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Has this been done (wedge use survey)?


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I’ve been working with a coach who caddied on tour for 9 years and won the PGA tournament in our area last year. Hes an amazing player and his short game is the strength of his game. He does everything greenside with a 58*. The guy he caddied for had an amazing up and down percentage (Chad Collins) he used only 1 club (a 60*) for everything. I anecdotally heard most of the LPGA is the same, using a 60* for everything.

Have the spies ever surveyed not what wedges are in the bag, but the way the work gets divvied up amongst them? Possibly through Arccos?

My hunch is most mid handicaps find one versatile wedge they use for nearly everything, and as the cap goes down, the loft stamped on that club of choice goes up to give them more options?
 

 

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I used to exclusively use a 60 for all chipping duties, but recently have been using 56 instead. I'm half tempted to ditch the 60 some other gap in my bag.

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4 hours ago, Kenny B said:

I use 60 for everything around the green, maybe my 54 if I have a longish bunker shot.

This for me as well. Or if I have a very fluffy bunker shot in need of more bounce, then I'll use the 54.

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I use the 58 for 90% of my chips & pitches. If it's a tight spot, I bump with usually a 7i

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I’m sure it’s not recommended, but I use my 8i or GW (50*) around the green 95% of the time. I use my 56* high bounce from greenside traps and my 60* only when the situation demands (short sided with a trap between my ball and the pin). In my weak defense, it’s mostly tight lies on my regular course where blading the shot happens all too often (to me).

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Last year I started the season almost always using my 60 degree wedge.  Hit maybe three highlight shots and the rest sub par.  Halfway through the season switched to my 56 degree wedge with slightly better results but still poor.

This year I started using 7i down depending on the situation.  Trying to let the ball roll to the cup instead of flying it there.  Only using the 60 degree for flop shots when I have no other option.  Been playing the last three weeks and every week my proximity to the hole seems to be getting better.  Going to stick with this system the rest of the year.

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45 minutes ago, jlukes said:

I'm not a big handle leaner on chips, so while I still use my 54 predominantly, I've really been using my 9 iron and even 8 iron for chips right off the green that have plenty of room to run.

I am very similar. I started using a 9 iron last year, which is about the perfect club for a pitch and run and I'll make a similar length stroke to how long of putt it would be.   I don't find myself in the situation too often (usually I'll be in fringe so I can putt or too much rough between me and green to have the 9 iron work, but still a nice option when needed.  I wish I had found that shot earlier last year when I was at Bandon Dunes.

I used to use my 54* on almost all shots from 110 in and just take my 75% swing or whatever it called for.  I've started to use my 58* more on these shots and found my proximity is getting better.  Stock is about 85-90 yards carry with my 58* and I find it much easier to hit a 65/70 yard shot with a 75% swing with a 58* rather than more guessing with my SW.  35 - 55 is still a bit more difficult, so far I still use my 54*, but may experiment.

Around the green, I tend to always use a 54* and open or shut the face as needed for the shot.  If I need to flop, I'll go to 58*, but other than that it's always a 54*.  

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I’m incredibly curious to see if there are any trends from a large number of golfers. I thought all better golfers (better than me) were splitting the work pretty evenly using a “Dave Pelz” type wedge matrix (1/4, 1/2, 3/4 swing across 3-4 wedges). Every time I’ve tried going that way it has set me back.

 

My instructor said that approach works for some people, but to find what works for me. His advice was the elite players he knows tend to get super intimate with one “workhorse” wedge. I’m not elite, by any measure, but I wonder if the trends would be useful for average golfers like me?

 

 

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I grew-up learning to golf in the 70s, and my Dad taught me what he was taught which you see Nicklaus, Palmer, etc all teach: get the ball rolling as quickly as possible. I use that teaching to this day. If I’m on the fringe I’m generally putting. If it’s fringe-length but 5-10 feet off the green, I’ll probably use a 7/8/9 iron. Most courses here in the Mississippi Delta have greens that are elevated 3-4 feet just for drainage, so on these courses we get a lot of uphill lies. In those situations I’ll use my PW or 54*, just depends on how fluffy the lie is.

I played with a guy recently that’s my age that played college golf in Oklahoma. He uses his 60* for everything, but just moves the handle around to adjust his loft. He’s magical with it. I can’t do that..... I just stick with what I’ve done for 40 years.

 

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In years past I would use my 56 for EVERYTHING 90 yards and in.  The past year I have been using more PW, 9 irons and 52 for chipping and various types of shots trying to control the trajectory a bit better.  I hit some good shots and bad shots but I'm still learning them all.

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1 hour ago, Grit Golf said:

I’m incredibly curious to see if there are any trends from a large number of golfers. I thought all better golfers (better than me) were splitting the work pretty evenly using a “Dave Pelz” type wedge matrix (1/4, 1/2, 3/4 swing across 3-4 wedges). Every time I’ve tried going that way it has set me back.

My instructor said that approach works for some people, but to find what works for me. His advice was the elite players he knows tend to get super intimate with one “workhorse” wedge. I’m not elite, by any measure, but I wonder if the trends would be useful for average golfers like me?

 

I am not sure you asked the right question to get this answer.   You talked about greenside shots in your original post;   you won't use a "Pelz" approach for greenside shots and depending on what you are trying to do and your approach it may be.  chipping around the green and finesse shots are typically pretty short swings.   As you start getting into distance wedges,  you need to figure out how to control distances;  some will follow the PELZ system; which people will call mechanical, and others will say they "feel" the distance.  I would guess that they have over time determined distances based on a pelz approach and tweak the length of swing.   

I think your question is more about the distances that are shorter than their most lofted club.   Do players use one club from those distances or do they have multiple distances associated with multiple clubs.   For example, your most lofted clubs standard distance is 80 yards,  how does the player hit a 70, 60, 50, 45, 20, etc. yard shot.  

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I am not sure you asked the right question to get this answer.   You talked about greenside shots in your original post;   you won't use a "Pelz" approach for greenside shots and depending on what you are trying to do and your approach it may be.  chipping around the green and finesse shots are typically pretty short swings.   As you start getting into distance wedges,  you need to figure out how to control distances;  some will follow the PELZ system; which people will call mechanical, and others will say they "feel" the distance.  I would guess that they have over time determined distances based on a pelz approach and tweak the length of swing.   

I think your question is more about the distances that are shorter than their most lofted club.   Do players use one club from those distances or do they have multiple distances associated with multiple clubs.   For example, your most lofted clubs standard distance is 80 yards,  how does the player hit a 70, 60, 50, 45, 20, etc. yard shot.  

 

Yup, that’s what I meant!

 

“He’s a Cinderella story. A former assistant groundskeeper about to become the Masters champion. It looks like a mirac… It’s in the hole! It’s in the hole! It’s in the hole!” — Carl Spackler

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I use my 56 degree for almost everything bc I want to maximize my feel on a limited number of hours I can practice. I can hit them high, low, soft, with extra spin, etc with that club. If I just need to get the ball rolling bc it’s needs a really delicate touch, and a lofted shot adds risk, I’ll bump an 8 iron. Enough loft to pop it over a little trouble, then it just rolls out.
 

Also, I don’t carry a 60 because I can just open my 56. I either carry an extra gap wedge so I can make more full swings from different distances, or a driving iron if I know the course is built to punish shots that miss the fairway.

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3 hours ago, Grit Golf said:

I’m incredibly curious to see if there are any trends from a large number of golfers. I thought all better golfers (better than me) were splitting the work pretty evenly using a “Dave Pelz” type wedge matrix (1/4, 1/2, 3/4 swing across 3-4 wedges). Every time I’ve tried going that way it has set me back.

 

My instructor said that approach works for some people, but to find what works for me. His advice was the elite players he knows tend to get super intimate with one “workhorse” wedge. I’m not elite, by any measure, but I wonder if the trends would be useful for average golfers like me?

 

 

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I used to exclusively use my PW for everything. I'm not sure I know why I quit doing that. I got to where I could put it to pretty close proximity from 100 yards to right at the green. Maybe I should go back to it...lol.

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In this month's "Today's Golfer", there is an article on this very subject.  According to the article, "Shot Scope data backs up just how much more effective a multi-dimensional short game is than trying to use the same club and shot each time..."  

 

The article provides a chart of players with poor short games.

 

Club usage from just off the green:

 

PW 16%

GW 9%

SW 24%

LW 42%

Putter 9%

 

(66% of shots are played with the 2 most lofted clubs).

 

The figures for better players:

 

8i 12%

9i 14%

PW 22%

GW 12%

SW 6%

LW 8%

Putter 18%

 

SW and LW now at 14%.  

 

The article states:  "The inescapable conclusion from this short game data is that better short-game players look to keep the ball flight down as much as possible, selecting the club that gets the ball rolling on the green quickest.  

 

The article is by Gavin Dear, Shot Scope commercial officer and former Walker Cup player.   

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In this month's "Today's Golfer", there is an article on this very subject.  According to the article, "Shot Scope data backs up just how much more effective a multi-dimensional short game is than trying to use the same club and shot each time..."  

 

The article provides a chart of players with poor short games.

 

Club usage from just off the green:

 

PW 16%

GW 9%

SW 24%

LW 42%

Putter 9%

 

(66% of shots are played with the 2 most lofted clubs).

 

The figures for better players:

 

8i 12%

9i 14%

PW 22%

GW 12%

SW 6%

LW 8%

Putter 18%

 

SW and LW now at 14%.  

 

The article states:  "The inescapable conclusion from this short game data is that better short-game players look to keep the ball flight down as much as possible, selecting the club that gets the ball rolling on the green quickest.  

 

The article is by Gavin Dear, Shot Scope commercial officer and former Walker Cup player.   

 

So it has been done! Google turned up only snippets from an article titled “lob wedge addiction”.

 

It seems to run contrary to what my coach was telling me, except I bet most pros aren’t using shot scope. Maybe it’s a cyclical thing - high handicaps use lob wedges, then they realize how bad they are with them, they become low handicaps in part when they start getting the ball rolling immediately greenside, at which point the next quantum leap is to be a maestro w your lob wedge, that’s how you get to plus handicap?

 

There is still the question of what clubs get the most work from 80-20 yards. Is that done with a single club, a Pelz approach?

 

This is the scoring portion of the game, I’d love to see more stats on it by handicap!

 

 

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Awesome topic. I use the 50 and 54 around the green pretty evenly. It really depends on the shot I'm faced with. If there's nothing in the way and it's relatively flat, I'll use the 50, lean it forward a bit, and hit a low checker that trickles to the hole. Almost anything else gets the 54.

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Learned to play in 70's with just pw and sw inside 100 yards. Played by feel and creativity as I tell my sons. Always taught to get ball rolling early as others have noted in this thread. I do carry as lw (since late 90's) but only use when my intended line of flight is obstructed from me getting the ball to roll early. I rotate 8, pw and sw for most of my around the green chipping/pitching when putter is not able to be used. 

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10 hours ago, cnosil said:

I am not sure you asked the right question to get this answer.   You talked about greenside shots in your original post;   you won't use a "Pelz" approach for greenside shots and depending on what you are trying to do and your approach it may be.  chipping around the green and finesse shots are typically pretty short swings.   As you start getting into distance wedges,  you need to figure out how to control distances;  some will follow the PELZ system; which people will call mechanical, and others will say they "feel" the distance.  I would guess that they have over time determined distances based on a pelz approach and tweak the length of swing.   

I think your question is more about the distances that are shorter than their most lofted club.   Do players use one club from those distances or do they have multiple distances associated with multiple clubs.   For example, your most lofted clubs standard distance is 80 yards,  how does the player hit a 70, 60, 50, 45, 20, etc. yard shot.  

 

9 hours ago, Grit Golf said:

Yup, that’s what I meant!

I thought the question was about greenside shots, not 70 and in.  

As I said, I use 60 most of the time from greenside.  I vary the shot by the lie and distance needed, either medium height or low.  I don't hit high 60 wedge shots unless there is a good reason to.

70 and in shots are completely different for me.  I will use progressively longer wedges trying to maintain the same rhythm.  I guess I am one of those that "feel" the distance, because I'm not mechanical like the PELZ approach.

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I have more of a Pelz system where I know the distances for each "type" of hit for each wedge. Based off distances, going short to longer, my club selection goes 60, 56, 52, PW, 48, 60, 56, 56, 48, 52. That takes me from 25 yards with a 1/2 swing 60 all the way to 90 yards with a full swing 52.

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At this point, I’m curious about the way all partial wedge shots get divvied up. I’m curious about greenside - that’s where it seems people pick a favorite club. But I’m also curious about all partial shots from 20-70, because there are different philosophies there as well.

Being able to pair handicap data against what wedges are used for which kinds of shots would be interesting to see. I love the comments here, putting Arccos or shotscope data to it would be even more interesting.

Sorry if the OP wasn’t clear, I didn’t have a crystal clear thought in mind when I posted, but the group has sharpened it up for sure!


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At this point, I’m curious about the way all partial wedge shots get divvied up. I’m curious about greenside - that’s where it seems people pick a favorite club. But I’m also curious about all partial shots from 20-70, because there are different philosophies there as well.

Being able to pair handicap data against what wedges are used for which kinds of shots would be interesting to see. I love the comments here, putting Arccos or shotscope data to it would be even more interesting.

Sorry if the OP wasn’t clear, I didn’t have a crystal clear thought in mind when I posted, but the group has sharpened it up for sure!


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Partial wedge shots for me are based off distances. If I see a certain distance I know the general club and swing to attack with. This for one gives me more confidence on "feely" shots which I think is sometimes half the battle. It also gives me very few true gaps from 100 in. At the end of the day though it all comes down to what gets you closest to the hole, period.

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19 hours ago, PMookie said:

I grew-up learning to golf in the 70s, and my Dad taught me what he was taught which you see Nicklaus, Palmer, etc all teach: get the ball rolling as quickly as possible. I use that teaching to this day. If I’m on the fringe I’m generally putting. If it’s fringe-length but 5-10 feet off the green, I’ll probably use a 7/8/9 iron. Most courses here in the Mississippi Delta have greens that are elevated 3-4 feet just for drainage, so on these courses we get a lot of uphill lies. In those situations I’ll use my PW or 54*, just depends on how fluffy the lie is.

I played with a guy recently that’s my age that played college golf in Oklahoma. He uses his 60* for everything, but just moves the handle around to adjust his loft. He’s magical with it. I can’t do that..... I just stick with what I’ve done for 40 years.

 

Exactly how I do it and I learned the game in the same era as you did. Anytime I can get that putter in my hands I am going to do so. My work horse wedge has always been the 56* though. Like you I have a friend I grew up with that is magical with the 60*.

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Greenside I'm almost exclusively using my 58 (bent to 59).  That said, yesterday I found myself over a very long chip (I was just off the fringe on a tight lie but the pin was tucked in the back) and I feel like I should have gone back and gotten my 54 (bent to 55).  I had to put so much "oomph" into the pitch to get it back there that I put more spin on it and it checked up way too early. 

80 yards and in it's all a judgment call.  Usually at 80 yards I could hit a "full" 58, but I don't like hitting full wedge shots and would prefer to flight in a 54.  Anything below 70 and it will almost inevitably be the 58 though.

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I want to mention two drills/games that I have found very helpful for sharpening the short game.  Each drill/game takes about 15 minutes.

 

1.  Green side practice.  Par 18, or Par 27, depending on skill level.  Take one ball, your putter and chipping club or clubs.  Play 9 "holes".  Give yourself 3 easy shots, 3 medium and 3 hard shots to a target from varying spots around the green.  Vary the order from easy to medium to hard, so you don't hit three easy shots in a row.  Use a score card and record your results.     

Play each hole just like you would on the course.  The object is to get the ball up and down each time, or to get down in three if you have a higher handicap or a bit rusty after a layoff.  Hit your shot, record the distance the ball ends up from the hole, and then putt out.  Keep track of putts.  If using multiple clubs, be sure to record what club you used on the shot. Move on and play from a second location.  Rinse and repeat for 9 holes.  

To help guide which club you should be using, try playing the game multiple times, each time with a different club.  Mark your spots around the green with tees and play the first 9 with your go to club, then play again with a lower lofted iron and again with a higher lofted iron.  You can do this 3 or 4 times in an hour and you will have hard data when finished as to which club gets you closest to the hole, or which club has the potential to get you closest with a bit of practice.

 

2.  The "Cone of Contention" Game.  This comes from "Attention: The Secret to You Playing Great Golf," by Karl Morris.  (Karl co-authored "The Lost Art of Putting" and "The Lost Art of Playing Golf"  This book was written prior to the Lost Art books.)   

 

Start from any position from 30 to 75 yards .  "Follow this process:  1.  Stand and look at the distance.  Try to gauge it in your mind--45 yards, 47 yards, go on and make a guess.  2.  Now use a rangefinder and find out exactly what the distance is.  How close did you get.  Not very, if you are like most people.  This is going to be important later.  

 

"Now, the drill is this on each shot:

1.  Guess the distance.  Say it out loud to commit to your guess.

2.  Actually get the distance from your rangefinder. 

3.  Feel the shot with a practice swing.

4.  Play the shot.  

5.  Note if the shot is within the magic 6ft area, and mark down the result.

6.  Move on to the next random distance."

 

Morris recommends doing this with 10 balls.  I do it with 9 balls so I can record the results easily on a score card.  Morris states:  "I am being deadly serious when I say if you have the discipline to do this two or three times a week, you will elevate your game to a level of scoring you didn't think possible.  This for me, is the crown jewel of all practice games I have used over the years.  Just 15 minutes, three times a week."

 

Variations are to play the game 3 or four times using a different club for each game, or to hit three balls from each spot, each shot with a different club so you can see how club choice affects results.  

 

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

 

 

 

 

 

  

       

  

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Used to use 60* and was terrible around the greens, started using my 56* and people want me to join their scramble team because of what I do with it! I really feel if it wasnt for my 56* I'd have a much higher handicap

Driver  :ping-small: G425 9* Hzrdus Smoke Green Small batch 6.5 70g

Fairway Wood:   image.jpeg.b9b42744cb10f0524500549b74545dd7.jpegCobra Radspeed Big 3 Hzrdus Smoke Black 6.5

Hybrid:  image.jpeg.c5ec9f74aa563ad0246ab686b1c35eeb.jpegCobra Aerojet 5 Wood Hzrdus Smoke Black 6.5

Irons:     :titelist-small: T200 (4-AW) AMT Black Stiff Shafts 

Wedges:  :cleveland-small: Tour Rack 56* 60*

Putter:   :cameron-small: Scotty Cameron Golo 5

Right Handed 

Pittsburgh, PA

 

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