Launch characteristics of new vs old wedges

[dterrie]

I'm down with a hip injury, but when I get back to playing again, I need to update my wedges. I currently have old Vokey Spin Milled 54/10 and 58/12. I've always hit high stock irons, so the 58 goes nowhere unless I knock it down. My irons are P7MBs, so my pitching wedge is 47 degrees. Typical gapping would be 52,56,60, but I'm not sure a 60 makes sense if I can hit the 58 straight up in the air easily. This said, I'm wondering how much lower new wedges launch, all else being equal, like groove wear. I'm limited to an indoor launch monitor for fitting.

[GregGarner]

3 hours ago, dterrie said:

I'm wondering how much lower new wedges launch, all else being equal, like groove wear. I'm limited to an indoor launch monitor for fitting.

Hard to give you a specific answer, since they'll gradually launch higher and higher as they wear and urethane will still launch lower than ionomer, but you can expect a pretty significant difference if you have more than ~100 rounds on your wedges.

Basically, as the grooves wear, the ball is slipping up the face. Once you get new wedges, you'll not only need to recalibrate your launch windows and release on landing, but also your carry distances based on swing and strike. You may very well find a fresh 60-degree is more valuable than an old 58, since it won't slip up the face where there's less mass.