An Examination of Wedges

When you really look into the wedge offerings from any manufacturer, a number of questions arise about their design philosophies:

Why do they build all lofts on the same basic back design and weighting concept? The loft difference between a 48 and 60 degree wedge is that same as that between a 6-iron and 3-wood! And no one claims that those two clubs should look alike. With the bulk of the mass placed low on the club head, and the upper 2/3 of the club relatively thin, it makes it extremely difficult to hit quality shots with a lower, “tour like” trajectory when you make “full” swings. And this weighting design is very unforgiving around the greens.

Why do they offer an endless array of bounce options, each one admittedly specialized for a particular type of turf or swing? Your ball can find practically any lie imaginable every round you play – rough, fairway, hardpan, bunker, tight lies, fluffy lies, hard turf, soft turf . . . so how is a specialized sole design going to help you?. What you need in your money clubs is a sole design that can handle anything your ball might find.

Why do they offer all these wedges with only one shaft choice? Because most wedges are sold like commodities – off the rack, one size fits all. But the heavy and stiff steel shaft common to wedges in the display racks are wrong for the vast majority of golfers. You need a shaft that optimizes feel and performance for you.

Very simply, you can do better than off-the-rack, one-size-fits-all wedges.