Opinion & Analysis

The Wedge Guy: You and your wedges (survey results part 2)

Published

7 years ago

Sep 17, 2019

As I promised last week when I presented the first layer overview of the GolfWRX/Wedge Guy survey, today I’m going to dive into the section of the survey where you shared your thoughts and feelings about wedges and your wedge play. I’ve made a study of golfers and their wedges for nearly 30 years now, and have always found it fascinating. It also has helped me immensely in breaking from traditional wedge design to address what golfers have told me about where they need help most.

I’m proud that this insight gained from golfers over those years led me to develop “the Koehler sole,” which I patented back in 1990, and have brought to market as both the “Dual Bounce Sole®” and the “V-SOLE®”. That insight also guided me to begin to introduce higher and higher CG in wedges since the mid-90s (which almost all wedge companies have finally begun to do to one degree or another), and to create the first progressively weighted wedges with the SCOR™ line in 2011.

But this is about you and your wedges, so let’s dive right into what you all shared in the surveys.

First of all, you GolfWRX readers are way ahead of rank-and-file recreational golfers in the respect you show for your wedges, with 70 percent or more of you carrying at least four wedges, counting the set match “pitching wedge” that came with your set of irons. I’ve long been an advocate of having more wedges in your bag to give you more options in prime scoring range. As manufacturers have continually strengthened the lofts of the set-match pitching wedge, down to as low as 43-44 degrees in some models, it just makes sense.

Partly as a result of this attention, you GolfWRXers rated your wedge play much higher than golfers at large, based on my prior research. What I found interesting is that fewer of you rated your wedges play outside 75-90 yards as a strength of your game (26 percent) than you did on your wedge play inside 75-90 yards (30 percent). Almost 30 percent of you said your wedge play outside of 75-90 yards was “not as good as it should be,” but just 21 percent said the same about your wedge play outside 75-90 yards. It is generally accepted that full swings are harder to master than the partial swings those short-range shots require.

I have an intern student at University of Houston-Victoria diving into these surveys to cross-tabulate all the answers to reveal more interesting insight for all of us to share, but that is going to take a few weeks, I’m sure, as there is a lot of data here. But what my takeaway from this question is that the vast majority of revealed you have lots of opportunity to improve this segment of your game, as 70-75 percent of you rated your wedge play in both categories as average or below-average. One way to do that is to re-allocate your practice time to hit more wedge shots of different distances, really focusing on distance control. Which brings me to the next couple of questions.

Two questions are very closely linked, as proven by the answers you shared. Nearly an identical number of you responded that your full-swing trajectories were “about right,” and your distance control was “pretty good.” But the majority of you said your trajectories trended too high and your misses come up short almost all the time. You are not alone—my experience with wedge design and golfer feedback is that this majority of you GolfWRX readers is actually much better than the majority of all golfers.

The harsh reality is that this is not all your fault. While mastering wedge play is probably the hardest part of the game, the design of wedges aggravates these two problems. Robotic testing of wedges indicates that essentially all models on the market are very unforgiving of impact moving around the face. We all know that low-face impact, nearly bladed wedge shot is going to fly low and have lots of spin (i.e. “thin to win”). And that likewise, that shot you catch high in the face is going to fly high, come up short and have much less spin.

Tour professionals spend countless hours working to perfect their wedge impact point to be low on the face, a goal helped by the very tight-cut fairways they play. But for the rest of us playing higher-cut fairways, the ball is sitting up more and we are much more likely to catch the ball higher in the face, which—by design—causes the ball to fly higher and have less spin. Conventional wedges have as much as a 20 percent lower smash factor when impacted just half an inch above the “sweet spot.”

The fact is that consistent wedge distance control requires a consistent impact point, lower on the face. One way to try to improve in that regard is to focus your eyes on the forward edge of the ball when you are hitting any wedge shot, but particularly on full swing wedges. From a technique standpoint, your left (or lead) side must be more influential on these shots. In other words, try to make impact with your hands ahead of the clubhead. I’ll dive into that whole subject in a dedicated article soon.

I believe that this challenge of wedge play is aggravated by when and where the majority of you purchase your wedges—let me explain that reasoning.

The vast majority of you are playing relatively new wedges, with 36 percent having purchased them in the last year, and another 43 percent playing wedges that are 1-3 years old. That’s the good news—your wedges are relatively fresh. But now for the bad news.

Almost 45 percent of you said you purchased your wedges at a large off-course retailer, which means you most likely purchased wedges with a heavy, stiff steel shaft—but how does that compare to the shafts in your irons? Is it a match or even close? If not, I’ve learned that the wrong shaft is a huge factor in wedge play, as it creates a feel disconnect in prime scoring range. My experience is that, for most golfers, a thoughtful re-shafting of your wedges to produce the same weight and flex as in your irons will make a huge difference in your wedge-range performance.

This is getting a bit long so let me share another interesting takeaway from this survey, then leave you with another question to sound off about.

Less than 18 percent of you said your last purchase was of a different brand with the goal of improving your performance. I find that puzzling, as I’ll bet nearly 100 percent of you chose your last driver, putter or irons specifically with that goal in mind.

I can only take that to mean that you have relatively low expectations of improvement when you buy wedges—can you all share some thought with me to help me understand why that is?

Thanks, and I look forward to some lively dialog this week. I don’t chime in often to your comments, but I will this week if you want to have a discussion. Should be fun!

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Terry Koehler

Terry Koehler is a fourth generation Texan and a graduate of Texas A&M University. Over his 40-year career in the golf industry, he has created over 100 putter designs and dozens of wedges. In 2014, he put together the team that reintroduced the Ben Hogan brand to the golf equipment industry with his TK 15 wedges and Ft. Worth 15 iron designs. Since receiving a U.S. Patent for his “Koehler Sole” in the early 1990s, he has been challenging “conventional wisdom” in the wedge category. In addition to inspiring multiple companies to emulate this sole technology, the performance of his wedge designs have stimulated all other companies to reposition some mass toward the top of the blade in their wedges. Terry is retired from his role as Chairman and Director of Innovation for Edison Golf, and remains active in the industry as an independent designer and consultant. But his most compelling work is in the wedge category. Since he first patented his “Koehler Sole” in the early 1990s, he has been challenging “conventional wisdom” reflected in ‘tour design’ wedges. The performance of his wedge designs have stimulated other companies to move slightly more mass toward the top of the blade in their wedges, but none approach the dramatic design of his Edison Forged wedges, which have been robotically proven to significantly raise the bar for wedge performance. Terry serves as Chairman and Director of Innovation for Edison Golf – check it out at www.EdisonWedges.com.

19 Comments

ChipNRun

Sep 24, 2019 at 10:10 am

Terry K. wrote…

“Less than 18 percent of you said your last purchase was of a different brand with the goal of improving your performance. I find that puzzling, as I’ll bet nearly 100 percent of you chose your last driver, putter or irons specifically with that goal in mind.”

In your Part 2 report, you said the WRXers seem to have better focus on wedges than the average golfer. Then you made the above “switching brands” statement.

As someone who tests out a lot of brands at expos and demo days, I can say that for IRONS most of the OEMs make at least one iron model I could play – as long as it had the right shaft. Not so for WEDGES.

For the most part, I rely on Cleveland and Callaway wedges. These two brands produce wedges that have worked in the past, so I mainly stay with them. It’s in part a time-saver. And, it’s easier to tweak the wedge game if you stick with a familiar hardware set.

My current wedge mix is Callaway MD3 48* and 54*, and MD-PM 60*. (I use 9i choke-down to bridge shortfalls with 48*). The shafts are all KBS Tour R-flex, 110 grams, slightly heavier than the KBS Tour 90 R-flex in my irons.

I had reshafted my Cle CG14 wedges with KBS Tour for their last two seasons, but was losing partial spin related to both used grooves and the ball I was playing.

In midspin balls, I went from Calla SuperSoft to SuperHot and picked up a bit more spin on partials from my MD3 family wedges. I wonder if part of my yardage gap in wedges may be due to ball cover.

I have a test pack of Ed Snell’s fairly hot MTB-X and MTB Black balls with the urethane covers. Ed suggests that golfers can get lower trajectory, better distance and more spin on their wedges with urethane covers, which grab the clubface better than midspin or certainly distance balls surlyn variants. He suggests part of the “high face” problem may be non-urethane balls climbing up the faces of wedges. BUT… due to real-life adventures I have not been able to test out the MTBs.

As for your other findings… on wedges I have the most distance control problems on my 3/4 wedge shots. It seems my 3/4 takeaway is the most difficult to manage for “top” position.

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greg

Sep 22, 2019 at 1:09 pm

Terry

The Koehler design/comcept, compact head, higher CG, Vsole, thicker face, promote better ball striking. We have all owned/gamed low CG, thin faced blades, they just are not as efficient.
Promoting consistent, quality ball striking should be our highest priority.

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Howard Theisman

Sep 20, 2019 at 4:50 pm

I went back to my PING EYE2 sand and lob wedges a couple years ago. Tried newer technology three times and found I’m more consistent with the EYE2s. And the grooves on cast iron clubs seem to wear considerably less. And some of the newer technology wedges have come out with the high toe design which is what the EYE2 wedges are. Interesting.

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Jimmy Yoon

Sep 17, 2019 at 10:37 pm

How about kuch the douche? Kduooooooooooooche, kduooooooooooooooche, kduoooooooooooooche, kduooooooooooooooche, kduoooooooooooooche, kduooooooooooooooche, kduoooooooooooooche, kduooooooooooooooche. Kduooooooooooooche…..

Reply Report comment
BadAtWedging

Sep 17, 2019 at 7:59 pm

The idea that you don’t change brands is pretty simple… you have some major factors at play.

#1 people like having the same brand, generally. Switching brands is typically the 2nd factor when you feel like you can make a change. The PRIORITY is can you get a club that is obviously different. When it comes to something like irons, typically, you have to switch CATEGORIES to get different irons within the same brand.

When it comes to wedges, you can switch from a thin to a wide, a different grind, a different loft… all while maintaining the same brand. There’s not a lot of “super game improvement” wedges out there, and most people think nearly anyone can play a “normal” wedge. Thus, staying within brand is helpful for feel, and switching brands gains you little change. You can make those significant performance changes within brand, but if you want new GI irons because you don’t match well with a brand, you have to go to a different brand, generally.

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George

Sep 17, 2019 at 7:48 pm

I play only partial shots once I get under 95 yards (GW)for the reasons Drew describes, distance control is too erratic. I disagree with the poster above about full vs. partial shots. Statistics prove that golfers are better off closer to the hole, so my strategy is get as close to the green as possible while avoiding any hazards.

Reply Report comment
- Mike
  
  Oct 12, 2019 at 8:04 am
  
  Wow, interesting, I thought I was the only one not to ‘full swing’ under 100 yards.
  
  Reply Report comment
Bob

Sep 17, 2019 at 5:43 pm

Thanks for all this work Terry… I find it fascinating. At the US Amateur, there was a story about one to the players whose highest lofted wedge was 56.. said his dad had told him if you have talent, you don’t need more than 56. I’ve never owned a 60 myself, playing PW, 52 & 56, and feel my short game is one of the strengths of my game. What are your thoughts on this set up strategy?

Reply Report comment
- the dude
  
  Sep 17, 2019 at 6:28 pm
  
  ya…his dad is probably right…..(every tour player has a 58* or more in their bag)….fail.
  
  Reply Report comment
  - ChipNRun
    
    Sep 24, 2019 at 10:15 am
    
    Golf Digest survey report: for half the tour players, 58* is their highest lofted wedge.
    
    Reply Report comment
Rick McDowell

Sep 17, 2019 at 5:18 pm

Great insight as always on the topic of wedges.
With respect to the question of not buying wedges of a different brand to improve performance, I think many golfers don’t see or believe a company that claims there grooves present a significant advantage, etc.(ex. a reason to switch).In other words compared to say buying XYZ companies river because it goes further, there is no driving dynamic in most of our minds about switching brands to improve. What are you improving? This part of the game seems much more driven by what feels right than some marketing claim. I think some of us see this part of the game affected more by technique improvement than equipment enhancement. My 2 cents.

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CarteDog350

Sep 17, 2019 at 4:13 pm

Well done Terry.
I carry four wedges and wedge play is probably strongest part of my game including putting. A friend of mine is a PGA instructor and he suggested I play the same shafts in my wedges as I do my irons. Can’t say enough ….Love the feeling of weight consistancy.
My instructor always said”You need a 50 yard shot” including the other clock positions to cover multiple yardages….Wedge play in my honest opinion is the best part of golf. It free’s the mind to hit shots that require imagination and finesse.

Keep up the good work.

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Charlie Waffles

Sep 17, 2019 at 12:49 pm

I think our improvement in the wedge game goes hand in hand with how much we practice our mid and long range wedge shots. I for one put little time in my 60-95 3/4 wedge shot. Conversely I practice my shorter wedge and chip shots a lot. Being more accurate with the latter will get me into better scoring.

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Scooter

Sep 17, 2019 at 12:03 pm

Terry, thanks for the article. With regards to your final question, I believe many GolfWRX-ers are brand centric, like and are comfortable with the brand they’re playing, and feel that their brand has a wide enough range of wedge options (lofts, grinds, shafts, profiles, cavity/blade etc.) to allow them to make any change they desire. Some is likely $$ driven, where breaking away from their comfort brand to another brand feels “risky”. Being able to demo new brands of interest on the course would help alot in this regard, but is often not viable. And I’m sure we’ve all had fittings that led us a bit astray. Personally, practice seems like the much bigger level to my improvement than wedge differences between various manufacturers.

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Dan

Sep 17, 2019 at 10:41 am

I guess my question is related to shaft differences. I play SF i95 shafts in my irons, but play S400 shafts in my RTX4 wedges. Wedge play is a strong point in my game, and I think I like the heavier feel, especially on partial swings. Are you suggesting that reshafting wedges in a SF i95 may provide me a benefit? How? Commonality? I know a lot of players play with wedges shafts…. maybe I should try that.

Reply Report comment
- Terry Koehler
  
  Sep 19, 2019 at 9:12 am
  
  Dan, my experience is that when golfers re-shaft their wedges to something that more closely resembles the weight and flex of their irons, they really like the improved feel and performance. It’s certainly worth a try. The reason most golfers play “wedge flex” shafts in their wedges is because that is what they come with at retail, and no one talks about the shaft — all the dialog from the OEMs is about bounce and grooves.
  If you decide to try re-shafting your wedges, let us all know how the experiment works out.
  
  Reply Report comment
brian

Sep 17, 2019 at 10:28 am

“It is generally accepted that full swings are harder to master than the partial swings those short-range shots require.”

I don’t know where this is “generally accepted”. Not a single golfer I play with would rather be 50-70 yards out over 100. Half-swings with wedges are the most uncomfortable shots in golf, if you ask me.

Reply Report comment
- Drew
  
  Sep 17, 2019 at 12:08 pm
  
  I for one am in the boat described. I carry 4 wedges and I don’t trust anything below the pitching wedge to go the distance it should on full swings (pop them up). I’d rather have a partial wedge shot anyday.
  
  I also didn’t carry a wedge until I was 17, so I learned to do a lot with a 9-iron. That may play a part with my comfort in partial swings and creativity in manipulating the club to get the results I want.
  
  Reply Report comment
- Terry Koehler
  
  Sep 18, 2019 at 5:19 pm
  
  Oops, that was meant to read “easier”. My bad, didn’t catch that in proofing. Thanks for pointing that out, Brian.
  
  Reply Report comment

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Opinion & Analysis

AVL: My U.S. Amateur local qualifying experience

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