I am a high handicapper, but my short game (inside 100 yds) is pretty good. How important is it to be fitted for wedges? Or can I do “off the shelf”?
I’ve been fitted for wedges twice and both times I’ve been fit into stock options. I always order wedges with shafts that match my irons, but most get by just fine with wedge flex.
Long way of saying it’s probably not a must. The biggest thing is making sure you’re in the right bounce.
1 Like
I think finding the right bounce can be tricky as it depends on how you use your wedges and what the courses are like that you play. I found through trial and error that I did better with a GW and SW with a narrower sole and ~ 10* and a 60* LW with 8-9* bounce but a wide sole. Initially I thought I needed more bounce for the LW and SW and less for the GW, but that just didn’t suit me. It probably would have been easier if I had used a pro fitter then, but I didn’t know a good local one back then.
1 Like
Thanks. Very helpful.
Thanks! Good perspective…
I think this is a great question, and worth exploring… I’ve bee around the digital golf world for 10 or so years now, and have seen fitting go from a niche offering to generic advice…
Go fit fit! It sounds as easy as walking into a shoe store and having your feet measured on those weird metal things… (as a side note, I wear 13 4Es, but my foot is a 12.5 in length… so I need custom fit shoes, basically).
It’s not that simple to get fit into golf clubs, though… and I think wedges are probably the most individually specific.
Driver is pretty simple, you find something with a good dispersion and then maximize the launch parameters… It’s pretty basic.
Putters are simple, but not easy… I spent $150 getting fit at SeeMore, and it’s some of the best money I’ve ever spent… but I had to find the right person to do the fitting.
Irons, woods and hybrids are all just matching specs, to shafts to the preferred head.
Wedges often more options than any other club, aren’t adjustable, wear out and work better in different conditions… I think there is a reason we know names like Bob Vokey and Roger Cleveland. Those guys made their names by putting people in the right wedges for them…
If you have access to a custom wedge fitter on a green grass property, I have to imagine it’s a pretty awesome experience… I think there are plenty of people out there with lots of knowledge who can walk you through bounce, grind, leading edge, shaft weight… everything. It would be a lot of fun to spend time with someone just talking wedges and working out what shots you want to have in your bag, and how you can get there with various wedge setups.
I don’t think it will significantly change your game, but it will likely help you around the greens… it would also reinforce your club choices for each shot… The lower bounce club out of the rough to prevent it from catching… the higher bounce option out of wet lies to prevent digging…
I think a generic big box fitting for wedges is going to get you into the right shaft and possibly the right heads… I don’t think it will be significantly better than doing your own research and thinking about what you want to do with your wedges and how you will get there. Especially if you are only hitting off mats.
For me, I ended up basically “fitting” myself… I talked to Jason at Sub70 to make sure I wasn’t crazy with my setup, but ended up in a high bounce 54 sand wedge, and a low bounce 58 lob wedge… I use them both for a variety of shots, but have specific applications for each as well… the 58 is for tight lights or thick rough, the 54 is more of a work horse around the green, as I’m used to it’s spin and roll out… I ended up going back to a set gap wedge simply because I hit it 3/4-full more often than anything. Both my Sub70 wedges have the S300, which is softer than the S400 I usually play… It’s not a perfect setup, and if I had the cash, I’d completely rebuild my bag from scratch with everything built to work together more… but it’s working great for what I want it to do.
Overall, I think finding someone knowledgeable and excited to work with you to find the right wedges is a great place to start. If you can’t find someone like that, it probably pays to mess around with a variety of options on your own and find what you like and don’t like.
1 Like
Short answer is yes, . You want to have your swing analyzed so you know what type of grind you might want or will help you execute the strike consistently.