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Five Wedges

Nippon Shafts
Franklin51

Franklin51

On the Verge
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I am sure this has been discussed more times than I can count but with the super strong lofts these days how many of you care carrying more wedges? Noticed the APEX that I am leaning towards buying had a AW of 48 degrees so I am debating 52,56,60 to go with it. If you go by club numbers that would be 5 wedges which is fine for me as I dont worry about bigger yardage gaps at the top.
 
Franklin51 said:
I am sure this has been discussed more times than I can count but with the super strong lofts these days how many of you care carrying more wedges? Noticed the APEX that I am leaning towards buying had a AW of 48 degrees so I am debating 52,56,60 to go with it. If you go by club numbers that would be 5 wedges which is fine for me as I dont worry about bigger yardage gaps at the top.
Click to expand...

I started going 48, 54, 58-60 - I don't go for the OEM 48. I'm not a pro - lol - but see more go with this similar setup ---- and at my age I am going for distance at the long end of the bag. I am open to change
 
The PW's in the "players irons" category that I usually fall into, they have been around 46º for some time and I went 50,54,58 to gap them out.
Have been at those lofts for probably 15 years now? The 50 definitely gets the least use.
 
Franklin51 said:
I am sure this has been discussed more times than I can count but with the super strong lofts these days how many of you care carrying more wedges? Noticed the APEX that I am leaning towards buying had a AW of 48 degrees so I am debating 52,56,60 to go with it. If you go by club numbers that would be 5 wedges which is fine for me as I dont worry about bigger yardage gaps at the top.
Click to expand...
I have the Apex and that’s the exact set up I’m playing.
 
Carry the set 46°pw and 51°gw in the 919s then go to a 55 and 58 T20 wedge to fill out the bottom. I found the set wedges work for me but ymmv.:)
 
I have 4 wedges

PW/GW both set wedges

I have a 54/58

ordered a 50° though might swap out GW
 
I’ll soon have 5 wedges. The new Titleist T400 set I ordered comes with a 5-9 irons, PW is 38, then a 43, a 49 and a 55. I already have a Vokey 60.
 
i don't read much into a W on an iron. my iron set PW is an old school 9i in my book. the GW is an old school PW in my book. I carry 5 clubs with a W on them.
 
Fit your yardage gaps, not loft gaps. You may find that you can lose a club down low for a club up top or the other way around. It doesn’t matter if the lofts match, what’s important is that you don’t have yardage gaps that are too tight or too large.
 
Franklin51 said:
I am sure this has been discussed more times than I can count but with the super strong lofts these days how many of you care carrying more wedges? Noticed the APEX that I am leaning towards buying had a AW of 48 degrees so I am debating 52,56,60 to go with it. If you go by club numbers that would be 5 wedges which is fine for me as I dont worry about bigger yardage gaps at the top.
Click to expand...

I think a majority of golfers have 5 wedges if you count the set PW and AW. I used to carry a 52*, but learned to use my 48* to gap into my 54* so I have 4 wedges now.
 
With jacked lofts you almost need 5 wedges but it is what it is. At the end of the day, it doesnt really matter if you consider a 44 degree iron to be a PW like most are today or a 9-iron as they were called 30 years ago.
Youre allowed to have up to 14 clubs and it doesn't much matter if theyre wedges, irons, hybrids or woods. My only real problem with needing to have 5 wedges is the cost. If you have 5 wedges and go by the rule that you should replace your wedges every 2 years, youre looking at a cost of about $750 just for wedges. For some people, thats difficult to swallow from a cost standpoint.
 
My 43 PW & 48 GW match my set that act as a 10 & 11 iron. After that I have 52 & 56 wedges. Would like to have a 60 again but that would mean I would have to remove something from the top of the bag and I need all my long clubs due to a distance deficiency .
 
I have 4 wedges. PW, GW from iron set then 54 and 58. GW is 49. So, I get good coverage.
 
My wedges are 48-52-56-60. Those are enough for me. Don't see a reason for a 5th wedge.

I very seldom use all 4 of my wedges during a single round of play as it is.

Also, I can open any of those 4 clubs to get a different loft if needed. Then again, I'm not that talented of player to worry too much about it.
 
Scott F said:
I’ll soon have 5 wedges. The new Titleist T400 set I ordered comes with a 5-9 irons, PW is 38, then a 43, a 49 and a 55. I already have a Vokey 60.
Click to expand...

wait... PW is THIRTY EIGHT?!
 
mikeg_74 said:
I think a majority of golfers have 5 wedges if you count the set PW and AW. I used to carry a 52*, but learned to use my 48* to gap into my 54* so I have 4 wedges now.
Click to expand...

I think the majority of golfers have max 4 wedges if you count those.
 
Regardless of how manufacturers may label the clubs for the average guy the peak height is going to be the same across the whole set as long as the stronger lofted clubs are playable. My irons have "weak" lofts playing off 48* PW and I'm getting 75-85 feet peak height from 28* 5 iron to 52* gap wedge.

I could play one of the modern strong lofted clubs and expect peak height would be the same. The exception for me is muscleback irons where I can still get about 80 feet from 6 iron to PW, but the 5 iron loses height (75 ft) and the 4 iron loses more height (70 ft) due to insufficient swing speed.

It is weird having 5 "wedges". I think the main takeaway from this is that sets a few years ago commonly had a 50* GW/AW/UW whatever you want to call it that would match the set. Your potential set having this club be 48* drives you towards one more specialty wedge where the 50* users would go 54*, 58* and given yours is 48* you'd go 52*, 56*, 60*. Alternatively you could do something like 52*, 58* and combine the SW/LW into one club.

Dave
 
I have myForged TEC set PW bent one degree weak at 45 and then a 52, 56 and a 60. It's a big degree gap from PW to my 52 but it ends up gapping really well and I'm able to make it work great! The set AW is 49* but I just don't feel like I need that.
 
I play 4, pw (46?) 50, 54, 58

But I heard on the radio that the new T series irons PW is a 39, which is basically my 9 irons. If the trend continues, I would see me gaming 5 wedges.
 
Scott F said:
I’ll soon have 5 wedges. The new Titleist T400 set I ordered comes with a 5-9 irons, PW is 38, then a 43, a 49 and a 55. I already have a Vokey 60.
Click to expand...
I have the PW 43/49 from the T400 set and then play 52 and 60.
Thinking of swapping out the 52 for 54 or 56.
 
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