Golf wedges over the past several years have become quite the tool for the golf bag.

Many players are riding their bags of the longer more difficult to hit irons in favor of a more specialty situation golf wedge.

And golf club manufacturers have obliged with an array of wedge designs tailored to fit just about any scenario within striking distance of the green. 

Essentially wedges come in some basic flavors known as the pitching wedge, gap wedges, sand wedges, and lob wedges.

The more familiar are the pitching and sand wedges, the other types mentioned are sometimes referred to by their loft rather than by a specific name. For example, a lob wedge is often referred to a 60 degree wedge.

Let’s take a look at some of the characteristics and make up of the wedges to give you a bit more familiarity with them.

Before we do this however, I would suggest that if you are just taking up the game don’t worry much about acquiring specialty wedges outside of your pitching wedge, and a sand wedge. Generally when you buy a set of golf irons the package will include a pitching wedge.

A term that you may run across as you look at buying a golf wedge is the ‘bounce’ or the ‘bounce angle’ of the wedge. To give you an idea of this you will need to hold the wedge’s head up to eye level and note how the trailing edge of the club is lower than the leading edge of the blade. The angle formed by these as they relate to the ground or a flat surface is known as the bounce angle. This may seem insignificant to you, but it is this angle that allows the wedge to ‘bounce’ out of the sand or the heavy rough without having the blade dig into the surface.

Golf Wedge Characteristics

The basic Pitching Wedge will come with a loft of 45 to 49 degrees. The pitching wedge is used for 'pitch' shots around the green as well as a bit longer approach shots out to just over some 100yds. Of course, the maximum distance is only a general estimate.

The Gap Wedge gets its name as it fills the gap between a full pitching wedge shot and a full sand wedge shot. The loft of the gap wedge (49 to 54 degrees) gives the golfer the ability to hit a 'full' shot at a distance too long for the sand wedge and inside the distance of a full pitching wedge. This full shot capability at this distance gives the golfer the ability to put a good backspin on the ball and stop it cold near the flag with excellent accuracy. 

The sand wedge normally has around 55 to 57 degrees of loft. The sand wedge is heavily weighted along the lower portion of the blade to help it maintain its forward momentum as it enters the sand. With a high bounce angle design the sand wedge is perfectly suited to slip through the sand and under the ball without the face digging into sand.

The lob wedge or the 60 degree wedge is a specialty golf club that has become quite popular. Although a higher loft, the lob wedge doesn't have as large of flange as the sand wedge so it is not as suited for sand play.

The lob wedge with its' 60 degree loft is well suited for those shot one must produce quick altitude over trouble with not much green to work with on the other side of the trouble. A quick lift off with a short soft landing is the lob wedge's claim to fame.

The key to (and the difficult part) of the mastery of a lob shot is to take a near full swing at the ball all the while trusting the lob wedge to do its job. Most people run into problems with the lob shot by decelerating the club at the last second due to insecurity with the shot.

As your game progresses you will no doubt want to experiment with and learn many of the different shots you can produce to assault the flag stick with different golf wedges.

Remember though as you become more confident with your wedges... there is a 14 club limit to your bag!

And as always...

Play Good Golf!

Jeff O'Brien