Jon asked for wedge questions for his podcast… @jon here you go:
Anatomy of a Wedge
People talk about BOUNCE a ton, but I don’t think it’s ever properly explained… What does bounce do, how is it measured, and what does it mean to have different amounts of bounce? How can you tell if you have TOO MUCH bounce, and how can you tell if you have TOO LITTLE?
I’ve split my two main wedges in bounce, one low and one high… That’s the Sieckmann suggestion, but I still tend to use them depending more on the shot required and less on the lie I’m facing… should I be altering my strategy?
GRIND. What is grind? WHY is grind? How much does grind matter, and when does it matter? I have a 286 54 wedge from Sub70 with minimal grind, and a more aggressively ground 58 JB… I use it to open up the wedge, but I’m not sure if grind is more useful other places… am I missing some secret on grind?
Leading Edge: I got asked this once, and it’s probably far deeper than we want to dig… but what’s the deal? straight, curved? Beveled? How much of a difference does it make…
Maybe more of a question for @Adamyounggolf Any experience with a player where you look at their wedges and your first piece of advice is to change them? What makes a wedge a bad fit for a player?
Anything you think people should pay attention to when buying new wedges?
I’ve recently moved to set PW and GW, with “fancy” SW and LW… I’m trying to hit most of my “power” wedges with my GW and PW and my “finesse” shots with my SW and LW… Any thoughts on wedge setup and when to use which wedges?
Technique: I think wedges are interesting because they basically require 2 different swings… Sieckmann calls them Finesse and Power swings…
Finesse swing, I really like the Sieckmann method… weight forward on the front foot, basically throwing the bounce into the ball… Obviously, there are plenty of other techniques… any suggestions on how to pick what works best or guidance on how to find a method that works? I was happy with my wedge game, but with a hurt back, decided to learn the Sieckmann stuff… It took some time and commitment… At what point do you think it’s worth it to learn a new system? If you aren’t going to commit to a new system, are there any universal truths people should focus on?
Power swing: This shot eluded me until recently when I got more on my toes with my stance… Specifically, the low height, high spin shot… this seems to take a decent amount of good technique… I have the time and desire to learn it, and think it’s better than the higher shot into the wind… Any thoughts on this technique? Any suggestions on how to master it? Is it worth the time for most people?
I think one of the big things I struggle with overall is picking the places to best spend time… I’m never going to have Phil’s level of control, and don’t need the arsenal he has… but what are your feelings about mastering a few basic techniques or learning a bunch of different ones? (and which do you think are the best to start with)
