begin with the fact that unlike most hybrids, they use .335 wood width instead of .370 iron width shafts. That means that you can build them longer, use lightweight shafts, and they're not excessively heavy.

Two, the combination of moderate lie angles with rocker soles means that you can go an inch long without the clubs becoming too upright. That's important to me.

Three, when I look at a golf club in a shop, I hold the clubhead up to eye level, right side up so that the shaft and grip point to the ceiling, not the floor. Then I imagine steel hitting urethane. If I don't like the image at eye level, I'll hate it at address position.

Just looking at the Wedgewood at our practice tee, I loved how the impact zone looked up at eye level.

Flat face, not much bulge and roll, which is theoretically bad but which makes a great mental image which is important to me.

(Low bounce on wedges works that way for me too-I love how it looks, even if it's not recommended.)

That was enough to try them, but it made a very expensive, recently purchased Henry-Griffitts fairway wood superfluous. Just another expensive mistake in the collection.