Equipment Basics: Let's talk Wedge Bounce

Equipment
#1

I’d love to get some experts to weigh in on this, but obviously it’s an in depth topic with no “right” answer.

My Current Strategy After reading about bounce a whole bunch, and having a fairly middle of the road swing in terms of “sweeping” and “picking”, I think I need to carry a high bounce wedge for most of my chipping, and a low bounce wedge for tighter lies and for the ability to better manipulate the club face.

I was listening to Steve Elkington on a podcast, and he basically called bounce a life jacket as you hit the water… it forces you back up… For me, the easiest way to think of it is in a sand shot, I’m aiming behind the ball, I want the club to dig in behind the ball and then rise up, throwing the ball (and sand) into the air. With enough bounce, the club will be forced onto this line and so all I have to worry about is hitting behind the ball and letting the club do the work for me.

Here are my assumptions on bounce, please let me know if I’m misunderstanding something:

  • We are talking about effective bounce, which is the angle behind the sole of the club… everyone measures it differently, and it can be effected by grind.
  • Opening the club face increases your effective bounce… Hence why some people open their club face in the sand (or maybe they do it to increase loft? or both?)
  • More bounce should reduce chunked shots
  • Less bounce should reduce bladed shots
  • Generically, most amateurs need more bounce
  • Less bounce is good on harder surfaces, as since you can’t dig in, the bounce could “bounce” your leading edge into a bladed ball
  • People should have a high bounce and low bounce option in their bag for varied conditions

This is one of those topics I think I can get into the weeds on, and worry too much about. Both my current wedges have a decent amount of bounce, but I’ve been using and enjoying my wider soled 58 degree from pretty much everywhere on the course… unless it’s a hardpan lie, and then I use something else. Also, I’m not sure which bounce option is better for when you are in the weeds.

#2

It’s both in this case, increasing loft and bounce. All your other bullet points are correct IMO. I have three “scoring” wedges in my bag, 50-55-60*. The 50* (AW) is a full swing club and has a mid bounce, the 55* (SW) has a high bounce, and the 60* (LW) has a low bounce. I’ll switch between the 55 and 60 around the green based on the conditions if I can’t bump and run (a shot that isn’t played enough these days IMO, but that’s a different thread).
I didn’t specifically order these wedges that way, but it’s how they came and is one of the reasons I ordered it as a set. Most “wedge sets” are like this, so I think that’s a big advantage for your average player to order a set instead of buying wedges individually, as you’ll get the right bounce for different shot types without having to think too much about it, just have to understand the basics of bounce and turf interaction.
As for our of the weeds or anything thick, the high bounce wedge is going to be best for the same reason it is best out of the sand, sliding through the thick stuff instead of digging and getting caught.

#3

Craigers: I’m certainly no expert or engineer when it comes to this topic, but I’ve played the game for 55 years, so I’ve gone through a lot of wedges. Your logic regarding the effect of bounce on your chips and sand play is sound. Those that “pick” the ball off the turf won’t need a lot of bounce on full wedge shots and if you have to chip a lot from tight lies then limit the amount of bounce on your wedge selection(s).
I think most amateur golfers would benefit from a sand wedge with a good amount of bounce (11 degrees or more) for sand play.
Just my two cents…

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#4

What is a high amount of bounce compared to not. Do conditions matter as to what bounce you want, i.e. dry course vs wet courses? Can you get fitted for bounce, this has always been a question I’m interested in. I get so lost when trying to research this topic as you said @Craigers “into the weeds” then I forget what I was trying to learn. I’d be interested to see video of the different bounce and loft combos on the different condition types. I’m really a visual learner.

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#5

Those are good questions! It’s also fun because the oem decides what “bounce” to put on the wedge and thus the topic gets murkier.

Thinking it through, is there “too much bounce”? Like what happens at 20% bounce?

I wonder if that would be a good test for people to do when trying wedges on grass… find the highest bounce they are comfortable with and use that as “the high wedge option” and then go the opposite direction… I’ve never consciously picked bounce, I’m just aware of the high and low options.

In terms of course conditions, my bank roll is not deep enough to carry different wedges on different days, so I’m trying to build a wedge setup that works in the majority of situations.

Honestly, I don’t find myself missing a low bounce option other than when I’m trying to open the club face.

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#6

Here’s an article from my friends at Pete’s Golf that might help. Bounce is a relative term, the actual bounce or a club might differ from the stamped value. Sole design plays a big factor.

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#7

Well, I like to believe I found the carrot at the end of this rabbit hole… While I still only have a basic knowledge of wedge design (I’m now even more aware of how much I don’t know, which means I know more than I did before!), I’ve set my wedges for the season.

I approached my wedge choices from a mindset of “these are the shots I want to have available to me”… I wanted:

Tools to get me on the green from 150-70 yards… looking at the pro numbers, my priority was forgiveness over anything else… I wanted to minimize my dispersion on these shots as much as possible. These are distances I have after good tee shots on my home course, so I want to have a good handle on these shots, with a goal of putting myself in a position to make an easy par.

Clubs I was comfortable with from 70-20 yards in… This distance is far less common for me… obviously I still wants options from this distance, but I’m fine with a higher shot with less spin. I want a variety of options to manipulate height, as it’s possible this will be a recovery shot (over a tree or short sided).

20 yards and in… I’ve grown fond of the Sieckmann finesse stuff, and I wanted to have a setup that worked with his ideas… He preaches a high bounce sand wedge and a low bounce lob wedge. It makes sense, as the shots that require low bounce are going to come out faster, and thus a higher launch angle can help me a ton.

Sand Shots: Everyone needs a sand wedge!

Short sided / specialty shots… I wanted something I could work around the greens, the high, soft shot… the big swing flop shot… Basically a club face I could manipulate and not end up hitting blades 50 yards over the green with.

I ended up with a set PW and GW (Adams CMB… I bought a head off GolfWRX of the GW for $40 and spent another $60 getting it shafted and gripped… could have just bought a new gap wedge!) and a Sub70 286 54 degree and a JB Low Bounce 58 degree.

My thinking on the set wedges would be they’d cover everything from 150-80 yards, with some practice and working on the clock system… I need to master the low spinning shot, and that’s going to be a fun game in the simulator once it’s done. They can also be used for more bump and run shots around the green, fit with my other irons. Basically, they just make sense for me, more as irons than wedges.

The 286 is going to be my workhorse. 54 degrees and enough bounce for my regular conditions… it will work out of the sand, and be used for the majority of chips around the green… I’ve enjoyed it on the range thus far, and I think it’s going to be a good addition to my bag.

The JB Low Bounce was a huge departure from my old 58 degree, it’s more narrow and lower bounce, but it opens up like a dream and has a soft leading edge… Honestly, as I’ve adjusted to it, my biggest problem is I keep hitting things too high / short… Great problem to have with a club I’m using for short sided shots. I’m looking forward to putting it to good use on the course!

This is all paired with the Sieckmann method of chipping, which I think is a part of the equation… having the right technique offers me more options with my wedges, so I can have a setup that covers a greater variety of needs… The finesse shots lead with the clubs bounce, so the 58 hasn’t gotten me into much trouble… yet!

I’m really excited about my game this season, and think my new setup will help lower my scores. Still plenty of work to be done, but I feel like I have the best tools to get there.

#8

Bounce is absolutely your friend even in tight lie situations around the green. I changed out 3 clubs in my set a few years back (7 to be exact) to a set of Cleveland CG12’s and added a lob wedge. Why those? The Vokeys were outta my budget. 60-10*, 54-12*, 50-10* and 46-8*. I use my 54* alot around the greens. I can hit 3/4 to an inch behind the ball (an effective mishit) and still get a reasonable result meaning I’m putting. From 25-50yds in I utilize the 60, from 50-75yd I use the 54, 75-90yd I use the 50, from 90 to 105 I use the 46. Feet close together and a solid turn. and how far back to draw the club. It does take a bit of work. Just my way of doing things without having alot of moving parts. I rarely mess around with opening clubface…you could open it 5* or 10*, honestly you won’t know and you won’t know why a shot was long or short if you catch my drift. Opening the face 3-5* is a gigantic difference. I’m more in line with club positions 9, 10, 11 o’clock with each wedge and distance. After that I’m kinda getting into full shots. The wedge bounce effectively lets you have a bit of “miss” built into your shot as the club will glide a bit through the grass. To me, trying to pick the ball should be left to the Michelsons of the world. I wouldn’t recommend more than 14* of bounce; after that, the club will effectively become only useful in a greenside bunker. Fully more than 2/3 of the game is from 90 yds in, once that is realized you know where to practice. When Mr. Hogan said “dig it out of the dirt” he wasn’t kidding. AND, since most of us don’t spend 8-10 hours a day beating our brains in on the range, you could probably test drive some cheap ebay wedges or borrow different ones from the proshop or your buds to test drive and find what will work best for you and spend an early morning or nice evening with some HIGH LIFE’s for 2 hours with a Big Boy bucket on the chipping green. The PITA is picking them all up then blasting them down the range,

#9

Interesting topic as I just ordered some new wedges and I opted for more bounce than I had in the SW this time. Basically going back to my old wedge makeup: 52/10, 56/12 and 60/9.

Last year I went for a wide sole lower bounce 60 which was primarily for greenside bunker use. Most of our greens our tiny and the bunkers are public course firm. The wide sole has more “effective bounce” and I found I could play it square in the hardpan bunkers and open it a bit in the softer bunkers. If the bunker is soft and the shot is longer then I can use the SW.

I went with a 56 SW with 12* bounce and more heel/toe relief. My old wedge had 10* and it didn’t seem quite enough for our course. I was actually doing better with the 60* even though it had 9* bounce as the wider sole helped.

For the GW I got a 52* with 10*. I’ve tried lower bounce (~ 8*) GW’s, but I tend to be steeper with this club and found I usually needed the bounce.

I should see them in a few weeks (hopefully). It will be interesting to see if I improve with them. My short game used to be a strength, but I feel like it became a weakness. I did see some improvement last year and want to see if I can keep the momentum.

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#10

Sounds like you know what you needed, or at least wanted… and pulled the trigger!

As I learn more about wedges, I realize how little I know… and how little information we actually get on wedges. Bounce isn’t always a cut and dried number, as a wedge grind will change the bounce on different parts of the club… Then you get into things like leading edge, bevel, curve of the face and it becomes a complicated mess with too many options!

I have no idea what bounce my gap wedge has on it… it’s a set club now, so I was less worried about it.

My home course bunkers are all pretty consistent, so my sand wedge will be my go to club in them the majority of the time (with wet sand getting the low bounce 58)… I also had the wide soled lob wedge last season… it was great, but I found it overlapped with my sand wedge too much… While I’ll get less reps out of my new 58, it will be used when my 54 is the wrong club for the job (vs deciding which of the two is the “Better” option).

Overall, I don’t think my wedge setup is going change my scoring average by a noticeable amount, but I wanted to give this setup a try… I’d say I can always switch back to my old setup, but now my 54 vokey has a huge grip on it!

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#11

Yeah I had pro shop credit left from last season and was just debating on what to get. Definitely wanted to get more bounce in the SW and both were a bit worn. I stayed with Callaway as I liked my old wedges for the most part and the new ones looked pretty similar. I was tempted to try Sub70, but I had a lot of pro shop credit (still do) and I like to see what the leading edge really looks like at address.

Now I just need to practice more!

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