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Lob Wedge?


MattWillGolf

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How often in a round do folks use a lob wedge? I’ve been carrying a lob wedge for a years now. And honestly don’t find myself using it all that often. When I do carry it, I remove my driving iron. When I do that I more often miss the driving iron on the tight holes. Anyone else have a similar experience?

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I started a couple of months ago because i found my sand wedge was too inconsistent on less than full sw shots. Ive been hugely surprised and happy. Lob wedge is very accurate from 50-80 yards now.

I also had removed all my hybrids and 3w so has some space. Im 4-lob now with 7w, 5w, and driver. Its worked out really well and the first time in many years ive carried 4 and 5 irons in lieu of hybrids.

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Because I have V soles on my wedges I can't really designate them as this or that - having written that my lob wedge would be my 60.  I use it for nearly all trap shots and for a wide variety of shots around the green - it and my 52 degree wedge are the backbone of my short game. 

But that's my game. 

If you track your game and find that you don't actually use your lob wedge or that you really need that driving iron more than the lob wedge then by all means drop it.  But I wouldn't make that move without having the data to back it up - I've certainly learned that there are times where I think I'm good or bad with a particular club but then when I check the data I discover that it's not the case.

 

Good luck

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I used to run with a 52°, 56°, 60° set up. I was using the 56° more than the other two.  Last year I switched to a 52° & 58° set up. 
 

I use the 58° quite often, 17 times in my last round, which was an odd one.  But I am more confident with the 2 wedge set up.  And the 58° is a 90-100 full swing club. It takes the brunt of the workload inside that range too.  
 

52° is proving to be a ~ 120 full swing club.  I don’t really use it for much else.  I have used it on longer bunker shots with some success.

 

Having a 2 wedge set up frees up a spot at the top too.  I’m guessing I will have to adjust the wedges again once I figure out what the T100S’ do on the bottom end.

 

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My 60º wedge is my most worn club in my bag.  I use it for most all greenside bunkers and most shots inside 50 yards.  The chrome is gone from the sole.  I'm playing a 49, 54 and 60 wedge setup right now.  The 54 I use for longer bunker shots and in heavy rough.  My 49 is new and I am still getting the hang of it, but I have found it useful on bump and run chip shots.  I would normally use the 60 for those; just more options.

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18 hours ago, JDHolmes said:

I started a couple of months ago because i found my sand wedge was too inconsistent on less than full sw shots. Ive been hugely surprised and happy. Lob wedge is very accurate from 50-80 yards now.

I also had removed all my hybrids and 3w so has some space. Im 4-lob now with 7w, 5w, and driver. Its worked out really well and the first time in many years ive carried 4 and 5 irons in lieu of hybrids.

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I’m thinking inconsistency is my bigger issue. More wedge practice is the fix if I’m being honest with myself. (But who does that? 😂)

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6 hours ago, MattWillGolf said:

I’m thinking inconsistency is my bigger issue. More wedge practice is the fix if I’m being honest with myself. (But who does that? 😂)

I am doing the wedge practice.   It is the worst part of my game and if I can get that worked out,  my game will be in a really good place.  I don't hit my 58* very often and am working to make the 54 my go to club.  

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8 hours ago, MattWillGolf said:

I’m thinking inconsistency is my bigger issue. More wedge practice is the fix if I’m being honest with myself. (But who does that? 😂)

I noticed more and more that the only way for me to use my lob wedge was on full shots, for some reason anything less or even on chip shots, I was inconsistent, my all round wedge now is my gap wedge.

Took lob out and added a 3 Hybrid  

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So I guess the question I'd ask is "is a lob wedge to you a club or a #?".

Similar to Shanks and Rev, I've moved to a more simplified wedge lineup that I really feel have helped improve both the clutter in my bag and in my head.

For me, I've found that having a good distance wedge i.e. 48°-52° for full shots and lower trajectory bump n runs, etc, with a good turf interaction profile and leading edge.. as well as a good all around utility/lob/sand wedge with a higher loft and versatile grind and bounce that you can use equally well from tight lies, fluffy stuff, and bunkers.

I use to run with a 50, 52, 56, and 60. I found that I used the 50 quite often for long and low shots, the 52 hardly ever, and never really had any rhyme or reason as to when I'd use my 56 or 60. I just used them interchangeably but without much purpose. Eventually I realized that I was having more success and consistency with my 56.. so after carefully evaluating my wedge situation, I just realized that I could find much more efficiency in simplicity.

My current setup is a 50° with a slightly rounded leading edge to help glide through varieties of turf on full shots with a lower 6° of bounce.. and a 56° with higher 12° bounce. Both have the same grind that is very versatile, similar to Vokey M grind.

The 50° doesn't require much practice other than full shots and bumpers. The 56° however, I can focus a lot of time practicing a variety of shots with 1 club and become pretty proficient at all of them.

So short story long, yes I use a "lob" wedge, but in my own way that suits my game and needs.

the more I practice, the luckier I seem to get..

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On 9/12/2020 at 4:51 PM, revkev said:

Because I have V soles on my wedges I can't really designate them as this or that - having written that my lob wedge would be my 60.  I use it for nearly all trap shots and for a wide variety of shots around the green - it and my 52 degree wedge are the backbone of my short game. 

But that's my game. 

If you track your game and find that you don't actually use your lob wedge or that you really need that driving iron more than the lob wedge then by all means drop it.  But I wouldn't make that move without having the data to back it up - I've certainly learned that there are times where I think I'm good or bad with a particular club but then when I check the data I discover that it's not the case.

 

Good luck

Thanks. I’m leaning towards simplifying my setup. Go with a PW, GW and SW. Save my LW for practice sessions and get more comfortable with it. My GW is 50* and it’s the most reliable wedge in my bag on full shots. 
 

You do raise a great point on the data. I need to get better at keeping track of my shots in this regard.

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25 minutes ago, azstu324 said:

So I guess the question I'd ask is "is a lob wedge to you a club or a #?".

Similar to Shanks and Rev, I've moved to a more simplified wedge lineup that I really feel have helped improve both the clutter in my bag and in my head.

For me, I've found that having a good distance wedge i.e. 48°-52° for full shots and lower trajectory bump n runs, etc, with a good turf interaction profile and leading edge.. as well as a good all around utility/lob/sand wedge with a higher loft and versatile grind and bounce that you can use equally well from tight lies, fluffy stuff, and bunkers.

I use to run with a 50, 52, 56, and 60. I found that I used the 50 quite often for long and low shots, the 52 hardly ever, and never really had any rhyme or reason as to when I'd use my 56 or 60. I just used them interchangeably but without much purpose. Eventually I realized that I was having more success and consistency with my 56.. so after carefully evaluating my wedge situation, I just realized that I could find much more efficiency in simplicity.

My current setup is a 50° with a slightly rounded leading edge to help glide through varieties of turf on full shots with a lower 6° of bounce.. and a 56° with higher 12° bounce. Both have the same grind that is very versatile, similar to Vokey M grind.

The 50° doesn't require much practice other than full shots and bumpers. The 56° however, I can focus a lot of time practicing a variety of shots with 1 club and become pretty proficient at all of them.

So short story long, yes I use a "lob" wedge, but in my own way that suits my game and needs.

the more I practice, the luckier I seem to get..
 

You raise a great point. I think of it as a club rather than a number. I rarely use it for full shots. I tend to use my pitching wedge and gap wedge for full shots and use my sand wedge for full and partial shots. I’ll be practicing with it more before putting it back in the bag.

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I use my lob wedge less than once per round, but when I’m short sided over a trap it’s the only club that will do. Or hitting out of a fluffy lie greenside where the balls is down deep. My lob wedge is low bounce and my sand wedge has too much bounce for much outside traps. I don’t use my lob wedge more because it’s too easy to blade/thin with horrible outcomes - a lob wedge takes practice, not as easy as a PW. My 14th club is between a 3i or 3h. I’ll always carry it but my least used club is my 3W...

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1 hour ago, azstu324 said:

So I guess the question I'd ask is "is a lob wedge to you a club or a #?".

Similar to Shanks and Rev, I've moved to a more simplified wedge lineup that I really feel have helped improve both the clutter in my bag and in my head.

For me, I've found that having a good distance wedge i.e. 48°-52° for full shots and lower trajectory bump n runs, etc, with a good turf interaction profile and leading edge.. as well as a good all around utility/lob/sand wedge with a higher loft and versatile grind and bounce that you can use equally well from tight lies, fluffy stuff, and bunkers.

I use to run with a 50, 52, 56, and 60. I found that I used the 50 quite often for long and low shots, the 52 hardly ever, and never really had any rhyme or reason as to when I'd use my 56 or 60. I just used them interchangeably but without much purpose. Eventually I realized that I was having more success and consistency with my 56.. so after carefully evaluating my wedge situation, I just realized that I could find much more efficiency in simplicity.

My current setup is a 50° with a slightly rounded leading edge to help glide through varieties of turf on full shots with a lower 6° of bounce.. and a 56° with higher 12° bounce. Both have the same grind that is very versatile, similar to Vokey M grind.

The 50° doesn't require much practice other than full shots and bumpers. The 56° however, I can focus a lot of time practicing a variety of shots with 1 club and become pretty proficient at all of them.

So short story long, yes I use a "lob" wedge, but in my own way that suits my game and needs.

the more I practice, the luckier I seem to get..
 

That was a lot of wedges my 50° is with my set and I hit it 120 and my 54° I use from 100 to 110. 58° is 100 yard in although I can do these shots with my 54° I just choose not to especially since I don't carry a driver I don't have to worry about being over 14 clubs. Could I simplify my bag like you yea I could especially since I can do a flop shot with my 54° easily heck I can and have flopped my PW for fun.

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I have a 50/54/58 setup with the stock PW and use a hybrid in place of a 3 iron. I have yet to play a course where I feel like I need anything else at the top end of my bag.

I constantly use my 58. It's my go to for a lot of shots around the green and out of bunkers.

That's not to say I don't use other clubs around the green, but I find my 58 is good to get the job done more often than not. Things that will cause me to use a different club are distance to the pin, amount of green to work with, slopes and hazards/bunkers, or a funky lie such as the ball sitting up in the rough and opting for a little more bounce and less loft to keep me from going under the ball.

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Playing on relatively slow greens on average my 56/60 set up leans very heavy towards the 56. I also tend to lean more towards a club the rolls out and less about flying it most of the way to the hole. So I only use the 60 when truly short sided or the greens are very slick. That being said I really even hope to replace the set gap wedge with a traditional gap wedge so I can use it more for long chip shots that its tough to get the 56 to roll out enough. The shorter the swing for me the better.

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13 hours ago, cnosil said:

I am doing the wedge practice.   It is the worst part of my game and if I can get that worked out,  my game will be in a really good place.  I don't hit my 58* very often and am working to make the 54 my go to club.  

I'm the same... I don't trust my wedges. I blade them too often. My 54* is my go to for all chip shots around the green.

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14 hours ago, MattWillGolf said:

Thanks. I’m leaning towards simplifying my setup. Go with a PW, GW and SW. Save my LW for practice sessions and get more comfortable with it. My GW is 50* and it’s the most reliable wedge in my bag on full shots. 
 

You do raise a great point on the data. I need to get better at keeping track of my shots in this regard.

I've been fooled by my perceptions a number of times.  One horrific shot can overshadow lots of acceptable results and make it seem like a facet isn't working when it is.  Conversely a lot of good results could overshadow what is actually a marginal performance in a particular part of the bag.

 

Also throw in the course and region factor.  I don't know how the summer has been in Syracuse or what the course is like that you typically play on.  But imagine the extremes between the Pacific Northwest where they are having serious drought conditions that are stoking wildfires and in Southwest Florida where we just had a tropical storm move through dumping around 8 inches of rain where I live.  It's as if we live on different planets.  I used to own two sets of wedges - my summer wedges, more bounce for wet conditions, and winter ones, less bounce for firmer conditions as well as two drivers, one with additional loft for the summer - My current wedges are more versatile and I've got a nice driver, shaft combo that maximizes carry while minimizing spin - but you get the drift - lots to consider so your equipment needs may be totally different from mine even if we have similar games.

 

Good luck!

Taylor Made Stealth 2 10.5 Diamana S plus 60  Aldila  R flex   - 42.25 inches 

SMT 4 wood bassara R flex, four wood head, 3 wood shaft

Ping G410 7, 9 wood  Alta 65 R flex

Srixon ZX5 MK II  5-GW - UST recoil Dart 65 R flex

India 52,56 (60 pending)  UST recoil 75's R flex  

Evon roll ER 5 32 inches

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@MattWillGolf I use my 60 when the shot calls for it. 

@Kenny B mentioned a similar use to me. 

For me there are 3 reasons to use my over any other club:

1. Tight lie chip shots

2. Short sided off the green where a flop is the best shot to get close to the hole where a lower shot wouldn't work

3. High lip bunker shot to a close pin

Everything else is usually my sand, Gap, or pitching wedges because they all have more bounce. 

Out of heavy rough I never use the 60 because mine has low bounce. 

Like others mentioned ( @azstu324 & @Shankster ) , I used to go 52, 56, and 60 but, over time, the setup went 50, 54, 58 to what I have now at 50, 54, 60. 

The gaps with fuller shots in the 50-54 range are great for me. But the 58s I have didn't give me the versatility I needed that my low bounce and thin sole 60 does. 

I like my two highest lofted clubs to have very different sole styles to give me options around the greens. 

Small side note: I used to have a 64 and 72 degree wedges that did more harm in my hands than good. The only good thing about the 72 was very hard ground in bunkers and super tight lies in the Winter when the grass goes dormant. 99% of the time my 60 will give me a similar shot with an open face. It's those 1% of shots, 1 out of 10 rounds, where I think about my 72* wedge. 

Golf is simple - people are complicated.

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