I like to ask inquisitive questions to get the mental juices flowing. Every once in a while, the question sparks an usually high quantity of responses that garners some very interesting findings. A couple of days ago, my question about your favorite wedge was just enough to get the ball rolling. Additionally, I found out something that I had suspected, but no can confirm as an interesting phenomenon that affects virtually all golfers who carry more than one wedge.
Here is how all the fun began:
To start everything, I picked what I thought was the standard lofts of the four wedges players carry. Actually, I based the answers on the clubs in my bag….pretty scientific, eh! So, this is how we started.
In addition to the 212 respondents, I also received 38 other tweets talking about their favorite wedge not listed above. The primary answers were a 50 degree gap wedge, 54 degree sand wedge, and 58 degree gap wedge. Additionally, on person hit a 64 degree lob wedge (so there are two players in the world that can hit this wedge and the other is Phil Mickelson).
One of my favorites was from MMGolfStudios because he bent his wedges to suit his game. That is smart if you ask me and they were the only ones to mention it. This is part of the string I liked:
So, after all the discussions and bantering back and forth, I quickly came to realize that a pattern was emerging. It was not earth shattering, but more of an “ah-ha” moment. After rereading all of the responses one thing was very obvious. Almost all the respondents had a degree separation between their wedges of 4 degrees. Yup, no matter where the degrees started, the other wedges rose in increments of 4 degrees.
This probably is not a surprise to many of you, but it caught my attention as I looked at the data. After examining my game, I realized that the 4 degree difference in my game results in a 20 yard difference in my game. This is how things unfold for me:
- Pitching Wedge – 48 degrees – 120 yards
- Gap Wedge – 52 degrees – 100 yards
- Sand Wedge – 56 degrees – 80 yards
- Lob Wedge – 60 degrees – 60 yards
To be fair I rarely use my lob wedge outside of 25 yards, but I can hit routinely at 60 yards or I can on the range. But, the rest is very close to what I hit during my game.
So I wondered if 4 degrees was the standard gap between their wedges. I will have to ask that question and then update my findings. Until then, what do you think of my epiphany?
The results of my poll on 23 Feb 2019:
I am a grateful golfer! See you on the links!
The Grateful Golfer 
My iron set, Calloway XBlack, have 3 degree changes between the 3 down to the 6, and 4 degree changes from the 6 down to the PW which is 44 degrees..
From there, my Mizuno wedges jump 6 degrees to 50, 56, and 60 for the lob wedge.
I would have preferred a more consistent 4 degree change, but have had no real problems with adjusting to the gaps.
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Kevin
You set of clubs sounds pretty standard. I find your wedges, with a 6 degree gap, a bit much for my game. But, you obviously have everything under control. Thanks for sharing.
Cheers Jim
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Great subject. Not afraid to be the outlier here, I use a 50 degree wedge. Period. Weird, right?
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Pee Wee,
No weird. When I first started playing, I only used my PW. I could do wonders with it, unfortunately it was not as consistent as I needed to improve my scores. So, the change to 4 wedges was driven by my desire to shoot better and it worked. It is all a process as your game evolves.
Cheers Jim
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