56/57 as your highest lofted club

[ava08]

I looked all around for this topic, but can't find it. Is anyone out there playing a 56/57 degree as your highest lofted club (wedge) I really have been pondering going this rout and was looking for thoughts.

[tedp]

I use a CG15 56/10 as my highest lofted wedge. With just 10 degrees of bounce, I can easily open the face when necessary for lob type shots. Being 54 years old, this is the way I learned to play. I've used a 60 degree wedge several times; however, I found that without a lot of practice or playing time with the 60, I get inconsistent results.

Ted P

[ScottyK1311]

Nathan, this thread may give you what you're looking for: http://www.golfwrx.com/forums/topic/654208-is-a-lob-wedge-necessary/ A 56/57 degree wedge could very well provide you with all the loft you need for your current game. I recently bought some new Clevelands and decided to drop the 60 from my bag. I just realized that I am better from 75 yards and in with a 56 than I am with a 60. Hope this helps.

[Fourmyle of Ceres]

My current sand wedge is 57.5 degrees and I certainly play entire rounds where the matching 61 degree lob wedge never leaves the bag. I could easily remove the LW this time of year. In summer when our Bermuda rough gets real gnarly, some extra loft can help extract the ball from a nigh-unplayable situation. But aside from that 57 (or even 56) degrees is plenty of loft for routine shots.

Heck I played quite a few rounds with my previous set using the 53-degree supposedly "gap" wedge as my highest lofted club. Just to save weight when carrying. But that was a particularly flexible club that I could play with an open face. I'm not really comfortable having to do that every time I need more than 53 degrees of loft so I think it's a pretty silly thing to do as an everyday practice.

[FiveOffTheTee]

I don't get to play enough so when i do get out there I tend to not play smart and will shoot at any sucker pin. As a result, I'm bagging a 62* to bail me out from all the hellacious lies I wind up in. For me, the 62 lands much softer than my 58 and has changed my game considerably.

[Tommy56]

Over a year ago I moved to having a 54* as my highest lofted wedge. Its a Vokey SM4 54-11 with M grind that is very versatile from many conditions. Its allowed me to practice a variety of shots with one club and become very confident with it.

[mikes919]

A year ago someone asked this question-- I said I liked using a 56* for everything because it made me a better wedge player, learning to open/close the face and generate shots. Then I tried out a lob wedge and my overall wedge play immediately improved.

I found that it's much more consistent to work on a repeatable swing with the clubface square, and switch out the club for the situation. I was able to hit a soft-landing flop shot with my 56*, but there were also a lot of times where I would blade it across the green or open the face too much and miss right. Now I just pull a lob wedge and make the same square swing as usual, with a lot less room for error.

I know it's possible to hit pretty much every shot you need with a 56*, but I don't have the time to practice all those shots enough to be confident.

[Fourmyle of Ceres]

One advantage to the rounds I played with nothing more than 53 degrees of loft was it removed any temptation to play high, soft flop shots! Even opening the face up a bit it was still a matter of landing in somewhere that it could roll out a bit. For my game, not taking full-ish swings from inside of 50 yards is a good way to play.

Of course in heavy summertime rough sometimes it takes a full-ish swing from 10 feet off the green just to gouge the ball out...

[MadGolfer76]

Fewer wedges usually = crowding at the long end of your bag. I still think more people would be better served with more wedges vs more long irons.

[tdogg21]

i grew up playing when it wasn't real common to have a lob wedge. now that i have one, i don't use it much. i'm pretty good at controlling my distance with my 47* PW and my 56* SW to not really need my 60*. i think for my next set i'll probably strengthen my SW and LW to have more of a 53* and 58* respectively. the gap between my PW and SW can be a little annoying.