Selecting Golf Wedges
What you need to know before selecting the best golf wedges!
With every advancement in club technology, the game of golf becomes more and more like a fine art. Like any art form, golf needs specialty tools; tools that can fine-tune and perfect any shot that the player makes. One of these tools is the wedge and it comes in enough forms and with enough functions to perfect any golfer’s game. Whether its purpose is to rescue the ball from a sand bunker, shoot it over a small stream or even lob the ball over a tree, the wedge is the perfect club to get the job done.
While the wedge itself is considered an “Iron” as far as club categories go, they are unique enough that some golfers are beginning to consider them in a category of their own. Within the wedge “category”, there are three types of wedges and many variations of each type. The main difference between these three types is something called “loft”. Loft is a measurement of angle in degrees of how the striking surface of the club lies relative to a perfectly vertical striking surface or face. In layman’s terms, it’s the thickness of the wedge.
The first type of wedge is a “sand” wedge and it performs a pretty vital function. The loft of this club is usually around fifty-six degrees. If a golfer ever finds him or her self in a sand bunker, he or she need only call upon their sand wedge. For beginners, this can be a pretty rough shot but as the player becomes more accomplished, they can almost do this shot in their sleep. The second type of wedge is the “lob” wedge. This wedge performs a pretty interesting function. Say a golfer gets stuck behind a tree or a large hill and needs to get to the other side; how do they do it?
They pull out a wedge with a sixty degree loft. Actually, the loft can go anywhere between sixty to sixty-four degrees, but it all depends on the golfer’s style and stance. When opting for a club with this much loft, the golfer is saying that they need to go high, but not very far. That is the point of this club: to get the ball up really high in the air while going shorter distances.
The last type of wedge is called the “gap” wedge. This wedge gets its name not from its function, but from the fact that its degree of loft is between the lob and sand wedges. The function of this club really epitomizes the purpose of using a wedge: yardage. What this refers to is the distance between the golfer and the flagstick. Any seasoned golfer will know the distance they have to go and the best wedge to use to cover that distance. The gap wedge is used when a sand wedge would overshoot the flagstick and a lob wedge would undershoot it.
If golf were to be considered a fine art form, then the wedge would definitely be one of its finest instruments. In the hands of a true master, a wedge can deliver the ball with precision accuracy. While it is not too common in the bags of beginners, the wedge is definitely a club that will prove its worth to any seasoned veteran.
