Wedges
There are a variety of wedges available today that a few years ago would not have been available.
Wedges are of course a member of the iron family. They are called a wedge because of their wedge shape.
Wedges are known as specialised golf clubs and are used within a hundred yards of the green.
There are four types of golf wedges -
• Pitching wedge
• Gap wedge
• Sand wedge
• Lob wedge
Wedges are designed to give you loft (height) as opposed to distance. The loft is determined by the loft angle of the club head to the shaft. The higher the degrees the higher the loft and the shorter the distance the golf ball will travel.
There aren’t any rules for golf club manufacturers that say what loft angle to use, they are free to use whatever angle they decide.
There are rules of thumb on loft angles for wedges -
A pitching wedge has a loft angle of about 45 degrees.
A gap wedge has a loft angle of about 50 degrees
A sand wedge has a loft angle of about 55 degrees
A lob wedge has a loft angle of about 60 degrees
The distances that a golf ball will travel after being hit by a wedge will differ greatly from player to player, however an average player will hit -
A Pitching wedge 100 yards
A Gap wedge 80 yards
A Sand wedge 60 yards
A Lob wedge 40 yards
In a great many cases golfers lose most of their shots on their approach to the green. This part of the game is called their short game. The reason for this is because on the tee and beyond a hundred yards players will generally hit the ball at full swing. When players get to under a hundred yards from the green and they don’t use wedges they tend to either short change their swing and fall short of the green or deliver a full swing and overshoot the green either way they lose a stroke There go the need for wedges.
Also around the green are bunkers, these are traps that once you are caught in one you need a club that can scoop a ball high enough to exit the bunker without travelling too far in distance, hence the need for a sand wedge.
